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CDFU BULLETIN

CARDIFF 2017

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Contents

Ian Murch CHALLENGE AND CHANGE 2

Louise Regan PRESIDENTIAL YEAR 4

Guest: Chay Brown TEACHING AND TRANSITIONING 5

Annette Pryce SUPPORTING TRANS MEMBERS AND STUDENTS 6

Hazel Danson CONFERENCE OVERVIEW 7

Robert Wilkinson TRADE UNION ACT 15

Dave Mingay SPECIAL SCHOOL TEACHERS– DO THE EXEC DO ENOUGH? 16

Nick Wigmore FREE SCHOOLS AT ANY COST? 17

Catherine France STAFF WELL BEING 19

Ken Cridland CAMPAIGNING IN THE COMMUNITY 21

Joe Gordon HAPPY TEACHER 23

Editor CONFERENCE CROSSWORD 24

Bulletin Editor

Annette Pryce

CDFU Secretary

James Wilson & Melissa Hind

Finance, membership and recruitment

Nick Wigmore, Hazel Danson, Jim Miller, Gill Goodswen, Ken Cridland

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CDFU is the Campaign for a Democratic and Fighting Union

It is an organisation of activists within the NUT. We act collectively in the inter-ests of NUT members to try and ensure that the Union is both democratic and

effective in fighting on behalf of teachers and Education.

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A Challenging World, But One That We Can Change Ian Murch

2016 was not a good year. Even now, on a bad day, when people like us get together, we are likely to say to each other “Here we are living in an era of Trump, Brexit, austerity, resur-gent bigotry, racism and elitism, the spread of privatisation and deregulation…. How did the world get to be like this? What the hell can we do about it?” and a lot of head-shaking will go on, as we look at the consequences for our values, our public services, our communities.

But, as always, our country, like all of the others faced with this right-wing resurgence in its new populist guise, contains the values of altruism and egalitarianism as well as of selfish-ness in its population. They are often competing in the minds of the same individual, not just as the views of rival groups. If that wasn’t the case, political balance would never shift as a result of argument, re-evaluation and the intervention of effective political leadership.

The apparent dominance of “the virtue of selfishness” in world politics today is just a particular moment in the balance of forces in a changing world. We as activists in the NUT can,

with millions of others in Britain and throughout the world who aspire to something fairer, be part of a movement that not only criticises and challenges what is happening, but be-comes an alternative.

The NUT has, in recent years, been a good trade union that has made the voice of teachers and all who work in and care about education be heard. We have now taken the decision to start to create an even bigger and better union. We must now make sure that the National Education Union plays the biggest possible part in the change that can and will come to set us back on the path to social justice and equality.

So, what can we learn from the fact that the overall political situation is particularly challenging at the moment about how we should act?

1. Right now, it is most important for the NUT to be seen and be heard. The amalgamation to create the NEU, the new balloting laws and the overall political situa-tion mean that the high profile of a national cam-paign of strike action over cuts or workload or pay or pensions of the kind that has dominated debate in the NUT for a decade is not imminently on the agen-da. The different factions within the NUT are rightly mostly not squabbling about who among ourselves may be to blame for this, but looking outwards at campaigns that can make a difference to education and those who work in it if we all work hard for them. The day of the strike will come again.

2. Have our members with us. It is not only tempting, but correct to join in the wider battle over the threaten-ing tide of xenophobia that accompanies Trump, Brexit and the “refugee crisis”. But we also need to be the champions of our members’ pay, pensions, workload and right to be treated as professionals, know what the challenges in their individual working lives are and be able to support them in dealing with them.

3. Have some messages that appeal to the majority of the public, so that they can regard us as their voice too. This is an era of greater visible public protest and manifestation than any of us have seen before. But the mere fact that there are a lot of people on the street or in public meetings is not necessarily enough to indicate that there is the power to bring about change. The reappearance of a mass member-ship Labour Party, but without the ability to get reso-nance with even 30% of the electorate at the mo-ment, is a sign of that, and one by no means unique to the UK. Our funding campaign has been very well run and has that traction with the public and other organisations that we need on our side. Our NUT messages on selection, testing, league tables and academisation are certainly being put out there, but still need some refining to get a genuinely broad movement around them going.

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4. Though many of us are Labour Party members, the NUT are not affiliated and given the nature of our membership and the chequered history of union affiliation to Labour as a force for radical change, I think it would be a mistake to try to become so. However, a Labour Government remains our best chance of having the changes made to education and the treatment of teachers that we are fighting for. So what education policies Labour adopts, and how well it wins public support, are things that matter a lot to us. Labour has a good Shadow Secre-tary of State, but it still does not have either an elaborated plan on what it would do with education if elected, or a series of simple messages on educa-tion delivered from the top that resonate with enough of the public, and resolving this is getting urgent. We have a role to play here.

5. A union by the members, for the members. Acade-misation and cuts threaten the lay structure of our Union at local level like at no time in the last 40 years. 2 years from now the Government intends that there will be no release of local officers to do union work that can be agreed at local authority level. Such release will be at the mercy of academy chains and individual schools with shrinking budg-ets. We have put a lot of resources into extra em-ployed staff to work on recognition and facilities buy-in and the Holy Grail of a Rep in every school. If these don’t solve the problem, and they certainly won’t do so entirely, the wrong alternative solution will be to use such staff to replace lay local officers because the position of the latter becomes unsus-tainable. We need teachers and school support staff, elected by our members, to negotiate on be-half of and represent other teachers and their col-leagues. We need such school staff to speak for school staff and to organise them to act. Leadership at every level must be a function of elected repre-sentatives, not employees.

6. Be a bigger voice. The amalgamation of NUT and ATL is a huge achievement. Despite the overwhelming support of the membership for it, some of the questions raised in the debate are very real ones.

A. The new Union will need to be able to organise action, with more people in it who haven’t been persuaded to take such action before. This is an unavoidable question for any union that seeks to organise all teachers. When ATL members were asked to strike over pensions, they responded positively. Neither they nor the NUT had the necessary turnout to meet the new legal necessary preparation.

B. The NEU will need to decide what the increased diversity of membership that the ATL brings, particularly school staff who are not teachers, will mean for its priorities. It will support those members fully from the start. The obvious big-ger question is whether it will seek to become one union for all education workers, or one union for all classroom based school staff, ra-ther than remain with the relatively small share of such staff that it begins with. None of where we go from here on this issue will be gung-ho. We will be no more trying to wipe Unison and GMB or Unite off the school map any more than we will be trying to do that to NASUWT or NAHT or ASCL. The logic of a single school un-ion is, however, very compelling, and is what exists in many countries. We will want to urge our fellow unions to create together the one strong union that schools need, but we will also have to keep ourselves strong and growing until that succeeds.

2017 is a better year so far. Let’s work together to keep it that way.

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NUT PRESIDENT

LOUISE REGAN It is a real honour for me to become the

National President of the NUT at Confer-

ence this year particularly at this historic

time. This will be the last NUT confer-

ence as from September we join with

members in the ATL and become the

National Education Union (NEU). Profes-

sional Unity is something that we have

talked about for many, many years and

to have finally achieved a step towards

this is fantastic. We will become the

fourth largest union in Britain with over

450,000 members and the biggest edu-

cation union in Europe. At a time when

schools and education workers are facing

increasing pressure the need for unity

could not be more important.

We know that the education system in

the UK is under attack from a govern-

ment which has its heart set on privatisa-

tion of our public services. We are also

facing the biggest funding cuts to our

education service in a generation. I know

that during my year as President contin-

uing to build this campaign and work

with our allies is essential.

It is great that the NUT has led the cam-

paign to expose the appalling funding

cuts that schools face. The evidence is

clear, 99% of schools will face significant

cuts by 2020 and it has quickly become a

national issue. Some of us can remember

the cuts in the 1990s and the huge Fight

Against Cuts in Education campaign that

was set up to oppose what was happen-

ing. The current Fair Funding for Schools

campaign feels very much like this. There

have been huge meetings and rallies up

and down the country with parents,

head teachers and school staff, politi-

cians and other members of the commu-

nity coming together to speak out about

what is happening.

This is not just about the cuts that are

coming in 2020 but also the current situ-

ation with schools having to find funds

for additional NI and pension contribu-

tions, the £6,000 SEND funding per pupil

and the ever increasing costs of the

things that schools have to buy back.

This campaign is building momentum

and is now supported by nearly all the

school based unions. The school cuts

website has received a huge amount of

interest and the campaign has been cov-

ered in local media outlets up and down

the country. More and more headteach-

ers are speaking out about the impact of

these cuts on their schools and on the

education of our children.

