16 February 2006

Lecturers told sign or be sacked

Lecturers at a Hertfordshire college have voted to be balloted for industrial action because their principal has told them to sign a worse contract or face dismissal.

Members of NATFHE – The University & College Lecturers’ Union, at Oaklands College, say that the proposed new contract paves the way for the quality of education to plummet.

Under the existing contract, lecturers are not expected to teach students for more than 24 hours a week. For each hour spent face-to-face with students, half an hour is spent on lesson preparation, marking and administration.

The new contract would remove that limit meaning lecturers could be made to teach up to 37 hours, leaving no time for preparation, marking or administration.

Lecturers who don’t sign the contract by April 30 have been threatened with dismissal.

Oaklands principal, Mark Dawe, also wants to introduce Performance Related Pay (PRP). NATFHE is opposed to PRP and highlights that it was not part of a landmark nationally agreed pay deal, drawn up by the union and the Association of Colleges. That deal aimed to narrow the estimated 10% pay gap between college lecturers and schoolteachers. It was recommended that all colleges implement the two-year deal for the academic years 2003/4 and 2004/5 but Oaklands College has ignored it.

The proposals to introduce an inferior contract and performance-related pay come after an Ofsted inspection stated that Oakland College had ‘improved significantly since its last inspection’, which was in 2003.

Oaklands College NATFHE branch secretary, David Brook, said:

‘Forcing lecturers to spend too many hours teaching will mean they don’t have the time to ensure lessons are well planned, and that students are properly monitored and assessed. Ultimately, the quality of education will suffer.

‘We are strongly against performance-related pay because we know it leads to nothing but division, discrimination and demoralisation. We say that respecting professionalism and expertise, valuing staff, and providing good terms and conditions, are the ways to create a workforce that does the best job that it possibly can.’

Notes to Editors

• The ballot opens on Monday 20 February and closes on Friday 3 March
• Members of the NATFHE branch at Oaklands College voted to be balloted for industrial action on January 13
• The type of industrial action and dates on which it will occur have not yet been finalised
• The NATFHE branch at Oaklands College has 140 members

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