Teaching union in jobs loss warning

Thursday 2nd December 2010, 11:29AM GMT.

Education in Powys will be severely damaged and a number of teaching jobs could be lost if proposals to close sixth forms and merge high schools go-ahead, it has been claimed.

Powys branch of the National Union of Teachers fears that plans to shake up secondary education in the county could cause inevitable job losses and cause irreparable damage to county education.

It would not hesitate to take action if teaching jobs were threatened.

The comments come after Powys County Council announced on Tuesday it wanted to keep all 13 secondary school sites in the county open but said some sixth forms could close.

The council also hopes to reorganise and streamline the management structure of schools, so that a headteacher can take responsibility for more than one school.

Graham Haslock, a spokesman for Powys NUT, said: “We are extremely concerned about the latest document emerging from the school modernisation team at Powys County Council.”

He said it would cause huge uncertainty to teachers who would be forced to reapply for their jobs with no certainty jobs will be there.

“For Welsh medium teachers there will be additional uncertainty – since such teaching will be concentrated in three sites – so many places which currently employ Welsh medium teachers will no longer do so,” he said.

View more: Mid Wales news, Powys news, Powys County Council news.