Concerns about teacher contract at Ark Schools driving strike action by two unions

Kevin Courtney, NEU joint general secretary, speaking at Acton high school on a strike day before Easter

Unhappiness about the length of the working week in teachers’ contracts is at the heart of industrial action campaigns by two unions who are unhappy about goings-on at one of England’s largest and most influential academy chains, Education Uncovered can reveal.  

Members of the National Education Union at Acton high school in Ealing, west London, were today into their fifth day of strike action against its planned takeover by Ark Schools.

Separately, six days of strikes by NASUWT members at Ark Helenswood Academy in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex are planned to start next week.

The standard contract at Ark Schools, which is based in London and is part of the larger Ark (“Absolute Return for Kids”) charity which was set up in 2002 by hedge funders including Arpad Busson, sees teachers’ working day running from 8am to 5pm.

If teachers were to work all of these hours in “directed time” – either teaching or preparing lessons in the school and generally being available for work – then this would equate to a much longer working year than applies in non-academy schools.

Eight am to 5pm would equate to 1,755 hours in a 195-day school year. This is nearly 500 hours or 39 per cent more than the maximum “directed time” of 1,265 hours specified in the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document, which applies in the non-academy sector.

This website has been told that, in reality, in the past Ark has not made teachers work anywhere near the 1,755 hours, but that the 8-5 contractual stipulation, for teachers on Ark contracts, has allowed managers flexibility to schedule working time as they have seen fit.

Now the two disputes have put that contractual position under the microscope.

At Ark Helenswood Academy, the strike action starting next Wednesday centres on concerns, the NASUWT says, about the flexibility of that contract and what counts as “directed time”.

Nick Trier, the union’s national executive member for the region, said that Ark were seeking to exclude break times, short periods of time at the start and end of the school day and periods spent waiting at school before mandatory afternoon meetings from what counted as teachers’ “directed time”.

The school operates on two sites and Trier said that the time it takes teachers to travel between the two was also not being included in “directed time”, with the agreement having operated in the past that this would equate to the 1,265 hours.

At Acton, which is being lined up to be taken over by Ark after the school failed an Ofsted inspection, working time is one of eight bullet points of concerns behind the NEU’s strike action, which is into its fifth and sixth days this week.

A statement from the union, which has 117 striking staff at the school, said: “A major issue we have with Ark concerns working time.

“Ark does not apply School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) arrangements with regard to pay and working time. These limit annual directed time to a maximum of 1,265 hours, wheras Ark does not include any limits on teachers’ working time in the contracts for newly appointed teachers and teachers on new contracts.

“[The]Ark model of directed time means that we are signing up to [a] 400 hour increase of directed time.”

The NEU’s other concerns include what it says are high exclusion rates for pupils with special needs at Ark schools; the chain not releasing data on teacher retention rates amid concerns about high staff turnover and high percentages of unqualified and trainee teachers; allegedly low progression rates for teachers up pay scales at Ark schools; Ark not recognising previous service in other schools for sickness or maternity entitlements; and having policies which “increase the scope for systemic bullying”.

The NEU’s statement also says that: “The fundamental basis and tenets of Ark are at odds with the values of a public, comprehensive education system.”

Education Uncovered put all the above points to Ark’s media office eight days ago but at the time of writing had yet to receive any response.