Teachers at Outwood Grange Academies Trust (OGAT) are set to go on strike next month over workload concerns related to the trust’s plan to extend the school day.
Members of both the NEU and NASUWT teaching unions will take strike action after half-term, OGAT said in a letter to parents at Outwood Academy Foxhills, in Lincolnshire. Initial action will take place on Tuesday 3 June with possible additional dates in the following two weeks.
The NEU has said that industrial action is set to take place at 14 of the trust’s 28 secondary schools.
The trust, which has 40 schools in total, defended its plan to extend the school day in February, saying that its secondary school day currently falls short of the government’s 32.5-hour-a-week minimum.
Teacher strike over longer school day
“Whilst we have been working diligently to ensure a smooth and effective transition to our adapted version of the new school day model, teaching unions have raised concerns over the potential associated workload linked to this extended day,” the letter to parents states.
“Despite many months of discussions we have, as of yet, been unable to resolve these concerns to their satisfaction.”
OGAT is proposing to increase the length of the school day and teaching contact by 30 minutes per day so the day ends at 3pm rather than 2.30pm.
NASUWT raised concerns about the plan earlier this year, saying it would “increase teacher workload and working time and damage morale”.
Dr Patrick Roach, former general secretary of the union, said the plan “to substantially increase teacher contact time amounts to one of the worst attacks on teachers’ terms and conditions”.
A letter sent to parents by OGAT in January said the proposed change to the school day was planned to come into effect from 1 September 2025, and added that the trust would share the results of a consultation in May.
The change will come in at a different time for some schools. A letter to parents at Outwood Academy Haydock, in Merseyside, confirms the new school day will start from September 2025, while the letter for Outwood Academy Foxhills lists January 2026 as the implementation date.
“Whilst this is a slightly delayed implementation date, we have looked at the best date for our academy and believe that this will work well,” the latter letter says.
The previous government delayed its original deadline for all schools to be offering a minimum 32.5-hour week to September 2024. It had originally been announced in the Conservative government’s schools White Paper.
Only one in 10 teachers and leaders polled last year said their school was not already complying with this requirement.
Unions had warned that adding time to the school day would create “significant financial and logistical challenges” for schools.
Extended week ‘won’t increase workload’
An OGAT spokesperson said it has “constructively engaged” with trade unions since October on the plan, and believes the change will help students to achieve stronger outcomes.
“We have approached this as a genuine consultation and have taken on board feedback to make changes to our original proposal. We have also made a commitment to meet regularly with the trade unions to identify any unnecessary workload across our team so that the new school week is overall ‘workload neutral’,” the spokesperson added.
“Given this, and the benefits to their education that students will get from the proposal, we are exceptionally disappointed that our union partners have decided to take industrial action, especially as they have chosen days when students are due to take important exams they have worked so hard for.”
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