Representing UCAC members at Westminster

 

The discussion was a crucial one as we considered:

The purpose of the STRB was discussed as the Westminster Government develop their vision of seeing more and more schools becoming academies with the right to set their own salaries and conditions of service. UCAC emphasised the education system in Wales is very different and that the majority of schools are maintained by the Local Authorities with no intentions to creates academy schools. 

 

 

There was an opportunity during the meeting to emphasise UCAC's concerns about the changes to teachers' salary structures in England and Wales since 2013 which has allowed many decisions about the salaries of individual teachers to be made on a school by school basis. It was also emphasised that there was an appetite to discuss salaries at national level in Wales as opposed to the local levels which the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document allows.

 

The work of the unions in ensuring uniformity throughout Wales, including on matter such as pay portability and progression to the Upper Pay Scale is evidence that the unions and local authorities are eager to ensure consistency in pay and conditions. UCAC's officers provided an overview of the unions working hard with the Local Authorities and consortia to ensure fair play for our members in ensuring consistency of play policies in schools. 

In Wales we have managed to withstand the dispersal of school systems which has seen the establishment of academies and free schools - and the freedom for employers to decide on pay and conditions of service. It appears that the aspirations of Westminster to allow more decisions on pay to be placed in the hands of schools is rooted in the policy of transforming more schools in to academies.

 

UCAC emphasised that the Westminster government must consider that the education system is very different in Wales, however, it is clear now that the only way forward in Wales is to establish an independent system which reflects the needs of Wales. We need a system that reflects the challenges us in terms of geography, language and developments in education which are on a very different path to that of England. 

 

UCAC will continue to press for salaries that reflect the professional expectations on teachers and to improve conditions of service which will allow a work life balance.