These cuts are going to affect the majori-

ty of schools and we know that the

things that will be cut first are teaching

assistants who provide invaluable sup-

port in our schools. We also know that

schools are already reducing the subjects

that they offer and the areas that go first

are the creative subjects which for some

young people are the lifeline that keep

them in school. We are also likely to see

increasing class sizes meaning less sup-

port and individual time for children.

Recently we have heard that teachers

are buying resources and equipment to

keep their classrooms working and en-

sure children have the things they need.

It is quite shocking that in a country as

rich as ours this is happening.

However we have a real opportunity to

reverse these cuts with the increasing

pressure that is being put on this govern-

ment. We need to get involved in local

campaigns and continue to expose what

this government is doing.

These cuts are going to be damaging for

all our children but it is particularly con-

cerning that the joint research conduct-

ed by the NUT and Child Poverty Action

Group shows that those schools with the

highest proportion of pupils eligible for

free schools meals, generally those that

serve the poorest communities, will

suffer the worst cuts as a result of the

real-terms funding freeze and the impact

of the proposed new national funding

formula.

Another area that I will also be cam-paigning about during my year as Presi-dent is primary testing. At a time when there is no money for our schools we are spending an inordinate amount on testing our children as they move through primary school. Unfortunately these tests are not about what is good or useful for our students but are about high stakes, accountability measures on our schools.

In 2016 new tests were introduced for 11 year olds. The tests were indescribable and teachers up and down the country spoke out about their concerns and the impact of these new tests. The whole of 2016 was a mess, there was a lack of clarity – constant updates and amend-ments to the assessment guidance, the key stage 1 spelling, punctuation and grammar test accidentally published on line and therefore withdrawn and the horrendous workload implications and confusion around the writing assess-ments and the moderation require-ments. Teachers, parents and pupils were furious and rightly so.

The More than a Score campaign was born out of this frustration – a national conference was well attended and groups are starting to develop around the country. We need to get involved in these local groups and organise local events to engage with parents, grand-parents, teachers, support staff, gover-nors and all those involved in our schools and build the campaign to rid our schools of these terrible tests.

And finally we know that workload is a massive issue for our members but we also know that members are taking ac-tion in their schools to oppose this. Dur-ing my year as President I would like to do as much as I can to support members taking action in their schools and hope people will contact me to go in to schools to talk to members. I am also happy to join members on picket lines taking strike action whenever I am able to. We need to continue to build confi-dence to take action in our schools as we know we have many, many successes. Only if we fight can we win.

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Guest Article:

Teaching and

Transitioning

Chay Brown In September 2015, I took the terrifying

decision to come out as transgender. As

a Primary school teacher in a small town,

I wasn’t sure what to expect. When I

looked online for other teachers’ stories,

I found nothing apart from the story of

Lucy Meadows, who had sadly killed her-

self after being outed by the press.

There was no guidance on what to do or

what to expect, so I was very reliant on

the head teacher and the personnel de-

partment at the County Council. I have

been very fortunate to have had the sup-

port of my head teacher at every step of

the way. However, it should not have

been the case that I had to rely on ‘good

fortune’. Not all teachers in my position

are so lucky.

It shouldn’t be the case that I feel grate-

ful to be able to be openly transgender

without experiencing difficulties at the

hands of my employer, colleagues, the

children and their families. My experi-

ence should be the norm, rather than

the exception.

I was delighted to see the motion

‘Supporting our Transgender Members

and Students’ on the agenda of this

year’s NUT Conference. To have the

NUT’s support in lobbying government

for changes to the Gender Recognition

Act (GRA) would mean a great deal.

Under the current system, I am not yet

entitled to have my birth certificate

changed to reflect my true gender. I will

have to wait another 7 months at least

because it is not yet 2 years since I came

out as transgender at work.

Any transgender person wishing to

change their birth certificate has to sub-

mit evidence that they’ve ‘lived in their

gender’ for 2 years or more, provide

medical reports from the Gender Identity

Clinic, provide information about any

surgery and hormone treatment, and

pay £140. This information is then scruti-

nised by a panel of legal and medical

professionals who, to put no fine a point

on the matter, decide if an applicant is

transgender enough to receive a Gender

Recognition Certificate.

An amended GRA which would allow

transgender individuals to self-identify

more easily would make a massive differ-

ence to so many people.

The current system takes control away

from transgender people, who are al-

ready subject to so much scrutiny from

medical professionals as well as wider

society.

There are few other groups in modern

Britain who have to spend so much of

their time and energy justifying their

own identity. In the case of transgender

teachers, this time and energy could in-

stead be spent improving the lives of the

children and young people that we

teach.

This is why the NUT’s support in such an

important matter means so much to me.

When the NUT speaks up in support of

the transgender community, it is speak-

ing up in support of me.

By the NUT speaking up to make my life

just that little bit better, it will give me

more time and energy to follow my voca-

tion – giving children the best possible

education that I can.

It is extremely important for me to know

that the NUT supports and respects me

as a man, supporting my rights to fair

treatment regardless of my transgender

status – both within the workplace and

at union events.

In my workplace, I have been treated

with nothing but respect, but I know that

not to be the case for all transgender

teachers and students.

At NUT meetings and events, I have been

treated with respect, but I am dismayed

to think that this could ever not be the

case for other members.

By supporting a motion that very clearly

states the support and fair treatment

that NUT members ought to experience,

the NUT is showing all transgender mem-

bers that they are valued members of

the teaching profession. Knowing that

they have the backing of their union will

undoubtedly help more transgender

people to be open about their

transgender identity in the workplace.

My teaching is better than it has ever

been. This is attributable, in no small

part, to the fact that I am living a happier

life, without having to hide or pretend to

be somebody that I’m not. In turn, this is

attributable to the acceptance I have

benefitted from. This acceptance, as I

have already stated, should be the norm.

Nobody should have to rely on good for-

tune.

“It is extremely im-

portant for me to

know that the NUT

supports and respects

me .”

“The NUT is showing all transgender members that they

are valued members of the teaching profession.”

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SUPPORTING OUR TRANSGENDER MEMBERS AND STUDENTS. Annette Pryce LGBT Executive Member There are many things to be grateful for this year. We are moving forward into a new union, we are beating back govern-ment, I’ve seen fewer U-turns in a London Taxi, but were still not where we want to be in terms of equality. One hundred and thirteen years after the inception of the NUT, approximately 40 years ago, heterosexual colleagues from the City of Leicester brought amend-ments and motions on gay and lesbian rights to the main agenda of the NUT con-ference, we thank them for that, we don’t begrudge an ally for advocating for us, we thank them. It would take another forty years for that to happen again. Here we are 147 years after the NUT be-gan , we have a motion on supporting our trans members and students on the main agenda. We have come a long way. It is a historic moment, and ironic as it is in the final NUT [proper] , conference. We set out our stall about who we are, and what we want to be. If we are to be an advanced organisation, that is liberal, forward thinking and pro-gressive in all our practices we must face some uncomfortable truths. That perhaps as a union we aren’t quite as inclusive as we could be. We don’t all go about deliberately deny-ing people’s existence or identity, but lack of knowledge is a very dangerous thing. This is the reason I’m distressed that I needed to write this motion, that it’s not just a given, that we don’t just automati-cally treat all human beings in our union with equal respect and justice.

It is clear that unconscious bias, and prej-udice still exists, we have members who don’t agree with same sex marriage, who think I’m a deviant because I’m a lesbian, and while the majority of people who read this article won’t, there are some who would. When we struggle for our rights against a hostile force, we need allies, we need to educate our allies, our enemies and our undecideds, and push forward to make our union a better place for everyone. There is an undercurrent of hostility to our trans members on social media, in our classrooms, our staffrooms, and the challenges our students face when going through a transition process exists. We must ensure we provide support, lis-ten to their stories, hear their voices. We must help make their lives better and easier in our union and in our schools. The process involved in gaining a gender recognition certificate currently is trau-matic. As well as the lifelong course of hormones which affect your body in any number of ways as an adult, and the mini-mum two year social transition which can also be physically painful, there is the requirement to have 2 doctors, one which must be specialist to provide evidence of your gender dysphoria. Then a 16 page document that requires an incredible amount of detail, some of which is traumatic to have to detail. Then there is the £140 fee and finally a panel to decide whether to give you the certificate or not. This is before any surgery. There are few specialist surgeons in England, which is why most trans people travel abroad for treatment often spending thousands of up to 5 figures on their physical transition and recovery. These are not simple procedures, they are painful and traumatic and potentially

life threatening. And it’s hard to believe some people don’t want that whole process to be just a little bit easier ? And we’re talking about the application form. The form in the Republic of Ireland is administrative, requires a passport, a legal declaration and it does not require medical confirmation. It really isn’t as simply as ticking a box online, as some would have you believe. There will, no doubt, be emotional and academic arguments against this motion because some people fundamentally disa-gree with the review of the Gender Recognition Act and perhaps feel threat-ened by it. It is an irrational fear, and unfounded at that. They may insinuate that we aren’t ready, we need to investigate more be-fore making a decision. This could be done in parallel with declarative state-ments that show our trans members that we value them. It doesn’t require a de-lete all and an ‘enquiry’. The amendment from Croydon is a shameful throw back to the 1980’s when the then executive tried to sidestep talk-ing about gay and lesbian teachers and should be thrown out. We cannot replace one form of oppres-sion with another, all women everywhere should stand together to defeat misogyny and sexism, homophobia, biphobia, tran-sphobia and the violence that comes with that. The trans community are your best allies in this. We need to ignore the negativity that feeds itself on twitter, that is not a medi-um that promotes sensible discussion. Silvia Rivera, a black trans woman was the first person to throw a brick at the stone-wall Inn during the uprising in new York in the 1960’s. This this was a turning point in the gay rights movement, and later the LGBT+ movement. They need us now. Our trans members need you to be their ally too, to solidify our union’s position as a union that takes them out of the cycle of oppression, and declare for the good of everyone, once and for ever, that an inju-ry to one is an injury to all. Follow Annette on twitter @LGBTEXEC

