Teachers warn Leighton's plan would mean return of school league tables - WalesOnline

TEACHERS launched a twin attack on the Assembly Government and Estyn yesterday as the sector's largest unions criticised two high-profile policies.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) said Education Minister Leighton Andrews' five-year plan to raise classroom standards undermines their professionalism and would lead to a return to school league tables.

And the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers (Nasuwt) said Estyn's new inspection regime has led to "widespread victimisation and bullying" in schools, leaving teachers feeling "threatened and overburdened".

The NUT accused Mr Andrews of issuing "diktats" without consultation and demanded urgent talks with the minister if he is reappointed to the education job after the Assembly election.

And Chris Keates, Nasuwt general secretary, said: "Teachers in Wales are angry and frustrated over changes to the inspection framework, which is leading to widespread victimisation and bullying in schools.

"Excessive monitoring regimes do not raise educational standards. Schools need more teachers rather than an increase in the army of observers."

Rex Phillips, the union's Wales Organiser, said: "Any improvements made by recent inspection changes have been massively outweighed by the glaring mistakes and the climate of fear being created in schools.

"Supporting increased lesson observation and suggesting pupils should be involved in the appointment of new staff undermines teachers' authority.

"The Estyn inspection framework needs urgent changes."

Mr Phillips told a conference in Glasgow the inspection system introduced last September will leave teachers flailing under a heavy burden of classroom scrutiny.

He said the system, brought in by Estyn's chief inspector Ann Keane, open the door to additional observation by governors, local authority officials and consultants.

Under the previous system teachers in Wales were observed for three hours a year as part of the inspection process.

Mr Phillips said: "The new framework has made provision for schools to be able to increase the amount of monitoring and who can observe."

Chris Keates, general secretary of the Nasuwt, said the "excessive monitoring" was leaving teachers feeling like "lab rats".

He said: "Treating teachers like lab rats is no way to build an education system that is fit for the 21st century."

Mr Phillips said his union would work for urgent changes to be made to the inspection framework.

The framework introduced a new system of peer inspection and was also designed to lay greater emphasis on self-evaluation.

Mr Phillips said Ms Keane promised the new system would be less bureaucratic and self-evaluation reports need be no longer than five pages.

But he said school authorities were compiling documents of 100-plus pages to support claims made in the self-evaluation reports.

He said: "Management is giving out the self-evaluation forms and then we have paperwork to support what is on the self-evaluation form."

Welsh secretary of the NUT, David Evans, attacked Mr Andrews' plans to test teachers themselves on literacy and numeracy and introduce new assessments for 15-year-olds.

"At the moment it is just all diktats and the issues he has spoken about are so important to teachers we should have been properly consulted," Mr Evans told the union's conference in Harrogate.

Mr Andrews' five-year, 20-point plan was ushered in against a backdrop of growing concerns about educational standards in Wales.

Last December, Programme International Student Assessment (Pisa) tests on 15-year-olds showed out of 67 countries taking part, Wales was ranked 38th for reading, 40th for maths and 30th for science.

As in 2006, Wales again ranked lowest of the UK countries and was cast adrift from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. And earlier this year, Ms Keane said standards in nearly a third of Welsh schools were not good enough and progress was "slow".

Speaking after the publication of the Pisa assessments, Mr Andrews said there was "systemic failure" in schools and accused teachers of "complacency in the classrooms".

Laying out his plans earlier this year, Mr Andrews said the ultimate goal was for Wales' school system to gain a top 20 ranking in the 2015 Pisa tests.

He said though there would be no return to league tables an annual grading system for schools would be introduced and operated by all local authorities, with minimum "floor targets".

Annual progress targets will also be introduced to make sure pupils are not slipping behind.

Mr Andrews said the measures would ensure there was "no hiding place for poor performance".

A spokesperson for the Assembly Government said yesterday that Mr Andrews' 20-point plan was designed to bring about "continuous improvement" in schools.

The Welsh Conservatives backed the unions, saying teachers were being overburdened by paperwork from the Assembly's education department.

Estyn was unavailable for comment yesterday.