Earlier in the week, OnTheWight the IW branch of the NUT raised concerns on behalf of Island teaching staff over pay policy.
The NUT’s claim that the council had failed to reach an agreement with them over the new pay policy has been challenged by council officers.
The “recommended pay policy was agreed”
We’d got in touch with the council for a response to the outcome of a survey carried out by the IW NUT, which revealed that 69% of those teachers responding said they were considering leaving teaching or would be leaving the Island to seek employment in schools on the mainland.
A spokesperson for the council told OnTheWight,
“The council met with union representatives in July and a recommended pay policy was agreed. The NUT were part of these discussions and therefore the comments by Dominic Coughlan are somewhat surprising.
“It is important to stress that this is a recommended structure, therefore school governing bodies – which hire staff and are responsible for administering pay levels – do not have to adopt it and are quite within their rights to operate their own structure. It is also important to note that the local authority’s model pay policy is compliant with the School Teachers Pay and Conditions 2013 document.”
Recruitment crisis also challenged
It was also the view of the NUT that the issues surrounding the pay policy could result in a teacher recruitment crisis over the coming year.
Again, this has been challenged by the council who went on to say,
“We hold termly meetings with all the unions discussing a wide range of topics and we do not agree that the Isle of Wight is heading for a recruitment crisis. We all must recognise that the Island’s schools face a collective challenge to improve standards and that is our priority.”
A day of strike action is planned for Thursday 17th October. Details of which schools will remain open to follow shortly.
Image: Simon Haytack under CC BY 2.0
