Teachers Oppose Big Increase In Childcare

Childcare that would allow pupils to spend 50 hours a week in school could undermine family life, teachers said yesterday.

Under government plans, all schools will, by 2010, have to offer access to childcare from 8am to 6pm, either on their premises or near by. The Government wants to stop pupils being “latchkey kids” and give those in state schools the kind of extracurricular opportunities offered by the private sector.

But members of the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) said this would deprive children of contact with their parents and put unfair burdens on teachers. Stuart Merry, a head teacher from Kirklees, told the union’s conference in Belfast: “I know children who are left with child-minders at sometimes seven and eight in the morning and who don’t see their parents until seven at night. That cannot be right in terms of family cohesion. For parents, it’s like an addendum to their social life, having a child — it’s one of those things that you have.

“Some people will see this as just another way of dropping off children so they can get on with their busy lives,” he said.

Peter Cull, of the Wirral, said that teachers were increasingly expected to act as parents or social workers.

But members of the union’s executive said that assurances had been received that teachers and heads would not be expected to provide extra services to pupils outside school hours. They urged teachers not to fall into the trap of feeling obliged to run early-morning and after-school childcare. The law makes this the responsibility of local authorities, who can contract the work out to voluntary, statutory or private providers.

Chris Keates, the general secretary, added that the provision could help children with difficult home lives. “For some children, particularly children at risk, having that wraparound care is very important and gives them extra support.” Parents who had to work should have access to childcare by competent professionals, she added. A bigger concern was that extended services might interfere with a school’s core activities.