Teachers prepare for action (From Daily Echo)

Teachers prepare for action

12:02pm Tuesday 11th September 2012 in Education

Teachers prepare for action

TEACHERS in Hampshire will refuse to stand in for absent colleagues, supervise lunch breaks or invigilate exams when they take part in industrial action later this month in a row over pay, pensions and workloads.

Members of the two biggest teaching unions are launching coordinated action from September 26 as part of a national dispute with the Government.

The NUT and NASUWT say the action is intended to be “pupil, parent and public-friendly, while resisting Government policies which are undermining teachers’ ability to work effectively to deliver the highest standards of education ”.

Union members have been told to refuse to participate in supervision and assessments of lessons, and only supervise out-of-school activities if it is something they have volunteered for.

Between them, the unions represent 90 per cent of teachers in England and Wales.

The last time the two unions took strike action, in November last year, nine out ten Southampton schools and two-thirds of those in Hampshire were forced to close.