2007 Conference News

Installation of president – Ms Baljeet Ghale

Steve Sinnott – short video on campaign to end Poverty! Keep it going!

Mayor welcomed everyone to Harrogate!

Presidential Address - Baljeet gave an excellent speech and was warmly welcomed by the delegates

Motion 20 – Professional Unity – CARRIED

Lively debate! Conference accepted the motion with one amendment (20.1). Opinion was that unions work well together when it’s a major issue – i.e. ‘pensions’ and we can create powerful unity and this is what we need to use in the future!

Motion 21 – Young Teachers Pay – CARRIED

The executive have to continue to campaign for the various problems young teachers continue to face - competitive salaries for all newly qualified teachers & affordable housing. Executive was congratulated on their response for a Young Teachers Section, which was requested 2 yrs ago and is now established with a Young Teachers Committee!

Motion 23 – Lesson Observations & Teacher Monitoring - CARRIED (Amendments 23.1 & 23.2)

A lively debate which summarized: that, although lesson observations can be a useful tool to help teachers in their professional development, they can also be used simply as a managerial tool to intimidate and harass teachers.

Motion 24 – Building Schools for the Future - CARRIED (with amends 24.1, 24.2 & 24.3)

Conference welcomes extra funding for school building and refurbishment, but is deeply concerned that the Building Schools for the Future programme is a ‘Trojan Horse’ for two key elements of Labour’s education agenda – privatisation & vocationalism, which are contrary to the longstanding policies of this union.

Executive Priority Motion - Public Sector Pay - CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

Conference rejects any suggestions, from whatever source, that high quality public services can be assisted or improved on the basis of discriminatory, unfair and demotivating public sector pay policies, which reduce the real or relative levels of pay of the staff concerned.

Motion 15 – Performance Pay (Amendments 15.1 & 15.2 & 15.3 lost) - this motion went to a division and was lost. For – 81, 237 Against – 138,587

Conference believes that the Governments new performance review arrangements are intended to enforce a divisive performance pay system in schools that, if allowed to take root, will have serious detrimental consequences for both teachers and education.

Conference deplores the continuing strategy of the government of seeking to agree proposals for teachers pay through the Rewards & Incentive Group (RIG). It instructs the Executive to continue to take all possible steps to ensure that the union is consulted and involved in all discussions with the Dfes on no less favourable a basis than any others teacher’s organisation.

Motion 34 – 14-19 Education - CARRIED (with amend 34.1)

Conference believes that if post-14 education is to meet the needs of all students it must not contain barriers to students learning. Conference reasserts, therefore, its opposition to the continuation of both covert and overt forms of selection and to the expansion in the number of schools, which determine their own admission arrangements.

Motion 35 – False Allegations Against Teachers - CARRIED (amend 35.1 & 35.2)

Conference notes the growing problem of false allegations against teachers and the attempts by some pupils to mitigate the consequences of their own violent or unruly behaviour by making allegations of assault against teaching staff.

Motion 36 – Upper Limit for Temperature in Schools - CARRIED (amend 36.1)

Conference notes that, while government and the union have recognised minimum temp below which lessons should not be expected to take place, there is no max temp limit above which classrooms are recognized as unusable. The union should produce guidance for schools so that no classroom or other interior learning environments should have a temp of 27oC or more and that classrooms should be vacated if this temperature is reached.

Motion 37 – Workload – CARRIED (with amend 37.3)

Conference recognises that the legislative changes introduced through the School Teachers Pay & Conditions Document have failed to create the ‘reasonable work life balance’ that teachers are supposedly entitled to expect.

Motion 38 – Teacher Mental Health – CARRIED

John Illingworth spoke a number of times about this issue which is obviously very close to his heart (he had to retire last year from his head teacher’s post due to mental health issues). We will send out a copy of his report, Crazy About Work, to all school Reps. It makes for very interesting reading.

Motion 39 – Supply Teachers - CARRIED (with amend 39.2)

Conference recognises the value of qualified supply teachers as an important and essential resource, enabling continuity for children and staff in schools. Conference calls the executive to do a number of things, the main one being, to endeavour to raise the profile, status and morale of supply teachers within the profession.

Motion 42 – Primary Curriculum - CARRIED (with amends 42.1 & 42.2)

Conference welcomes the commissioning of Cambridge University to conduct the first independent enquiry into primary education since the Plowden Report in 1967. This is long overdue and its findings will have important implications for the future direction of primary education in England.

