There are a vast range of problems that are not educational, but which impact on a pupil's development

NUT

"Teachers cannot be responsible for tackling alone the social ills of society," the NUT says in its formal response to the government's green paper on the future of secondary schooling.

The union envisages the professionals on site would offer counselling and advice on issues such as drugs, teenage pregnancy and child abuse.

Schools with these facilities would be an effective way of tackling many of the barriers to learning faced by pupils and their families, the NUT says.

"Schools which have a range of welfare services co-ordinated alongside education provision would be in a better position to respond to the needs of families and their children, without teachers being expected solely to take on that role."

Success stories

Similar schemes in the United States and Scotland had helped raise attainment, reduce truancy and exclusion rates and had fostered stronger relationships between schools, pupils and the wider community, the union says.

"There are a vast range of problems that are not educational, but which impact on a pupil's development," a spokeswoman for the NUT said.

"Teachers are not experts on many of these issues - for example, if a teacher suspects a child is being abused, he or she would report this to the head who would then get social services involved.

"But if they were already on site, it would speed up the help for that child and take the burden off teachers," the spokeswoman said.

Teacher retention

The NUT criticises the government for failing to get to grips with teacher shortages.

"The green paper has little to say on the biggest challenge to the government's aspirations shared by this union for high quality education: the recruitment and retention of sufficient teachers to meet the needs of pupils and to deliver ever improving pupil achievement," the NUT's general secretary, Doug McAvoy, said.

Doug McAvoy: "Teachers cannot be responsible for tackling alone the social ills of society"

"Teaching as a profession must be talked up. Teaching must be no less attractive than other occupations competing for graduates," he said.

The union would be pressing the new government to open discussions on a new contract for teachers which would remove the excessive hours and stress teachers currently experience.�

This would both encourage recruitment and retention and raise teacher morale, Mr McAvoy said.�

And teachers' salary levels needed to be comparable with the salaries of equivalent professions, he added.

Diversity slammed

The NUT accuses the government of proposing changes in its green paper which would fragment the education service, creating a two-tier system propped up by preferential and inequitable funding.

This would advantage the few and disadvantage the many through the expansion of specialist schools and the establishment of city academies, the union says.

"The government has still not come to grips with the overwhelming evidence in favour of free, non-selective, high quality comprehensive education.

"Instead the prime minister has turned his attack on comprehensive schools, accusing them of less dedication than "any" private or grammar school," Mr McAvoy said. �

Private contractors

The NUT is also critical of the introduction of private contractors to run state schools.

"The NUT cannot support the proposals to enable an external sponsor to take responsibility for a weak or failing school against a fixed term contract.�

"The strategy of handing over schools to private companies is unnecessary and inappropriate and has the potential for those private companies to make a profit from publicly funded schools," the union's response says.���

The NUT also raises concerns about the expansion of church schools.

It suggests the following points be taken into account when considering setting up such schools: �

• the principle of equity and consistency should be maintained in the application of criteria for the establishment of faith-based schools
• concerns expressed by some that faith-based schools may isolate faith communities from the wider community should be taken into account
• faith-based schools should promote children's identity and meet their cultural needs.