“The amendment from Croydon is a shameful throw back to the 1980’s when the then executive tried to sidestep talking about gay and lesbian teachers and should be thrown out.”

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CDFU CAMPAIGN FOR A DEMOCRATIC AND FIGHTING UNION CDFU

NUT CONFERENCE

CARDIFF 2017

CDFU CONFERENCE OVERVIEW

CDFU CAMPAIGN FOR A DEMOCRATIC AND FIGHTING UNION CDFU

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PRIORITISATION

19 Workload and Teacher Recruitment and Retention 68,634

37 Primary Assessment: A Broken System 65,232

12 Education Funding and cuts in Educational Provision 59,109

20 Supply Teachers 49,047

21 National Contract for all Teachers 45,224

41 An All-Through LGBT+ Inclusive PSHE and SRE Curriculum 42,491*

44 Racism and Migration 41,914

22 Teacher Mental Health and Wellbeing 40,525

23 Staff Wellbeing 33,574

42 Black Teachers’: Looking Back and Moving Forward 33,022*

24 Putting "Support" back into Support plans 29,836

43 Securing A Future for Disabled Teachers 28,994*

49 Fair Pay for Teachers 27,384

38 Boycott Primary Testing 25,968

45 Supporting our Transgender Members and Students 24,909

39 Early Years Funding 23,233

16 Political Campaigning and Strategy 22,589

25 Bullying 20,653

46 Prevent Strategy 18,266

34 Sixth Form Colleges 18,066

13 Mental Health and Wellbeing of Students in Exam Factories 17,615

48 Protecting and Advancing a Lay-Led Union 17,552

36 Class Size and Staffing in Special Schools 17,209

26 Why is the Asbestos Time Bomb still in our Schools? 17,061

17 International Policy 16,657

40 Nursery Schools and Threats to Early Years Education 16,050

50 Pay 15,845

27 Leading Schools the NUT Way 15,469

35 A Curriculum for all 15,230

28 Workload 15,155

52 Supply Teacher Representation 10,506

15 Devolved Education Matters 3,660

MOTIONS FROM EQUALITY CONFERENCES * - TAKEN FIRST IN UNFINISHED BUSSINESS

EXECUTIVE PRIORITY MOTIONS

WALES

Suspension: Friday Debate: Saturday 12.00 (TBC)

EXPANDING SELECTIVE EDUCATION: THE GOVERNMENTS WRONG PRIORITIES

Suspension: Friday Debate: Saturday afternoon (TBC)

OUTSIDE SPEAKERS/AWARDS

Representative & Officer of the Year award & the presentation of Life membership to Christine Blower will be presented in the Friday session of conference

John McDonnell MP will address conference on Friday

International speakers during the Friday session include Leanne Mohammed, Hanan Al Hroub & a video presen-tation from Manish Sisodia

Jo Yurkey and Juhel Miah will address conference on Saturday

Howard Stephenson will address conference on Sunday

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NUT ANNUAL CONFERENCE CARDIFF 2017

FORMAL BUSINESS (1½hr) Friday 4.30 -6.00

ADOPTION OF STANDING ORDERS

AWARDS: REP AND OFFICER OF THE YEAR, LIFE MEMBERSHIP CHRISTINE BLOWER

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS (1¼hr) (Motions ) Saturday 9.15-10.30

EDUCATION GENERAL (1hr30mins) Saturday 10.30-12.00

11 ANNUAL REPORT pages 63-80

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EDUCATION FUNDING AND CUTS IN EDUCATIONAL PROVISION: Waltham Forest/Devon: Good motion that is strengthened by the amendments and highlights the Union’s campaign against funding cuts and calls for support for members taking action against increased class size and job losses

12.1 Oxfordshire/ East London: Replaces 3rd para with updated information and adds reference to the Budget announcement for additional £320m for Free Schools. Encourages parent/community campaigns

12.2 Lincolnshire/North Yorkshire: Important amendment which highlights the poor state of buildings and working/learning conditions for teachers and pupils resulting from cuts

12.3 Lancashire, Morecombe & District: Adds reference to cuts to Nursery provision and reiterates the de-mand for quality, qualified teacher led early years education

12.4 Lewisham: Amends point iii to call for a National Demonstration

13 MENTAL HEALTH & WELLBEING OF STUDENTS IN EXAM FACTORIES: Westminster: A good motion with a clear set of instructions to develop our campaign on workload and student and teacher mental health.

STRATEGY, FINANCE & COMMUNICATIONS (SFC) – WALES/CYMRU & STRATEGY & COMMUNICATION (1hr30 mins cont. sat 2.00-3.00) Saturday 12.00 -12.30

14 ANNUAL REPORT pages 3-51

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DEVOLVED EDUCATION MATTERS: Rhondda Cyon Taf: The motion highlights the significant new develop-ments that are occurring in the Welsh education system including the role of regional consortia in perfor-mance management, the Successful Futures curriculum and pay and conditions being devolved to the Welsh Government. The motion calls on the Executive to give greater autonomy and responsibility to the Wales Committee.

15.1

Ynys Mon: Strengthening amendment which calls on the Union to inform members of the potential threats to STPCD & Burgundy Book and prepare to ballot members for industrial action in the event of an unsatisfactory outcome on devolved pay and conditions

15.2 Caerphilly: Adds new points to include significant initiatives which will bring additional workload and ac-countability.

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POLITICAL CAMPAIGNING & STRATEGY: Lewes, Eastbourne & Wealden/ Croydon: Debate here will be around how best to influence Labour Party Policy and the formulation set out in the 6th paragraph which calls for a review of the political fund and consideration of how Unions affiliated to the labour Party have a formal role in policy development. Needs amending by 16.1

16.1

Executive: The amendment replaces paragraph 6 with a wording that is more in line with the NUT’s long held position of being a non-affiliated Union and using the time between now and the 2020 general elec-tion to develop a widely-supported vision for the future of education.

16.2 Lewisham/Leeds: Adds a specific set of demands that we should campaign to get the Labour party to adopt

STRATEGY, FINANCE & COMMUNICATIONS continued Saturday 2.00-3.00

INTERNATIONAL SECTION (30mins) Saturday 3.00-3.30

17 INTERNATIONAL POLICY: Executive/Norfolk: The motion sets out the ongoing key priorities for interna-tional work as we go forward to a new Union, in particular, work in Palestine

17.1 Brent: Adds reference to military interventions and calls on the Government to support peaceful resolu-tions and for them to stop supplying weapons.

17.2 Oxfordshire: Adds reference to the recent developments in Turkey.

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EMPLOYMENT, CONDITIONS & RIGHTS SECTION Saturday 3.30-4.30

(4hr 15min - continued Monday 11.00-12.30 & Tuesday 9.15-11.00)

18 ANNUAL REPORT pages 85-97

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WORKLOAD & TEACHER RECRUITMENT & RETENTION: Bradford/Lambeth: This is the most highly priori-tised and it would be good to debate this and the first 4 strengthening amendments. There are 4hr 15mins for this section spread over 3 days so there is plenty of time.

19.1

East London/Redbridge: Updating amendment regarding the joint unions, DfE & Ofsted guidance and the audit office report highlighting serious weakness in the governments recruitment and retention strategy. Adds a number of campaigning instructions to the Executive.

