School leaders have vowed not to enact the government’s controversial “minimum service levels” during strike action.
The Department for Education this week announced it would legislate to create a power for schools, trusts and councils to order staff back to work so they can remain open for certain groups of pupils.
But it will be “at the discretion of individual employers whether or not to issue work notices” to deliver minimum service levels, and the government’s consultation makes no reference to any form of enforcement of the policy.
The DfE said headteachers and principals were “best placed to understand the needs of their staff, children and young people”. However, officials repeatedly refused to say this week whether schools would face any action if they did not uphold minimum service levels.
