Teachers at the beleaguered Unity City academy in Middlesbrough have voted to strike over job losses and proposed changes to their working conditions, it was announced today.
Members of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers voted overwhelmingly - 70% - in favour of industrial action, including strikes. Some 73% of members backed action short of a strike.
Last week inspectors put the academy on special measures for failing to provide students with an acceptable level of education. It is the first of the government's new-style schools the education watchdog has failed.
Teachers have expressed concerns that the academy's proposals to establish a federation with nearby Macmillan college, in order to improve standards, will result in a change in their working conditions.
The Unity City academy trust confirmed that 10 jobs would be lost, but nine had already been resolved with voluntary redundancies.
Yesterday, Chris Keates, the general secretary of the NASUWT, said that, while the union had no problem in principle with the idea of a federation, one of the key elements of its dispute with the school 's management was the proposal for teachers to work under the conditions advocated by the college.
"These are unacceptable to NASUWT. They do not conform to the principles and practices we have secured in the national agreements the union has reached with the government on pay and conditions," she said.
Commented on today's vote, she said: "The result of this ballot demonstrates that the resolve of members to continue to resist a worsening of conditions and to protect jobs at the academy is absolutely solid.
"However, if at all possible, NASUWT wishes to avert the need for action.
"I hope the management of the academy will now take the opportunity to engage constructively with NASUWT to seek to find a mutually satisfactory way forward."
In an Ofsted report, published last Friday, inspectors said the school faced a "very substantial" financial deficit. It has reportedly overspent by £1.5m since it opened.
The academy, which has 1,125 pupils, aged 11 to 16, and is sponsored by the building support service company Amey, was formed by two schools with low attainment levels in an area with high levels of poverty and social deprivation. Half of the pupils are entitled to free school meals, well above the national average, while one-third have special educational needs.
Inspectors, who visited the school in March, said the challenge of uniting pupils from two schools, delays in moving to a new building and persistent difficulties in recruiting staff had all contributed to the problems.
They said pupil behaviour was unsatisfactory, and the quality of teaching was poor overall, although inspectors said there were examples of "good, very good and excellent teaching". Many of the staff were "strongly committed" to the pupils, persevering despite "overwhelming pressures".
The government believes academies, which replace failing schools with ones part funded by private sponsors, will drive up standards. It hopes to establish 200 of them by 2010.
A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said it was disappointed at the ballot result and hoped the matter would be resolved soon "so that the academy can focus on driving forward with its plans for improvement".
Joe McCarthy, chairman of the Unity City academy trust, said: "Industrial action is the very last thing we need at this critical stage in the development of the academy.
"It would benefit nobody because it would do nothing to change the very real challenges facing the academy, which the new management team has started to tackle over recent months."
He added: "What is needed now is cooperation rather than confrontation."
