Teachers' fear for standards

The National Union of Teachers has fired its first official broadside at the education authority's proposals for reorganising the district's schools.

The union has called on education chiefs to lay down a minimum standard of provision for schools during the reorganisation.

Secretary Ian Murch said: "We have a great concern that new costs associated with the review will actually reduce the money available for teaching during the period of reorganisation.

"We think it is reasonable to expect the LEA to guarantee that schools will be funded to keep class sizes down to 30 in all classes, 25 in reception and one teacher and one nursery nurse for every 20 children in nursery classes."

The costs of reorganisation are estimated at about £100m but further work is being carried out to determine a more precise price tag involving adapting and expanding buildings, re-equipping classrooms, retraining staff, staff severance packages and budget deficit write-offs.

Among its major concerns, the NUT has listed:

*Three-form entry primary (630 pupils plus nursery) - too big, serving too large a catchment area, meaning some children will have to travel long distances to school.

*Ten-form entry secondary (1,500 pupils plus sixth form) - too big, sites not large enough to deal with these numbers so over-crowding results.

*Closure of small schools - union will not support closure of popular and successful schools, that have served a community for decades, simply because they are not capable of accommodating 420 pupils

*Transfer of schools to the Church or expansion of Church provision - no evidence of demand; disquiet among teachers about staff rights and changes to school ethos

*Staffing - fear is that staff in closing schools will be disadvantaged as they vie for the remaining places.

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