Motion 43 – Early Years – CARRIED (with amend 43.1)

There are still huge concerns about class sizes despite the Unions policy on this issue. Conference believes that the union should adopt a common class size policy that applies to both nursery and reception. Therefore, conference instructs the Executive to campaign for a common foundation stage class size policy.

Motion 45 – SEN Provision – CARRIED (with amend 45.1)

Conference welcomes the inquiry held by the House of Commons Education & Skills Committee into SEN. Conference instructs the Executive to campaign for an independent review of Government policy to address the constraints and anomalies, which impede effective practice in meeting the needs of pupils with SEN.

Motion 47 – Political Fund - CARRIED

Some major education unions have political funds (PCS). The political funds of the other education unions are NOT used to fund political parties. A political fund would enable the Union to be more explicit in its comment during an election on the education policies. Steve Sinnott, in his close of Conference speech, spoke about the need to oppose the rise of the BNP in local elections.

Motion 48 – War – CARRIED (with amends 48.1 & 48.2)

Conference reaffirms its support for union policies in respect of Iraq & Palestine and its commitment to continue to campaign for peace & justice in the Middle East.

Conference notes with concern the continuing and increasing hostility in the media and from some politicians, to migrants, including asylum seekers and workers from Eastern Europe. Conference instructs the Executive to do a number of things, which includes exploring and publishing ways in which to support those being threatened by racist or Islamophobic behaviour and attitude.

Dame Kelly Holmes addressed conference

Dame Kelly spoke about the PE teacher who encouraged her to strive to do her best as a young teenager, leading to her achieving gold in the Olympic games and that, as teachers, delegates have the power to inspire young people to reach their potential.

Motion 25 – Climate Change & Sustainable Development

Conference believes that as educators & trade unionists we have a vested interest in the well being of our planet and its inhabitants. We will require a new level of global co-operation and political commitment to overcome the anarchy of existing world trade principles based on the doctrines of neo-liberalism.

Motion 26 – Pupil Behaviour

Conference noted that the problem of unacceptable pupil behaviour had many causes. These causes include social and economic deprivation in society and the relentless pressures of testing and league tables. Conference wants a more vigorous campaign. This motion caused a lively debate. The main speaker said that although we need to find the causes of unacceptable behaviour it is imperative that we do something about it urgently, as it causes so much stress to our members.

Over Easter, in Harrogate, the Annual Conference of the National Union of Teachers made key policy decisions on a wide range of issues that, every day, impact on teachers, pupils and schools throughout England and Wales.

Protecting Teachers Pay

High in the Union’s priorities was the decision to resist the Government’s moves to introduce regional pay and to impose a pay freeze on public sector workers. The NUT will be seeking to campaign with action as necessary alongside and in coalition with other teachers organisations and public sector unions.

The Campaigning Union

The conference identified the need for wide ranging campaigns including:
• stream lining the support available for members facing unacceptable pupil behaviour.
• calling for an independent review of primary education
• campaigning against excessive workload, unacceptable working hours and for an improvement in work/life balance
• re-launching the campaign on the entitlement of all children to be taught by qualified teachers
• demanding that supply teachers be properly paid a daily rate of £1/195th the rate of permanent teachers
• seeking to reduce to two and then to one the required number of lesson observations
• undertaking a major enquiry into the scale, causes and impact of mental illness amongst teachers
• achieving the removal of false allegations from teachers personal records
• pressing the demands of young teachers for competitive pay and affordable housing
• promoting the development on curricula climate change and sustainable development
• calling for an independent review of Government policies on SEN pupils
• continuing the union’s campaign against SATs and league tables in England
• opposing the developments of trust schools and Academies
• opposing the misuse of the “Building Schools for the Future” programme to develop Academies
• calling for an end to specialist diplomas and an independent review of vocational education
• linking the Union’s campaigns for comprehensive education and for the protection of public services
• promoting the Union’s charter for Black Caribbean boys, “Born To Be Great”
• opposing the employment in schools of members of racist and fascist organisations
• establishing a Political Fund in order to enable the Union explicitly to campaign against candidates standing for the BNP or other racist and fascist parties or platforms
• Pursuing the need for a common foundation stage class-size policy
• demanding a classroom temperature acceptability limit at 26 degrees C
• pressing for more qualifies teachers in Children’s Centres
• addressing the impact of OFSTED/ESTYN and the need for alternative inspection and evaluation methods
• establishing professional unity through the creation of a single democratic and campaigning union and
• providing solidarity with teachers’ organisations in the Middle East and across the world.