19.2 Executive: Adds work done on ASOS and targeted workload projects – e.g. workload charter

19.3 Lambeth: Adds in the vital work that needs to be done with our young teacher members around the re-tention of young teachers

19.4

Bradford: Useful amendment which focuses on how we campaign in a sustained way with the ever-increasing fragmentation and growing number of employers. Sets out a strategy, that can go forward in the new union, to develop A Model Approach for Employers to Good Working Practices for Teachers & Support Staff. It would be good to get to this if we can

19.5

Coventry: The intention of the amendment is good, i.e. to seek to get a legal limit on working hours. The way its worded is problematic as it asks for us to campaign the Government legislation for a 2 hour/day, 5 days/ week limit on work beyond directed time. This could be a real hostage to fortune, with employers potentially seeking to direct an additional 2 hours/day. The same formulation will be debated in motion 21 as the wording appears again in the 3rd instruction to the Executive. It is better debated via motion 21 however as it puts this demand it in the context of the workload protections of 195 days and 1265 hours.

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SUPPLY TEACHERS: Brighton & Hove/ West Suffolk: This is a good motion that sets out a number of cam-paign areas for the Union to pursue and ensures our work in defending Supply Teachers remains a key priority for the Union.

20.1

Executive: The amendment strengthens the motion with a new point viii which looks at campaigning for alternative methods of organising supply teacher provision similar to the schemes operating in Northern Ireland. It tidies up some of the wording in the original motion (para 5 and vii)

21 NATIONAL CONTRACT FOR ALL TEACHERS: City of Leicester/Coventry: A good motion with a clear set of demands.

21.1 Executive: Adds in the need to ballot for ASOS locally if the existing ballot expires and amends point 2 so it is in line with the Union’s class size policy.

21.2 Oldham: Calls for JCCs to be established in every school to monitor the implementation of a National Con-tract

22 TEACHER MENTAL HEALTH & WELLBEING: North Yorkshire: Good motion which updates our policy and campaign.

23 STAFF WELLBEING: Tameside/Buckinghamshire: Good motion which although covering similar areas to motion 22 has different instructions which will strengthen policy and campaigning in this area

24

PUTTING SUPPORT BACK INTO SUPPORT PLANS: Southend/City of Sunderland: The growth of support plans has become a real issue for members in schools and is a major cause of stress. The motion is strengthened by both amendments, particularly 24.2, and it would good debate both amendments.

24.1 Coventry: Adds need to collate information about the use of support plans

24.2 Leeds: A very good amendment that highlights the ‘pernicious impact of the duty to disclose if a teacher has been subject to capability procedures and calls on the Union to lobby for the removal of this duty.

25 BULLYING: Liverpool: Strong motion that reflects the reality of the bullying culture in schools driven by micro-management, excessive scrutiny and lack of trust of classroom teachers

25.1 Coventry: Adds an additional instruction to the Executive to encourage a collective response to bullying.

11

EMPLOYMENT, CONDITIONS & RIGHTS SECTION Saturday 3.30-4.30

(4hr 15min - continued Monday 11.00-12.30 & Tuesday 9.15-11.00)

26 WHY IS THE ASBESTOS TIME BOMB STILL IN OUR SCHOOL? : Brent: Good motion, needs amending by 26.1

26.1 Executive: Updates and tidies up the original motion.

27 LEADING SCHOOLS THE NUT WAY: Lincolnshire/Southend: Good motion which sets out a number of ways the union can strengthen support for members in leadership positions

28 WORKLOAD: Executive: Restates and updates Workload as a key priority campaign for the Union.

28.1 Caerphilly: Adds specific issues faced by members in Wales and the role of the Regional Consortia

28.2 Wakefield: Adds reference to the Nottingham City Fair Workload Charter

FINANCE: PRIVATE SESSION (1hr) Saturday 4.30- 5.30

ACCOUNTS: 4.30 Motions 29,30

REPORT OF STOKE ROCHFORD MANAGEMENT LTD 5.00-5.15 Motion 32

REPORT OF THE EXAMINERS OF ACCOUNTS 5.15-5.30 Motion 32,33

The Steve Sinnott Award will be presented during this session

EDUCATION: SECONDARY (1hr) Sunday 9.45-10.45

34 SIXTH FORM COLLEGES: Shropshire/City of Leicester:

34.1 Executive: Replaces wording in final paragraph to more accurately reflect the joint unions work already being done

35 A CURRICULUM FOR ALL: Portsmouth/Executive: Important motion highlighting the negative impact of EBacc, Progress 8 and the data driven culture in narrowing the curriculum

35.1 Oxfordshire: Strengthening amendment which makes reference to the impact on students and the rise in pupil exclusions where pupils will have a negative impact on league tables

35.2 North Yorkshire/Somerset: A substantial amendment which it would be good to debate. Updates to in-clude the re-introduction of Grammar schools and selection.

35.3 West Sussex: Adds reference to Government pressure to set and stream pupils and reiterates that deci-sions on pupil grouping should always be made by the professionals teaching them.

EDUCATION: SEN & DISABILITY (30min) Sunday 10.45-11.15

36

CLASS SIZE & STAFFING IN SPECIAL SCHOOLS: Hammersmith & Fulham/Buckinghamshire: A much need-ed motion that calls on the Union to campaign for class size limits of 12 (Moderate Learning Difficulties) and 9 (Severe Learning Difficulties)

36.1 South East Essex/Southend: Strengthening amendment which specifies staffing levels and to campaign for a limit of 6 students to 2 staff in Alternative provision.

Birmingham: Adds impact of funding pressures and staffing ratios of at least 1 teaching assistant in each class of students with MLD and a minimum of 2 where students have SLD

EDUCATION: PRIMARY (2hr continued Monday 9.15-9.30) Sunday 11.15-13.00

37

PRIMARY ASSESMENT: A BROKEN SYSTEM: Executive/Oldham: A good motion setting the ongoing cam-paign against primary testing, including developing an alternative system of accountability working along-side the Cambridge primary Review Trust. Point F retains the need to prepare to ballot leadership mem-bers to boycott 2017 tests. The formulation in 37.1 is probably better.

37.1 Lancaster, Morecombe & District: Strengthens the original motion by amending action points D and F & J. Replaces F with a possible boycott in 2018 which is more achievable

37.2 Lambeth: Adds 3 new points for preparation for a boycott ballot in 2018 with an internal ballot of all members and an indicative ballot of head teacher members

37.3 Executive: Updates in relation to the launch of the DfE consultation on Primary Assessment

37.4

Caerphilly/Flintshire: Calls to campaign for the welsh Government to abolish the National Literacy and Numeracy Tests and to return to a formative assessment system in preparation of the Donaldson Curricu-lum reforms

12

EDUCATION: PRIMARY (2hr continued Monday 9.15-9.30) Sunday 11.15-13.00

38

BOYCOTT PRIMARY TESTING: Lewisham/Nottinghamshire: The action strategy around any boycott will have been debated in motion 37. The motion is boxed as it can only be implemented in accordance with the law on industrial action. Needs to be amended by 38.1

38.1 Executive/Portsmouth: Updates the motion and has a more achievable and better formulated action strategy

38.2

Sheffield: Should be opposed as the wording in point D calls on the Union to support members who refuse to administer SATs without the protection of ballot. It also calls on the union to appoint a primary head teacher to reinvigorate the campaign but we already have staff who do this and we need members, in-cluding head teacher members, to lead the campaign as activists, rather than appointed staff.

39

EARLY YEARS FUNDING: Birmingham/Kirklees: An important motion which sets out policy in reaction to the Government’s proposed funding formula which will massively undermine the role of nursery schools and quality provision with properly qualified teachers and support staff

39.1 Lambeth: Adds important references to Children’s Centres and opposition to baseline testing

40 NURSERY SCHOOLS AND THREATS TO EARLY YEARS EDUCATION: Executive: A good motion but covers much of the same ground as motion 39

EDUCATION: PRIMARY continued Monday 9.15-9.30

EQUALITY CONFERENCES SECTION (1hr 30min) Monday 9.30-11.00

41

AN ALL-THROUGH LGBT+ INCLUSIVE PSHE AND SRE CURRICULM: LGBT+ Teachers’ Conference: important motion that sets out a clear campaign to resist the Government’s removal of statutory PSHE in the new curriculum and the negative impact on pupils who will not get the advice and guidance they need

41.1 Executive: Supportive amendment which adds to the main motion and re-words action point 7 with a better formulation

42

BLACK TEACHERS’: LOOKING BACK AND MOVING FORWARD: Black Teachers’ Conference: Restates the need to maintain and strengthen structures within the union to organise black teachers and looks forward to how this needs to be maintained within the National Education Union. Calls on the executive to rein-state a National Official with sole responsibility for Race.

42.1

Birmingham/Oldham: Updates and strengthens the motion by adding reference to the NUT commis-sioned report by the Runnymede trust and the NUT/ATL 2016 survey on pay progression. Deletes and re-words points i, ii, iii and iv

43

SECURING A FUTURE FOR DISABLED TEACHERS: Disabled Teachers’ Conference: Good motion that seeks to strengthen the support and advice available to disabled members who face discrimination in challeng-ing this through the complex disability discrimination laws.

EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS AND RIGHTS SECTION (Continued) Monday 11.00-12.30

EDUCATION: EQUALITY SECTION (1hr 30min) Monday 2.00-3.30

44

RACISM AND MIGRATION: Croydon/Cambridgeshire: The motion builds on Union’s response to increas-

ing racism following the Brexit result. Instructs the Executive to support the rights of EU nationals, in-cluding children, to remain in this country; encourage Divisions and Associations to work with mem-bers in developing anti-racist work in our schools; call Government to allow vulnerable children to enter this country & provide funding to support them; affiliate to Stand Up To Racism (we already give substantial support from the political fund to Unite Against Fascism and it’s not clear what the difference is); support the work of Trade Unionists for Calais

44.1 East London/Executive: Strengthening amendment that makes a number of additions including reference to the Runnymede Trust research

44.2 Bradford: A mini version of 44.3 – adds reference to the impact of the election of Donald Trump and in-crease in fear of minority communities.

44.3 Coventry: A fuller amendment on the impact of the election of Trump

44.4

Birmingham: Adds instructions to the Executive to support the call for a new protocol on migrant’s rights to be written into the Paris agreement on climate change and support for calls to oppose the state visit of Donald Trump & encourage members to take part in protests

44.5 Lambeth: adds new point ii to campaign against any draconian and racist border controls.

44.6 Wakefield & District: Adds reference to The Calais camp and the closure of the Dubs scheme which al-lowed unaccompanied children to come to the UK.

13

EDUCATION: EQUALITY SECTION (1hr 30min) Monday 2.00-3.30

45

SUPPORTING OUR TRANSGENDER MEMBERS AND STUDENTS: Redbridge/Bristol:

This is a very good motion that really seeks to move forward our policy and practice to support

transgender members. It sets out a list of reasonable steps for the Union to take including lobbying for implementation of the actions recommended by the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) review; support transgender members right to self-identify; ensure that our transgender members feel safe at Union events and have access to single sex provision if they identify as Transgender or non-Binary; make it clear that the Union supports the rights of our Transgender members to not be harassed; and work more closely with Gendered Intelligence to ensure that our members, reps, division secretaries and equalities officers as well as staff have access to information that will help support students transi-tioning. Rather surprisingly, this has become a real issue of contention as the debate around amend-ment 45.1 will show. Amendments 45.2 and 45.3 both strengthen the original motion. However, the Executive attitude is to Oppose everything unless amended by 45.1. There are genuine differences of approach here so this is set to be a very IMPORTANT DEBATE!

45.1

Croydon/Portsmouth: Amendment 45.1 seeks to delete most the motion and its action points, despite it being widely prioritised and supported by associations. It’s not quite a delete all, but it seriously un-dermines the original motion by replacing all but point 3 of the action points and calls instead for a commission of inquiry to consider things. It also deletes paragraphs 4&5 of the motion. Read the words on the page and the impact of what this amendment seeks to delete. This will be a debate to listen to and consider carefully.

45.2 Buckinghamshire/Kensington: Makes useful strengthening additions to the original motion

45.3 Redbridge: Strengthening amendment which adds to the original motion

46 PREVENT STRATEGY: Camden/Executive: Reaffirms and updates or policy in relation to Prevent which continues to be a serious concern

ORGANISING AND MEMBERSHIP SECTION (30min) Monday 3.30-4.00

47 ANNUAL REPORT pages 52-62

48

PROTECTING A LAY-LED UNION: Rochdale/Bradford: This is a clear motion that reiterates the need for the Union to protect and strengthen our local structures, the need to campaign for facilities time and to con-sider what resources are needed to do this.

48.1 North Yorkshire/South East Essex: Adds to the motion and rewords some bits

48.2 Brent: Welcomes the creation of the NEU but doesn’t add much. It’s a bit unclear why it was put above 48.3

48.3

Buckinghamshire/Bradford: Updating amendment and seeks to ensure protecting facilities and paid time off for lay officers is a key priority in the NEU and to establish a body within to new union to focus on this work.

48.4 Oldham: This amendment relates to the role of retired members in the NEU. The interim rules of the NEU were accepted by the special conference

SALARIES, SUPERANNUATION & EDUCATION ECONOMICS SECTION Monday 4.00-5.00

49

FAIR PAY FOR TEACHERS: North Somerset/Sheffield: A good motion that sets out the issues for recruit-ment and retention and teacher supply with the consistent erosion of pay. This is the only motion that considers a ballot for National Action.

49.1

Executive: A supportive amendment that adds to the main motion and instructs the executive to develop strategies to prevent and challenge unlawful discrimination in pay matters, experienced in particular by Black teachers, part-time teachers and by women teachers due to pregnancy or maternity leave.

50 PAY: Executive: Much of this will have already been debated in motion 49

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SECTION (30min) Monday 5.00-5.30

51 ANNUAL REPORT pages 81-84

52 SUPPLY TEACHER REPRESENTATION: West Sussex/Brighton & Hove: It’s the reserved executive seat for Supply Teachers Debate and calls for a rule change to create one

52.1 Somerset/Executive: Removes the call for a reserved seat and replaces it with reference to our current organising structures

52.2 Sheffield: Calls for a reserved seat for supply teachers on the NEU executive

52.3 Coventry: Adds some useful things about campaigning for supply teacher issues

The Blair Peach Award will be presented during this session

14

EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS AND RIGHTS SECTION (Continued) Tuesday 9.15-11.00

UNFINISHED BUSSINESS (1hr) Tuesday 11.00 – 12.00

Any unfinished motions from the Equality Conferences will be taken first then any unfinished Priority Motions. The vote attached to each motion at the priority voting stage will determine the order of business for the final session of Conference. Those motions and amendments on which debate has commenced will be taken first be-fore any motions that haven’t been started.

53 ADOPTION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT Tuesday 12.00

GENERAL SECRETARY’S ADDRESS Tuesday 12.15-1.00

VOTE OF THANKS (Motions ) 54,55,56

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15

The Trade Union Act and

the Implications For You

as a Union Members

Robert Wilkinson: from Oxfordshire

writes:

The new legislation further restricting

the rights of Trade Unions came into

effect on 1st March 2017. The NUT Na-

tional Executive correctly judged this Act

to be the ‘harshest attack upon trade

union members in decades and under-

mines the fundamental principles of

workers’ right to withdraw their labour

in furtherance of a trade dispute’.

Carwyn Jones the First Minister of the Welsh Assembly branded this latest leg-islation as ‘divisive’ and ‘damaging’ and sought to repeal it for public sector workers in Wales. The NUT raised the issue at the TUC Con-

gress last September and supported its

referral by the TUC to the Conference

Committee on the Application of Stand-

ards at the International Labour Organi-

sation(ILO) in Geneva. The ILO Com-

mittee expressed concern in regard to

the requirement of a 40% support from

all workers eligible to vote in a ballot for

industrial action in ‘important’ public

services that ‘this restriction would also

touch upon the entire primary and sec-

ondary education sector, as well as all

transport services, and considers that

such a restriction is likely to severely

impede the right of these workers and

their organisations to organise their ac-

tivities in furtherance and defence of

their occupational interests without in-

terference. The Committee recalls in this

regard that recourse might be had to

negotiated minimum services for these

sectors, as appropriate. The Committee

requests the Government to review this

matter with the social partners con-

cerned with a view to modifying the Bill

so as to ensure that the heightened re-

quirement of support of 40 per cent of

all workers does not apply to education

and transport services’.

The ILO therefore does not accept that

education is an ‘essential’ public service

according to internationally recognised

standards, although it may be consid-

ered necessary to safeguard the children

with special needs in residential estab-

lishments. Whether the UK government

would accept the ILO requirements is

however a different matter as both the

Labour and Conservative governments

have ignored since 1987 the previous ILO

ruling on the denial of collective negoti-

ating rights for teachers with their em-

ployers (the abolition of the Burnham

Committee).

Further concerns raised by the ILO Com-

mittee highlight the draconian nature of

the new TU Act.

