Government White Paper - what you need to know
Does the White Paper have the answers on education and skills after Covid-19?
Campaigning against academisation
The NEU is opposed to the academisation of our schools, whether through forced or voluntary conversion.
Academy transfer resources
Resources for reps and members transferring to or working in an academy or free school
Routes to a new academy employer
There are several different ways that members can move to a new academy employer.
Measures under a TUPE transfer
A “measure” is a very broad term which will apply to any deliberate change in working conditions or practices which your employer wants to introduce.
EDSK on Academies
EDSK think-tank calls for a new approach to England’s school system.
Academies
The NEU is opposed to academisation yet supports and represents its members in academies in the same way as members in local authority maintained schools.
Advice
Joining a MAT is not the answer
Becoming part of a MAT should be a decision based on an informed view of the evidence and arguments.
Final checks before the transfer
A checklist for reps before transferring to a new employer
Academies: understanding which rights transfer
Know your contractual rights so that you can ensure they transfer to any new employer.
Working in an academy
Know your rights, so you can act collectively to safeguard them.
Getting involved in information and consultation
TUPE information and consultation process and the key issues to be aware of
What is TUPE about?
TUPE is shorthand for the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection and Employment) Regulations 2006, a legal framework around which you can involve and engage members to act collectively to protect and advance their rights as they transfer to a new employer.
Preparing for transfer to an Academy
The process of transferring staff from one employer to another (eg an academy) is governed by the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 ( TUPE).
Health and Safety Model Policy - Checklist
The most common queries NEU members have on health and safety policy in academy trusts.
Using Health and Safety as a tool to help campaign against academies
Health and safety concerns in academies
Pay scales in academies and trusts
Details of how academies and trusts set pay scales and what pay and conditions arrangements are in place in these workplaces.
Model health and safety policy for academy trusts
A model health and safety policy for academy trusts, where no such policy is in place or where the existing policy is considered to be inadequate.
Press release
EPI/UCL-IOE on Underperforming Schools
The report makes a number of important conclusions. As the Education Bill makes its way through the legislative process, Ministers must review the impact of academisation on primary schools.
Legal Filing on Holland Park School
NEU joins legal filing against unlawful move to force Holland Park School into a multi-academy trust.
Government’s Academisation Plans
Further academisation does not figure on the list of priorities for anyone involved in education.
OSR slams Government evidence for forcing multi-academy trusts
The Office for Statistics Regulation has today agreed with the NEU’s complaint about the Government’s evidence document.
LGA on Maintained Schools Outperforming Academies
Comment on a new report from the Local Government Association
Academisation and the privatisation of education
Comment on the passing of Motion 38 at the Annual Conference of the National Education Union
Government's evidence for forcing schools into MATs badly flawed
NEU analysis of the Government document shows that the evidence for forcing schools into MATs is badly flawed.
Public Accounts Committee on Academies
The report makes all too clear that the proposed plans are likely to be both unworkable and damaging. The rationale of the academy system - based on competition between chains - means there will always be schools that are left unsupported.
Hallam academy orders withdrawn
Department for Education backs down over forced academisation for schools in Hallam Diocese
Hallam Diocese forced academisation
Academy orders issued to schools in Hallam Diocese ‘unlawfully’, say education unions
Serious Fraud Office inquiry
NEU calls for Serious Fraud Office inquiry into Collective Spirit Free School and Manchester Creative Studio School.
Academies sector annual report and accounts
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union has commented on the publication by the DfE of annual reports on the expenditure and performance of the academy school sector.
Academy Transfers
Commenting on today’s Department for Education figures detailing the number of and cost of academy transfers and funding in England, Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
Grove Academy action
Staff take 2 more days of action to protect the most vulnerable students in North Yorkshire and form the “Working together walk”
John Roan School Strike
National Education Union members at The John Roan School, a secondary in Greenwich will be taking further strike action on Tuesday 14 May as part of their ongoing campaign to revoke the academy order imposed on the school and stop its forced academisation.
Philanthropy and Privatisation
A report to be launched today by Education International (EI), the global education union confederation, lifts the lid on the activities of so-called ‘philanthropic’ organisations involved in promoting the commercialisation, marketisation and privatisation of education systems around the world.
William Torbitt Primary School
Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education comments on the decision by the Department for Education to lift its academy order against William Torbitt Primary School in Redbridge.
Good news that Cambridge primary will not become an academy
NEU welcomes the news that St Phillip's Primary School in Romsey has decided not to convert into an academy or join an MAT.
Damian Hinds calls on more schools to become academies
Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union has commented on the Education Secretary’s call for more academies, and the Department for Education’s analysis of sponsored academies.
NEU comment: Sutton Trust on Academy Chains
Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union has commented on the Sutton Trust report Chain Effects 2018, published today.
PAC report on academy failures and misuse of funding is a wake-up call to DfE
Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the NEU has commented on Academy accounts and performance, the report of the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
PAC ‘seriously concerned’ about the Government’s approach to asbestos management in schools
The Joint Union Asbestos Committee which comprises the education and support staff unions (ASCL, GMB, NAHT, NASUWT, NEU, UCU, UNISON, Unite and Voice) and the Asbestos in Schools Group, Chaired by Emma Hardy MP are today responding to the asbestos recommendations in the Public Accounts Committee report into Academy accounts and performance.
Government reforms failing to tackle inequality
A UCL report on social mobility confirms what the NEU has been warning about for some years, says Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union.
NEU comment on PAC report on converting schools to academies
The NEU welcomes a report from the Public Accounts Committee into converting schools to academies, and agrees with its recommendations.
NEU comment on academy trusts in deficit
Academy sector and schools as a whole are feeling the effects of an unsustainable funding model, NEU says.
Article
Winning on workload in academy chains
Members at an Oasis academy school in London have made real progress in tackling workload.
Policy
What is an academy?
The Government continues to promote its academy agenda, encouraging and compelling schools to become academies as part of multi-academy trusts (MATs). This guidance sets out the legal rights and arguments that can be made to resist academisation.
The NEU case against academisation
Myths about academisation and the facts that inform our opposition to the process.
Academisation of Catholic schools
Academisation of Catholic schools has accelerated in recent years, with a number of Catholic dioceses encouraging schools to convert to academy status as part of Catholic Multi Academy Trusts (MATs).