Union chiefs are urging one of England’s biggest MATs to extend its 30-minute lunch breaks – instead of teaching time – after announcing strikes across 14 of its schools.
Six days of walkouts across Outwood Grange academies are set to begin tomorrow over plans to push the end of the secondary school day back 30 minutes to 3pm.
The trust said the “small” changes “will mean students can learn more and achieve even stronger outcomes”, and will mean their school day meets the government’s expectation for a 32.5-hour week.
But teachers’ union NASUWT argued teachers “do not have shorter working hours than in other schools” due to its “inadequate” breaks – with just 15 minutes for a break in the morning and 30 minutes for lunch.
Matt Wrack, the union’s acting general secretary, stated: “OGAT is damaging the morale of its staff with these proposals.
“All they are asking for are working conditions which reflect the hard work they already put in to help pupils achieve their best and which will support the wellbeing of the students they teach.”
Schools told to offer 32.5 hours
The DfE introduced new non-statutory guidelines in July 2023, which said it expected all schools to offer a 32.5-hour week.
It initially said all schools should comply with this by September 2023, but then pushed that deadline back by a year “in recognition of the pressures facing schools”.
Currently, Outwood schools open at 8.25am and lessons end at 2.30pm. The trust wants to extend this to around 3pm.
The trust previously said the extra time will allow students to study topics “in more depth” – meaning they will be “better prepared for GCSEs”.
However, NASUWT argued “most schools” have hit the 32.5-hour target “by extending break and lunch times, rather than by seeking to direct staff to work more hours for no extra pay”.
It said Outwood academies give pupils 15-minute morning breaks and up to 30 minutes for lunch. NASUWT members reported that “currently a significant number of pupils are unable to eat or use the toilet as there is inadequate time available”.
‘Anger’ among teachers
Wrack added: “Teachers are being equally affected by the inadequacy of the current lunch break.
“Any change in length of the school day should focus on lengthening the lunch break to actually enable adequate time for pupils to queue for and eat their lunch.”
This comes after a Teacher Tapp study, released last month, suggested lunches lasted under 30 minutes in 11 per cent of schools. The figure stood at 14 per cent in secondaries.
In all, 14 Outwood schools are due to be impacted by the strikes, beginning tomorrow. They will run over six days until June 19.
NASUWT members at five academies will take part in the action, while NEU members across all 14 also voted to walk out.
NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede believes the “fact that members in 14 OGAT schools from Yorkshire to the north east, north west, and east Midlands have voted to take strike action demonstrates the level of anger” at the plans.
“The trust must listen to its workforce and immediately withdraw the proposals if it wishes to avoid strike action.”
An Outwood Grange spokesperson said the trust has been “constructively engaged with our trade union partners and our colleagues since October regarding our proposal to re-shape our secondary school day”.
‘Students will learn more’
Current arrangements mean lessons end at 2.30pm, which means “we fall short of the government’s 32.5-hour-a-week minimum expectation”.
“We have also made a commitment to meet regularly with the trade unions to identify any unnecessary workload across our team so that the new school week is overall ‘workload neutral’.
“The change we have proposed is small but will mean students can learn more and achieve even stronger outcomes – and will still mean the school day is within the time as set out in the government’s schoolteachers’ pay and conditions document.”
The NEU has set out what it calls a “blueprint” to “pro-actively seek” with bigger trusts and “undermine the notion of academy freedoms”.
Harris Federation slammed the union after strikes were paused in a high-profile dispute earlier this year.
The OGAT spokesperson added they are “exceptionally disappointed that our union partners have decided to take industrial action, especially as they have chosen days when students are due to take important exams”.
“The change we have proposed is small”
30 minutes of a 5 hour day is 10%. That’s not small and that kind of attempted gaslighting is an insult. Also, why not just ask your employees? Talk about poor leadership principles. Have they had any training in leadership?
As a parent of three who have all attended outwood i am against this change and stand with the teachers strikes. Many report it affects gcses but that isn’t true they have gcse students in despite the rest being online learning.
The school rush a 30min bearly lunch have to beg for toilet as either locked or large ques. Teachers get the brunt of annoyed pupils and parents.
A work day has more breaks to it then the school are giving the kids. Studies show sleeping in a little more and giving breaks helps the brain. Cramming the brain is not good and doesnt help from studies ive seen.
My daughters starting gcses in September and I worry what this means as the last two years have a extra hour on top of the day for gcse revision help!
Its to much and way more mental health issues then when it was more relaxed 10yrs ago let alone the 25 when I left school.
I do not feel it is in anyone best interest to extend the classes that staff bearly can control (not staffing fault but unruly students) and make the mental health and physical for some worse both in students and teachers. Many of whom do more then one person’s job!