It noted that ‘these changes come within a cumulated context of heavy procedural requirements for balloting, including the fact that balloting must be by postal voting only and that secret workplace voting and electronic voting are not al-lowed. The Committee invites the Gov-ernment to review the ballot method with the social partners concerned with a view to its possible modernisation while bearing in mind the rights and in-terests of all parties concerned’. The Committee ‘further observes the concerns raised by the TUC in relation to the proposal to revoke the regulation in the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 which prohibited the provision of agency workers to replace strikers. The Committee requests the Govern-ment to review this proposal with the social partners concerned bearing in mind its general consideration that the use of striker replacements should be

limited to industrial action in essential services. Finally, the Committee requests the Government to provide its com-ments on the other matters raised by the TUC, and in particular as regards: (i) the proposal to abolish dues check-off across all public sector organisations; (ii) the proposal for an opting-in clause (as op-posed to an opting-out), with a limited time validity, for union member contri-butions to political funds accompanied by detailed reporting obligations; (iii) the remaining provisions on picketing; and (iv) the proposal to increase powers of the certification authority’. Even the out-going Certification Officer David Cock-burn criticised the new powers being given the CO by the TU Act as putting trade unions at risk of vexatious com-plaints from ‘persons or organisations seeking to pursue them for industrial, political or other purposes’. No doubt the vultures of bodies such as The Free-dom Association will be delighted to ex-ercise their new powers to interfere in the activities of trades unions. Public services are also now required to publish information about the facility time taken by trade union representa-tives even though this has been negotiat-ed by collective agreements with the employers. The implications for trade union mem-

bers of how the new legislation could be

applied is now being tested in the courts,

it could prove to be a social media night-

mare if the employers win their test

case.

Sarah Glenister of the Institute of Em-

ployment Rights condemned the new

legislation. ‘In every way it can, the gov-

ernment has attempted to silence trades

unions – the traditional mouthpiece of

workers – and remove from them the

leverage they need to redress the imbal-

ance of power between employers and

workers. In our Manifesto for Labour

Law – 25 recommendations for reform,

the principles of

which have been

adopted by the La-

bour Party – we call

for the Trade Union

Act to be repealed.

16

Does the Executive do enough to

support Special School Teachers?

Dave Mingay from Luton writes:

We are a Union for all teachers, whether

you work in nursery, Primary, Secondary,

Sixth Form, PRUs or Special schools. How-

ever throughout my activism in our Union

I have noticed one thing that has become

clearer over recent years, no one seems

to understand Special schools. Until re-

cently there was a way around this via

the SEN Advisory Committee which con-

sisted of Special School Teachers, Sencos

and centrally employed Soulbury staff,

and this was a great way for the Execu-

tive to seek expert advice from those

who work with society's most challenging

children. Despite the fact that the Execu-

tive probably glazed over our recommen-

dations, at least NUT staff could seek our

advice and feed back to us about current

developments. The Union has lost this

vital voice.

The Executive decided to scrap Advisory

Committees and I believe there was merit

in this as there appeared to be an Adviso-

ry Committee for just about everything.

However, certain Advisory Committees

were replaced with "Organising Forums",

SEND was not one. We have been told

that an "Online Survey" will replace it.

Since the Advisory Committee was dis-

banded there have been no such surveys.

The NUT provides a lot of information on

SEND; however it is all directed at SEN-

COs and including children with mild/

moderate learning difficulties into main-

stream education. If you look at the SEN

section of the NUT website it is infor-

mation for SENCOs, there is nothing for

Special School teachers. It is almost like

for the NUT: SEND begins and ends with

SENCOs. My school has no "SENCO" (the

named person is the head), because eve-

ry single child I teach has an Education

Health Care Plan and is seen by outside

agencies.

All the children I teach are in my school

because they would be unable to cope in

a mainstream environment. My children

are generally non-verbal, sometimes

have complex medical needs, and some

wear nappies (some may end up wearing

nappies all their life). On a daily basis I

am pinched, scratched, sometimes hit,

bitten and handling children is part of the

course. The children in my school, (as in

other special schools), use the biting,

pinching and hitting as a method of com-

munication. I teach children for whom

1:1 correspondence is a challenge, never-

mind ‘counting’. I really could go on

about how the job of a special school

teacher is different to that of a main-

stream teacher but that is not the pur-

pose of this article.

For as long as I can remember we have

had policy on class sizes in mainstream

schools, we've passed countless motions

on this subject, it comes up time and

time again. Yet if you look for current

policy on special school class sizes it is so

vague and outdated, by time you've actu-

ally got your head around it a whole aca-

demic year will have passed with your

large class.

As successive Governments create a nar-

rower, less flexible and increasingly diffi-

cult curriculum, more children are com-

ing to Special schools. When you tie that

into the fact that, due to the advances in

medical science children are now living

with some very complex disabilities, spe-

cial schools face pressures from both

directions.

As Local Authorities have no power to

open new special schools and the "Free

market" doesn't seem interested, special

schools are under massive pressure and

class sizes are growing. I am pleased that

we are discussing special school class

sizes at this conference and hopefully we

can finally have actionable policy in this

vital area.

This brings me onto the next area we are

lacking in, assessment. I recall us having

the debate on primary assessment, we

have policy on the KS1 and KS2 tests, we

have policy on KS3 Tests, and we have

debated and have set policy around

GCSEs and A-levels.

We campaign tirelessly on a different

form of assessment for mainstream

schools, the NUT Facebook group is full of

posts about it but what about special

schools? When National Curriculum Lev-

els were removed P-levels remained leav-

ing special schools teaching children be-

low Level 1 when Level 1 didn't exist.

There were also those children working

on the Lower National Curriculum levels

but being a lot older than the children

they were designed for (ie a 16 year

working at Level 2). It left those children

in a grey area, for want of a better

phrase.

Did we hear anything from the National

Union about this? No. Did the Executive

ever discuss it? If they did they kept it

quiet. We've now had The Rochford Re-

view into SEND assessment set up by the

Government to solve this grey area. You

may not have heard about it because as a

Union we've said nothing about it. It

would appear that we have literally noth-

ing to say on the biggest change to SEND

assessment in a generation.

Imagine if, when the government

changed primary assessment, we had

said nothing about it, no press release, no

briefings to members, it would have been

an embarrassment. The Annual Report

says nothing about The Rochford Report

other than we had input into it (along

with a big list of other consultations).

17

I am in a fortunate position, having

served on the SEN Advisory Committee

that I know the officials who work in this

area for the Union and I can ask them

directly. As a result I know that following

on from The Rochford Report the Union

(Officers) have raised a few concerns

about the reports content

however most members don't

have access to Union officials.

To most members who work

in Special Education the NUT

has nothing to say on what

will be the biggest change to

assessment in a generation.

We wouldn't tolerate that for

any other area of education

so why is it acceptable for

Special Education?

I know the officials of the union work

very hard in this area and I think we have

some fantastic staff in the Union and I

want to acknowledge that. Every SEN

Advisory Committee meeting showed

just how hard they work and how knowl-

edgeable they are. I lay no blame at their

door, they are a massive asset to the

Union and I am proud of the work they

do.

I am often quick to support the Execu-

tive but on this issue they have serious

questions that need answering. I appre-

ciate that it is still union policy to include

all children into mainstream schools but

that is a pipedream, spend 1 hour in my

classroom and you will see that simply

isn't possible. Putting that to one side,

we do have special schools, we have a

lot of members in special schools, so

why do we have no policies to support

them and nothing to say when such a

fundamental change happens? I am not

going to argue for a "reserved seat" on

the Executive, that would change noth-

ing. The current Executive has at its dis-

posal everything it currently needs to

speak up for issues affecting Special

School teachers, it could

even create a forum to seek

advice from us if they need-

ed it, yet they have nothing

to say.

I can only hope that the cre-

ation of the National Educa-

tion Union will mean we can

use our louder voice to

speak about issues in all

sectors of education not just

speak louder about mainstream educa-

tion. We cannot continue as we are, it is

simply not good enough.

To answer my own question I posed in

the title: Does the NUT executive do

enough to support members in Special

schools? In my opinion, no, the silence

must end.

Free schools at any cost

Nick Wigmore writes:

To paraphrase the National Audit Office

report Capital Funding for Schools (Feb

17), free schools are not free, they are

bloody expensive. The reaction to the

report, even from within the Tory press,

has been highly critical of the DfE’s

spending priorities as politicians, parents

and the public come to terms with the

fact that schools face the most severe

spending cuts in generations while

Whitehall throws good money after bad

propping up the Free Schools Pro-

gramme.

The DfE has not been shy about reveal-

ing how much it’s prepared to siphon

away from local authority schools in

funding Michael Gove’s vanity project;

figures published in 2015 reveal that

free schools receive 60% more funding

per pupil than local authority run

schools; £7,761 compared to just

£4,767. But the NAO report illustrates

that the rerouting of money from local

authority schools in favour of free

schools goes beyond the inequalities of

per pupil funding and has turned into an

uncontrolled multi-billion pound spend-

ing spree driven by dogmatic political

ambition.

Below is a summary of the NAO findings:

£450m – amount allocated to the

Free School programme in 2011

£9.7bn – amount now needed for

Free School programme by 2021

£2.5bn – amount needed to pur-

chase the land on which to build

free schools

£4.9m – the average cost of

sites bought by the DfE, with 24

sites costing more than £10m, and

four costing more than £30m

19% – the average amount

the government has paid above land

valuation for free school sites

£6.7bn – the amount needed to

bring existing school buildings in

England and Wales to a ‘satisfactory

standard’.

