NUT: Education changes will fail without training
Wales’ largest union for qualified teachers in Wales says that unless there is sufficient time given to train teachers on changes being introduced in classrooms, they are doomed to fail. NUT Cymru says children and teachers are being let down by the Welsh Government’s decision to cut two inset training days.
The Union has written to the Education Minister urging him to reconsider the decision in order to help ensure teachers are given the opportunity to get up to speed with new initiatives being introduced in Welsh classrooms.
NUT Cymru Secretary, David Evans, said:
“There is a huge number of changes being introduced to education in Wales. Teachers are being asked to implement new literacy and numeracy tests; embed the new literacy and numeracy framework into their subjects; undertake new performance management guidance and work to new specifications for certain GCSEs. "
This is as well as the on-going matter of keeping up-to-date with the guidance and regulations that the Welsh Government continues to churn out. All of this has time and workload implications. It is very difficult to see how all this can be done effectively under normal conditions, but the decision to withdraw two inset training days, which would normally be used to help staff adjust, makes it almost impossible."
“We have written to the Minister urging him to reconsider the decision. No one wants to see new initiatives fail, but that is inevitably going to happen if teachers are not afforded the necessary time to train ahead of their introduction. We have seen examples of new policies falling flat in Wales in the past as a result of them being rushed through."
"That has damaging implications for both the teachers delivering them, and the pupils in the classroom. We need to avoid a repeat of past mistakes and give teachers the right levels of preparation. That should start with handing back the training days they have been denied thus far.”
Contact: Owen Hathway, NUT Cymru, Ty Sinnott, 18 Neptune Court, Vanguard Way, Cardiff CF24 5PJ
Tel: 029 20491818. Mob: 07921 146 442
e-mail: cymru.wales@nut.org.uk
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