Why the lecturers are in revolt

The pay of lecturers in further education has fallen behind that of teachers in schools. Yet the two groups teach the same students. No wonder the lecturers' union has voted to take industrial action. Neil Merrick reports

Further education colleges and schools have become much better acquainted during the past few years. Among those to benefit are thousands of 14- to 16-year-olds – many of them disaffected with education – who attend colleges only for a few hours each week to discover what life is like away from the traditional atmosphere of the classroom.

Lecturers and school teachers normally welcome the opportunity to work alongside one another – especially if this means that a youngster can be switched on to learning again by trying out vocational subjects such as catering or engineering. Some lecturers visit schools to pass on their expertise to larger groups of teenagers.

The Government is so impressed by such schemes, which have grown steadily during the past five years, that it advocated more collaboration between colleges and schools in its 14-19 Green Paper, published in February.

But such cross-fertilisation has only served to emphasise the fact that, while further education lecturers may be equally qualified and have as much experience, they earn considerably less than their counterparts in schools.

According to the lecturers' union Natfhe, the salaries of lecturers are about 10-12 per cent below those of teachers. While newly qualified school teachers are paid a minimum starting salary of £17,628, college lecturers start on as little as £16,030.

Automatic progression up a shorter pay scale along with the opportunity to receive allowances that are not available in colleges means that, later in their careers, teachers can earn up to £32,250 without taking on senior management responsibilities. Main-scale lecturers, meanwhile, cannot hope to progress beyond £25,829.

At their annual conference in Torquay last weekend, Natfhe members voted to refuse to work outside contractual hours as part of their campaign for pay parity. This is likely to include boycotting some programmes for 14- to 16-year-olds.

Dan Taubman, Natfhe's further education officer, says lecturers have a number of concerns about working with younger students and in some cases they require extra training to be able to deal with the sort of issues that are likely to arise among young adolescents.

But the biggest issues are pay and professionalism – otherwise increasing numbers of lecturers will be attracted to work in schools. "Sometimes lecturers are teaching the same kids as teachers but teaching them on different days," he says. "Lecturers who work in schools gain contacts. Schools are then able to cherry-pick the staff that they want."

Natfhe has already held two one-day strikes in protest at the 1.5 per cent pay rise offered by college employers. Some colleges claim they will not even be able to afford to pay this modest sum. Teachers, meanwhile, are guaranteed to receive a 3.5 per cent pay increase.

A survey of FE lecturers unveiled by Natfhe at its conference paints a depressing picture of an ageing and increasingly disgruntled workforce. Seventy per cent of lecturers are aged over 45 and many in their fifties are simply waiting for retirement. One lecturer commented: "I absolutely hate my job but I am too old to get out of it now."

Although most of the evidence is anecdotal, there is an increasing feeling that schools are overcoming teacher shortages by recruiting from FE, even where lecturers do not hold teaching qualifications.

Barry Lovejoy, another national official for Natfhe, says lecturers without qualified teacher status are employed by schools on instructor grades and then trained up to be teachers. By focusing industrial action on the 14- to 16-age-group, Natfhe would hope to demonstrate the disparities between colleges and schools. "It shows quite clearly how the lack of funds and the pay problem is going to lead to difficulties for the Government in delivering its 14-19 strategy," says Lovejoy.

A survey published earlier this year by the Further Education National Training Organisation said the fact colleges cannot compete with schools and other employers was one of the main reasons they face acute skills shortages. Twenty-two per cent could not recruit engineering lecturers while 10 per cent had difficulty attracting IT staff.

According to David Hunter, Fento's chief executive, money is certainly the biggest barrier, but there also needs to be more career progression that does not entail management. "A good teacher needs to remain in the classroom and not be promoted out of it," he says.

The Association of Colleges, which represents college employers, has condemned Natfhe's one-day strikes and is almost certain to do the same if lecturers boycott school-links programmes. Sue Dutton, AoC deputy chief executive, sympathises with lecturers but says the solution is to persuade the Government to invest more in further education. "It's very demotivating to be paid less money for doing a similar type of work," she says.

"If the Government wants to meet its target of increasing the number of 16-year-olds with five or more GCSEs and if one of the options is for colleges to work alongside schools, then the Government is going to have to address the funding inequalities that exist between the two different types of institution."

City of Bristol College has been running work-related programmes for 14- to 16-year-olds for nearly 10 years. This year, more than 600 pupils from about 15 schools are attending the college for half a day a week.

Lecturers who work with under-16s are carefully selected. "We have a group who specialise in that area and are trained to cope with the sort of issues that arise," says principal Brian Styles. "They have to be able to get the children engaged."

Styles acknowledges that FE salaries are uncompetitive. The college has still not told its lecturers whether it will be able to afford to pay them the 1.5 per cent award from August. With schools seeking to broaden their 14-16 curriculum and teach more vocational subjects – with or without the co-operation of colleges – he can only see the situation getting worse.

"So far the colleges that have been worst hit are sixth-form colleges with a curriculum that more or less matches those of schools," he says.

"If schools move into more vocational subjects because of the relaxation of key stage four they will be looking to recruit more staff with greater vocational expertise," Styles adds.

education@independent.co.uk