Cont...

As successive Governments create a narrower, less

flexible and increasingly difficult curriculum, more

children are coming to Special schools. When you

tie that into the fact that, due to the advances in

medical science children are now living with some

very complex disabilities, special schools face pres-

sures from both directions.

18

The Tory’s drive to create hun-

dreds more free schools comes at

a huge cost, both financially and

in terms of the impact they will

have on existing schools. Free

schools have the potential to de-

stroy whole communities of

schools where there is no need

for additional capacity, where sur-

plus pupil places will starve ex-

isting schools of pupils and there-

fore funding; of the 113,500 new

places being created in main-

stream free schools between

2015 and 2021,

half of these will

lead to spare ca-

pacity in other

nearby schools.

The NAO de-

scribes the impact

of free schools on

neighbouring

schools as often

'significant’, many

more would de-

scribe this impact as devastating.

From an economic perspective it

is hard to comprehend why local

authorities have been banned

from opening new schools as pu-

pil numbers are forecast to in-

crease by 750,000 in the next ten

years. Free schools, despite Toby

Young’s claims, are not “cost

effective” and certainly don’t pro-

vide “better value for money”

than previous school building

schemes. Between 2011 and 2015

the government had spent £19

million acquiring land for, and

building, university technical col-

leges and studio schools that

closed within four years. Here is

where some of that money went:

Greater Manchester Sustain-

ble Engineering UTC:£9m

Central Bedfordshire College

UTC: £6.6m

Hackney UTC: £3.3m

Da Vinci Studio School of Cre-

ative Enterprise: £2.9m

Da Vinci Studio School of Sci-

ence and Engineering: £2.6m

This is just a small sample as the

number of free school closures

continues to increase. These fail-

ures represent more than just a

waste of tax-payers’ money, they

have led to redundancies for hun-

dreds of teachers and support

staff, not to mention the thou-

sands of pupils whose education

experience and prospects will

have been jeopardised by the

sudden closure of their school.

This failure to evaluate need, to

plan and to exercise due diligence

is staggering, bordering on the

criminal. Had any local authority

been found guilty of such failures

there would be a public outcry

and rightfully so.

As more attention is paid to the

devastating impact of school cuts

under the National Funding For-

mula, with one in 5 small schools

and local authority maintained

nursery schools facing closure and

thousands of support and teach-

ing staff facing redundancy, it is

essential that we campaign for

education funding which is based

on the needs of individual regions

and authorities, calculating the

needs of individual schools. Free

schools are the problem, not the

answer, and until the Tories allow

their flagship to sink we must

continue to expose the scandal

that is wrecking and impoverish-

ing our education system.

The DfE has not been shy about re-

vealing how much it’s prepared to

siphon away from local authority

schools in funding Michael Gove’s

vanity project; figures published in

2015 reveal that free schools re-

ceive 60% more funding per pupil

than local authority run schools...

CBC ELECTIONS

VOTE FOR

James Wilson

Joe Flynn

Ann Seurat

19

STAFF WELL BEING

Catherine France: of Tameside

writes:

Mental health is a growing concern in

the UK with figures rising every year.

The impact of poor mental health

and lack of awareness means that

many people do not receive the nec-

essary intervention early enough and

this leads to severe problems both

mentally and physically.

Since the government cuts there has

been a noted increase in people

suffering with mental illness in the

areas where the cuts have been most

active which is accompanied by an

increase in the number of suicides in

public sector workers such as police-

men and firefighters. Figures show

that 1 in 6 people in the workplace

are being treated for a mental health

issue and it is the third biggest cause

of absenteeism after muscular-

skeletal issues and minor ailments.

These figures are believed to be low-

er than reality as many people have

an undiagnosed mental illness or

may declare a different reason for

work absences due to the stigma sur-

rounding mental health issues. This

stigma has given rise to a culture of

silence. This is a particular concern in

males as 72% of people listed as

suffering with depression are women

and yet 75% of people that commit

suicide are men.

As you can see from these figures, it

is vitally important that we encour-

age and promote a culture of open-

ness around mental health that al-

lows everybody to feel comfortable

expressing themselves and feeling

able to seek help and support.

Due to the increased workload and

economic climate, stress is now the

major cause of long term absence

from work. Although workload is an

issue that schools and unions are ad-

dressing on a government level, the

effects are happening now and I be-

lieve it is important that as well as

fighting the causes of increased

workload, we work to manage the

impact and improve our staff resili-

ence to it. The results from the 2014

research survey conducted by MIND

are listed below:

50% of people feel stressed in

work

1/3 of people would not feel

comfortable discussing stress or

mental health problems with

their line manager

95% of have people lied about an

absence that was related to

stress

As well as the issue of staff absence,

the issue of presenteeism (going into

work when you should be off sick) is

now costing the workplace 1.5 times

more than absenteeism. This is main-

ly caused by fear of the consequenc-

es of being absent. Although presen-

teeism in schools may not carry the

same cost implications as other sec-

tors, the impact of presenteeism will

undoubtedly be felt in terms of pupil

performance and school improve-

ment.

When this pitch was put to the man-

agement of my own school, Longden-

dale High School in Tameside, the

response from the management was

overwhelming. A meeting was called

between myself, the Head Teacher,

the Business Manager and the Lead-

er of Mental Health and we discussed

how we could extend the excellent

provisions put in place for the chil-

dren in our school to the staff. Within

6 months of the initial meeting, we

had 8 members of staff trained as

Mental Health First Aiders (MHFAs)

which then formed the 'Wellbeing

Advocates' that explore ways in

which our policies and practices can

be adapted as well as how we can

work with other agencies to promote

positive wellbeing. This has resulted

in a new policy that works within the

Health and Safety policy, the ar-

rangement of NHS nurses to be avail-

able to perform free health checks

on staff that request one, staff train-

ing on mental health awareness and

mindful practice from the charity

MIND during a whole schools INSET.

The Advocates then worked to estab-

lish a Wellbeing Committee made up

of 16 members of staff that work to-

gether to develop and promote so-

cial activities that promote staff well-

being. The Committee have explored

a variety of activities in which all staff

can part: A weekly staff lotto, a

Christmas party, an event for new

staff, a weekly walking party and a

staff cinema group are just a few ex-

amples. In addition to this, the Com-

mittee and the Advocates are work-

ing together to explore ways in which

our day-to-day lives can be made

easier ….

20

..given the anti-social hours that

most teachers end up working in

the current climate of education.

These include making links with lo-

cal garages to negotiate discounts

or a car collection service for repairs

and servicing, having the NHS per-

form flu jabs on site, car valeting on

site, exercise classes, as well as dis-

counts from local retailers and food

outlets.

As we know, school budgets are

very restricted but all of the above

has been achieved with no cost to

the school (with the exception of 8

members of staff being off timeta-

ble for the MHFA training). It has

been achieved simply with passion

and commitment, by the manage-

ment working with wider staff to

make small changes that have a sig-

nificant impact. Longdendale will

soon be applying for a nationally

recognised Wellbeing Charter which

recognises its commitment to staff

wellbeing and this is less than year

since that initial meeting.

The emotional wellbeing of staff in

our schools should be the primary

focus of any school improvement

plan, not only because of the direct

impact it has on the pupils but also

because of the schools' responsibil-

ity as an employer. Mental health

should be regarded as essential to a

schools' policies and procedures

and any other Health and Safety

documentation. No member of staff

in any school should feel vulnerable

going into work. No member of staff

should feel isolated or stigmatised

in the workplace.

Persistent threats to the teaching

profession are

having a signifi-

cant impact on

staff emotional

and mental

wellbeing. The

benefits of mak-

ing staff wellbe-

ing a primary

focus in schools include improved

morale, performance, job satisfac-

tion and teacher retention. The un-

ions have been working tirelessly to

combat the causes of stress and in-

creased workload. The workload

survey issued to all members has

gathered clear data on the impact

of this increased workload on the

wellbeing of teachers and on the

recruitment crisis. However, it is a

concern that solely addressing the

causes of poor mental health and

poor emotional wellbeing does not

address the support required by

staff that are suffering the effects.

The important work done to sup-

port child mental health through

the union and in

many local authori-

ties has highlighted

how support is lack-

ing for school em-

ployees. This raises

the question of how

school staff can pro-

vide the necessary

support for child

mental health when there is limited

support for their own.

