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The leader of the largest education union has threatened strike action if teachers lose their right to directed time in upcoming government reforms.

Speaking to ����Vlog exclusively, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union, warned that it “will absolutely strike to defend the only limited workload protection teachers have”.

Teachers have been entitled to work a maximum of 1,265 hours across an academic year since the 1970s, but the government’s ambition to increase enrichment activities for pupils could put that in jeopardy, Mr Kebede said.

“The Department for Education doesn’t have the staffing to introduce their enrichment reforms without changing conditions. I’m worried that the government could take away the 1,265 hours of directed time,” he said.

This prospect is a “major concern”, Mr Kebede added.

Working hours limit ‘under threat’

Under the latest government plans, schools will be expected to ensure that every child has access to activities across five categories. However, many teachers have been clear that they would not be willing to do so without extra pay.

A decision on directed time could be made this spring. However, ����Vlog understands that the government has no plans to change the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD).

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has asked the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) to offer its views on teacher working-hours arrangements by April 2026.

Directed time is a core part of the offer set out in the STPCD.

“The DfE will need to staff enrichment,” Mr Kebede said. “That can either come through the funding of more staff or making changes to conditions and asking teachers to do it.”

In response to Mr Kebede’s concerns, a DfE spokesperson said “evidence shows that increased participation in extracurricular activities is associated with higher academic outcomes, so this government is setting out a new core enrichment entitlement, so that every child - wherever they go to school - has access to sport, the arts and more”.

The DfE will be publishing a new enrichment framework shortly, they said.

Fears over directed time come as the government prepares to publish its schools White Paper, which has been the source of speculation over its planned reforms to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision.

Mr Kebede is worried that “the government will seek to do [SEND reforms] on the cheap because there is no money”.

The government announced in its autumn Budget that it will bring the cost of SEND provision into the central government spending envelope from 2028-29, taking it away from local authorities, but it has not offered any specific plans on how this additional £6 billion will be covered.

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The NEU chief also raised fears about continued reports that the government could make major changes to education, health and care plans (EHCPs), which ����Vlog first revealed last year.

“I’m concerned that the government will make changes that are quite sweeping around EHCPs without building that inclusive education system first,” Mr Kebede said.

‘Nationalise’ independent special schools

One of the biggest pressures on the SEND system, which MPs across the political spectrum have admitted is “broken”, is the cost to councils of commissioning places at independent special schools.

Spending on independent schools for pupils with SEND was more than twice as high in 2023-24 as it was in 2020-21 for more than two dozen councils, ����Vlog analysis shows.

Mr Kebede echoed earlier calls to government that profits made by independent special schools should be capped. However, he has now further suggested a full nationalisation of these private settings.

“I would like to see independent special schools nationalised. That would be an appropriate direction of travel. Whether the government do that or not, they could certainly cap profits or windfall, find some way to accrue it and reinvest in the state provision,” Mr Kebede said.

“It’s a national scandal that we have allowed a situation like this to occur.

“Local authorities are spending billions of pounds a year on independent special-school places that are essentially going to line the pockets of private equity firms,” he said.

Sir Martyn Oliver, Ofsted’s chief inspector, has also raised concerns about the large profit margins of independent special schools.

Controversy over widening membership

Beyond scrutinising government policy, the NEU has made headlines recently with its plans to actively recruit school support staff to its membership.

He tells ����Vlog that having a greater number of support staff members can “only be a good thing”, adding: “The worst paid, the most downtrodden part of the education workforce is also the one most likely not be in a union. That has to change.”

Mr Kebede said it would be a “great shame” if the NEU had to leave the Trades Union Congress (TUC) as a result. The union currently has an agreement not to actively recruit support staff, to assuage concerns from other unions.

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“I’m really hoping that we can reach an accommodation that the TUC are happy with. I’m not interested in us taking members from other unions,” Mr Kebede added.

A motion will be tabled at a special union conference on 28 February, when the NEU will make a decision on reaching out to potential support staff members.

In the meantime, Mr Kebede has called for consensus among his fellow unions.

“It’s incumbent on all trade unions, in the context that we are likely going to have a Nigel Farage [Reform UK] government in three years, to work together.”

Fears of a Reform government

The possibility of Reform leading the country is certainly at the front of the NEU leader’s mind. But what threat does he think the party poses to schools?

“They are going to be economically hard, with a desire to strip public services to the bone,” he said, referencing Reform’s initiative to tackle what it views as wasteful spending in local authorities.

“The stakes are really high over the next decade. You can imagine that, under Reform, teachers are no longer teachers as we know them, but instead managers of artificial intelligence programs,” Mr Kebede said.

He is also worried about how a Reform-led government could impact future strike action, speculating that it may introduce similar policies to the Conservatives’ minumum service levels.

“It’s evidenced in hard-right governments around the world - wherever they exist, they restrict trade union activity.”

‘Disappointed’ in Labour

The majority of NEU members have traditionally supported Labour. So what does the NEU chief think about the current government?

“I think Labour has done some positive things,” Mr Kebede said, citing the government’s focus on early years and the extension of free school meals.

However, he thinks Labour could have gone further on child poverty and made free school meals universal.

“Overall, I am disappointed. I don’t think they have been ambitious enough,” Mr Kebede added.

The NEU leader’s dissatisfaction can be seen most plainly in the union’s upcoming indicative ballot on industrial action, which will ask members about their willingness to take strike action over “continued austerity in education”.

The strike ballot, due next month, could lead to a repeat of the 2023 walkouts, in which action by thousands of teachers forced the closure of schools across the country.

Given the partially unfunded teacher pay award, concerns over workload and the potential for further legal action by unions against Ofsted reforms, Mr Kebede warned that he is not afraid to take his members back out on the picket line.

“The Labour government is on a collision course,” he stated.

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