College 'loses half its teachers'

A college is losing more than half of its teaching staff in a dispute over new contracts and workloads.

Academics' union the UCU says 97 out of 179 teaching staff at Harlow College, Essex, have decided to take redundancy, after five days of strikes.

University and College Union official Liz Martins said the quality of courses would decline and predicted a crisis.

The college said a package of measures would improve standards and that the staffing situation would soon improve.

'Pariah college'

Harlow College principal Colin Hindmarch said a range of steps were being taken to improve standards of attainment at the college.

These included all lecturers having to apply for new-style teaching posts to demonstrate that they could meet the standards required to achieve excellence.

He said: "Almost 80% of our teaching staff are set to get a pay rise to reflect the new terms and conditions of their contracts.

"However, some staff may lose out as we reorganise the way in which teaching is delivered.

"We recognise that this is a period of uncertainty and are working closely with our staff to provide the support they need.

"This will include working with them to ensure we can best plan the way forward, which may involve retraining or finding alternative positions in the college."

Public inquiry?

He also accused the UCU of being "disingenuous in its interpretation of the facts", adding that once the reforms had been put in place there would be 15 extra staff.

"This is about changing the way that our teachers and staff work, in order to improve academic standards. It is vital for our students and vital for the future of Harlow," Mr Hindmarch added.

The union claims teachers will be required to teach up to 37 hours a week, which it says is not feasible given the time they need to spend on course preparation, marking and other duties.

Head of further education at the UCU, Barry Lovejoy, said: "The union has done everything possible to find a solution to this dispute but the college has refused to provide adequate safeguards against excessive workloads.

"UCU will be advising its members not to apply for jobs at Harlow, which is set to become a pariah college. We are still looking for a way to resolve this, but it seems the college is not. "

The union is now seeking a public inquiry into the running of the college, suggesting it should be chaired by local the MP, Bill Rammell - who has been the further education minister and retains a ministerial post in the newly-formed Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

The college provides a range of courses, with many recognised for their excellence nationally and internationally, including degree courses, skills and vocational training and sixth form studies.

A third of the college's courses achieve excellent results but a third fall below average.

It is these results which Mr Hindmarch and the college governors want to change.