These facts make it essential that

the Tameside Motion on Staff Well-

being is passed at the next annual

conference to ensure that staff well-

being is made a priority campaign

and our representatives are

equipped with the skills and

knowledge to improve staff wellbe-

ing in schools. We need to cam-

paign for a mental health policy for

staff that works within the health

and safety policy in all schools and

to have trained and certificated

Mental Health First Aiders (MHFAs)

in all schools. All schools should be

in a position that they can have links

with organisations to provide CPD

to their staff that focuses on their

wellbeing, putting each school in a

position to apply for the Wellbeing

Charter and follow in footsteps of

good practice schools like Longden-

dale to eradicate the stigma sur-

rounding mental health and pro-

mote a culture of openness.

We need to work together and sup-

port this motion to ensure that eve-

ry member of staff in every school

can access the support required to

achieve positive mental and emo-

tional wellbeing.

21

Campaigning in the

Community

How important is that for

teachers?

Ken Cridland of Lancashire writes:

The teachers in Chicago and elsewhere

have found it difficult to win their own

struggles without the support within the

community. The establishment certainly

attempts to set communities against any

group which attempts to stand up for

itself. The traditional way the NUT and

other unions has operated in the past

has tended to ask for support once a

struggle is underway and this approach

has often had limited success.

GERM (the neoliberal Global Educational

Reform Movement), now means that

teachers are up against the 'masters of

the universe' and their interests whenev-

er we try and defend ourselves. This

makes it very difficult, if not impossible,

to win without community and even

international support. That surely means

that being embedded with the commu-

nities, both locally and internationally is

important, if not essential.

When I was a Divisional Secretary, the

day to day grind and workload tended to

push me away from work alongside oth-

ers outside teaching. Since retirement, I

have attempted to be much more in-

volved. I am Chair of Blackpool Against

the Cuts and the BAC annual report for

last year which appears in this Bulletin

gives some indication of what we have

been up to. The report by the way makes

an attempt to be more accessible to a

wider range of people than the usual

union or political reports, in a town with

some of the most disadvantaged people

with the poorest health and life expec-

tancy in the country. The Secretary of

BAC is unemployed, a member of GMB

and on job seekers allowance, with no

internet facilities and transport difficul-

ties. The Vice-Chair is disabled and a

Unite activist. The mass duplication facil-

ities in his house are very handy. The

BAC group ranges from the very poor, an

unemployed person who has written a

book called 'Sanctioned', a retired DWP

worker who has helped in the 'Jungle' in

Calais, people with poor health, and peo-

ple who have to rely on food banks and

people like me. Between us, we have an

organisation with good access the me-

dia, good campaigning skills, and one

that is being taken notice of locally. All of

us in BAC have a much better under-

standing of each other’s' issues and

problems. People want to know what is

happening in the NUT and about the

formation of the NEU for instance. Being

embedded with others in joint struggles

is extremely valuable, educational and

rewarding. With what teachers are fac-

ing, it is also now essential.

This report highlights our main activities

over 2016. The year started with us say-

ing a thank you to Peter Hunter who had

been BAC Secretary over several years.

Ray Smith has now stood forward to

take on that role.

In March, a BAC and Trades Council dele-

gation met again with Simon Blackburn

and other Council leaders over the cuts

in Blackpool and how to fight them

In April, BAC supported the People’s

Assembly ‘March for Health, Homes,

Jobs and Education’

People’s Assembly Rally in London

We also had another full page article in

the

Gazette after the Panama Papers ex-

posed how the rich got richer, hiding

their money away.

In May our public meeting on ‘Cuts to

Local Services’ hit home to a good audi-

ence.

22

We had four prominent local speakers -

the Blackpool Council Leader, Lancashire

Police Commissioner, NUT Executive

Member, and a spokeswoman from the

Fire Brigade Union. The meeting got good

local media coverage.

In June BAC joined in a local debate on

Brexit.

That local debate was between two trade

union leaders for Remain and Leave. The

leave vote came as no surprise to us and

led to another full page article in the Ga-

zette in August.

In October we invited the Independent

Reviewer for the State Pension Age from

2028.

BAC chairs. Our Speaker was John Crid-

land

John Cridland (to the right in the photo

above) brought along two DWP civil serv-

ants from his team to meet with Black-

pool Unemployed Centre (BCFU) workers

and attend a public meeting organised

and chaired by BAC. He came to see for

himself what problems pension age in-

creases would cause in places like Black-

pool.

John and his DWP team meet those work-

ing to help unemployed people at BCFU.

The event got good coverage, including

an editorial, and later another full page

article in the Gazette.

In November, we once again lobbied the

NW Labour Conference handing out hun-

dreds of copies of our special leaflet to

them.

Fuller details of our activities over the

year, from the records of our monthly

meetings, are available on request.

I have been a Conference delegate since I was a school rep, and have spoken

every time, as well as having written motions and amendments.

As a division secretary, I have gained new appreciation of the sometimes

complex processes through which ideas from members become union policy.

I have made a point of ensuring members in Calderdale are familiar with

these processes, in order to allow them to take part fully in union democracy.

I believe that it is essential that Conference is balanced, open and democratic,

so that we discuss exactly what the membership wishes to discuss. It is also

vital that the business of Conference is dealt with as smoothly as possible,

without influencing the debate so that delegates can have time to discuss

issues and make informed decisions on behalf of their associations.

Make Agendas Great Again!

Vote for James Wilson

Please also vote Seuret and Flynn.

JAMES WILSON FOR

CONFERENCE BUSINESS

COMMITTEE

23

Happy Teacher A radical proposal, or a simple solution? Joe Gordon

Imagine a website where at the click of a button you can find anonymous teacher reviews of what it’s like to work at any one of the thousands of schools across the country. How useful would this be for your job hunts? And wouldn’t this force school leaders and the DfE to take teach-er wellbeing more seriously? This is what we’ve been building at Happy Teacher (www.happyteacher.org) and we want as many teachers as possi-ble to benefit from it. I’ve been a teacher for 9 years and I continue to be amazed at just how hard it is to find infor-mation on what it’s like to work at different schools. We know that as a profession our workload is as

high as our morale is low, but how do I know whether things might be better at a different school? I might see a job being advertised, but how do I know if that school has a

good atmosphere? Reasonable leaders? How can I find warnings if its teachers feel overloaded, and that they feel they have no support in dealing with poor be-havior? Ofsted reports do not provide this information (“Outstanding” for the students might not be out-standing for the teachers). Un-ions do a huge amount for teach-ers’ rights and wellbeing, but nei-ther do they provide school com-parisons such as this. You can hardly trust a school’s glossy pro-spectus or the meticulously planned tour you get on an inter-view day. Perhaps you’re lucky enough to know ‘someone on the inside’, but if not, then what op-tions do you have? This is why I wrote an article in the TES proposing a site like Hap-py Teacher, a sort of Trip Advisor for teaching jobs. In so many parts of our lives, we are getting

used

to sophisticated systems of reviewing and feedback. So why not the teaching profession? Why do we accept that I can find 574 reviews and comments of a pizzeria in Brixton, where I might spend one evening, but almost nothing on a school I might want to establish a career at for the next decade? I was joined by a webmaster, John Wyles, who felt so passion-ate about the cause that he want-ed to collaborate on it. We spent a fair few months piloting ques-tions and streamlining the pro-cess. Now you can see scores out of 5 for ‘Atmosphere’, ‘Workload’, ‘Behaviour’, ‘Leadership & Management’. You can see anonymous, verified comments written by teachers working at that school.

We want as many teachers as possible to share with each other their valuable knowledge on what it’s like to work at their schools. Why not write a review? It only takes 5 minutes. We’d also love to know from you whether you’re interested in being a part of Hap-py Teacher while we’re still just growing, and your suggestions for how we can develop. Are you a teacher or school leader who sees the potential of this site? If so, get in touch!

Read and write reviews at: www.happyteacher.org. To get in touch with Joe email: joe@happyteacher.org.

24

Across 3. They make the rules with no rules. 4. It sounds different when you do it. 7. He wont wear a hat. 8. The colour of the end. 11. She sits in the big chair. 12. The edges of conference business. 13. A place we will never go again. 14. To be or not to be. Down 1. The jumping jacks. 2. Stop! we want to move on. (2 words) 5. Funniest thing a president ever said.(2 words) 6. But they stand still? 9. We’re not sure of your decision. 10. The hills and the valleys.

CONFERENCE CROSSWORD

25

Friday 14th April

8pm to 9.30pm

CDFU MEETING ROOM

RADISSON BLU HOTEL

Bute Terrace

CDFU CONFERENCE OVERVIEW BRIEFING

Organising in the National Educational Union

Local organisation and autonomy,

Support staff in the NEU,

Equality Organising,

Effective Campaigning and Action in the NEU.

James Wilson : Chair

Sunday 16th April

8pm to 9.30pm

CDFU MEETING ROOM

RADISSON BLU HOTEL

Bute Terrace

CDFU MEMBERS MEETING

If you’d like to join pop along.