CONFERENCE REPORT – TORQUAY 2006
This year’s conference was a strikingly harmonious affair, with the NUT united against the government’s attempts – with the complicity of the other main teaching unions – to privatise education, attack the professionalism of teachers, destroy the power of democratically elected local education authorities, and renege on our long-standing retirement and pension provisions.
In her opening address, the President, Judy Moorhouse, reaffirmed our “absolute commitment to comprehensive education” and reminded us that “freedom from obnoxious interference” was one of the founding principles of the NUT. “We cannot and will not stand idly by whilst teaching assistants are increasingly seen to be taking whole classes, many teachers continue to endure heavy workloads, teachers are losing thousands of pounds from their salaries, those same teachers are seeing a reduction in their pensions and new teachers are finding that there are far fewer promotion prospects.”
The first debate – rightly – was on pensions. Conference recognised the securing of lifetime protection for existing scheme members as a victory for united campaigning, but committed the Union to a series of moves, including a special conference to discuss any final settlement, and if necessary ballots for industrial action, to protect the retirement and pension rights of all current and future teachers.
On salaries, Conference deplored the effective 2 year pay freeze agreed by the government and the RIG unions, and their statement that pay was ‘no longer the key priority’ at a time when many teachers find their pay under threat by the change from MAs to TLRs. We also opposed any link between pay and CPD.
The focus of an emergency resolution, and the subject of several fringe meetings, was the Education and Inspections Bill, which seeks to increase business and religious control of schools while reducing the role of local authorities to little more than enforcers of Ofsted judgements. Speakers eloquently explained how these proposals threatened comprehensive education, at primary as well as secondary level, worsened social inequalities and ethnic segregation, reduced the scope for teachers to use their professional judgement and disenfranchised parents. Conference voted to campaign for the broadest possible support for amendments to the Bill, to organise a mass lobby of Parliament and to continue to work closely with parents, governors and other organisations so as to establish a more permanent body campaigning for the defence and development of comprehensive education; also to fight any attempts to undermine teachers’ national pay and conditions, and to campaign against Trust, Foundation or Academy status for any school.
The most memorable debate was on workload. John Illingworth, a former executive member and NUT head teacher, described tearfully and movingly how the stress of his position had forced him into mental illness, psychiatric treatment and early retirement. His psychiatrist told him that they have a special box they tick on their forms marked ‘teacher’, since teachers account for over half of all cases of work-related mental illness. This was the first of a number of excellent speeches in this debate, including one delegate who ‘did it her way’ by parodying the words of songs by Frank and Nancy Sinatra: “One of these days they’re gonna walk all over you.”
Conference unanimously backed a series of proposals aimed at reducing workload and restoring a proper work/life balance (including: proper provision and funding for PPA time; no more than 2 properly arranged lesson observations per year; compliance with cover and class size agreements) with a national ballot by next September to ensure implementation. A related debate restated our determination to support members subject to workplace bullying.
One important debate reminded us of the importance of play in the development and learning of every child especially in early years, but at all stages of schooling (and, one speaker added, for teachers too!). We also agreed unanimously to campaign for early years education, and particularly to protect nursery schools staffed by trained teachers against the current fashion for ‘Children’s Centre’ often without any trained professional staff.
The motion on the Union’s grant regulations, a campaign in which West Sussex has taken a leading part, failed to reach this year’s agenda, so we are left with making the current system work.
West Sussex did have an amendment on the agenda to the motion on Faith Schools, but debate was closed before it came to our turn to speak. This was forecast to be the most contentious issue, with something like 25,000 NUT members working in existing mainly C of E and RC schools, most integrated into the local education system, while on the other hand the government seeks to use faith schools, including several run by millionaire American creationists, as a weapon in its war to privatise our schools. After another impressive debate, Conference adopted a proposal for the Union to convene a seminar, inviting a wide range of interested parties, to debate the whole issue, and then to present a report and recommendations to the Union.
In the event the nearest thing to a split was on the issue of inclusion. Some spoke passionately about the right of every child’s needs to be met in mainstream schools, while others said that many had needs that could only be met by the provisions and expertise found in our Special Schools. Conference adopted a motion recognizing the strengths of both approaches, but that inclusion is only possible if provision, staffing and training is equal to what would be found in Special Schools.
In other debates we welcomed the Union’s recently published Behaviour Charter for schools and the Government commissioned paper ‘Learning Behaviour: the report of the Practitioners Group’ and agreed to organize a conference for school reps; agreed to organize a national campaign – including parents, teachers, governors and politicians – to reduce class size; reaffirmed our campaigns against anti-Trade Union laws, Ofsted and the use of ‘Special Measures’, and in support of members losing out in the change from MAs to TLRs. As always in Conference and in fringe meetings we heard from and offered support to teachers in Palestine, Iraq, Ethiopia, Southern Africa and elsewhere in the third world whose problems put our debates into perspective.
In his closing address the General Secretary, Steve Sinnott, expressed his pride in leading the NUT, focusing especially on the union’s active role in Continuing Professional Development, and remarked that his was the only such conference speech that had not been vetted by the DfEE.
Delegates returned home much better informed about the current onslaught on state education, but sure of the Union’s active – if lonely – role in its defence.
PJ Dufty, WSTA
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