UNIVERSITY Academy Keighley staff are being asked to teach a second subject instead of being made redundant.

Some teachers are being retrained so they can take on new subjects to fill spare time created by a reduction in their previous teaching commitments.

The changes take into account a recent reduction in pupil numbers and changes to the curriculum recommended by Ofsted following its inspection last October.

UAK principal Bernie Addison this week explained the changes in response to concerns raised by UAK staff who are members of the teaching union NASUWT.

She said there had been small changes to the design of the curriculum after Ofsted inspectors recommended increased time be allocated to core subjects, particularly science.

She said: “Despite reductions in pupil numbers, both at Year 7 and Post 16, which means that some staff are currently underload in terms of their teaching commitments, UAK has decided not to carry out a Managing Staff Reduction process which leads to redundancies in many schools.

“Instead, for the small number of staff affected, UAK has asked if they could offer to teach a second subject. Where retraining is required, UAK has pledged to invest in its staff in order to do this.

“This has been a very successful strategy at UAK and a number of staff have received high-quality training which allows them to offer a second subject. This is part of the strategy to keep improving standards of education for students at UAK.”

A NASUWT spokesman this week said members at UAK had been concerned to receive letters stating some of their subjects were being cut or were overstaffed.

Members at UAK are currently involved in industrial action over separate issues, including allegations of harassment and unreasonable treatment by management.

About 30 staff members continued their strike action last Thursday, and are expected to picket the school again today (March 22) in Greenhead Lane, Beechcliffe.

A union spokesman said: “Last Thursday we had a lot of support from the community and some ex-staff including a supply teacher who won’t work at UAK anymore due to poor treatment.”