Labels

Labels should help you find information. For example if you want to know when the next meeting is, click on "meetings".

For information about the pay campaign click on "pay"

AGM: Helpline and Learning Rep report

The number of calls to the helpline continues to rise with 286 calls in 2007. The increased number of calls shows we are providing a useful service.

The helpline system only works because I can rely on the support of other members and we have a very good team of caseworkers: Bob Cross, Phil Dufty, Marje Hammond, Chris Miles, Dave Thomas, and Veronica Peppiatt and now Alison Baker.

I am happy to go on doing the helpline for another year if elected but we will need more caseworkers to cope with the rising load of casework especially in Crawley. One solution has been to involve reps in more casework. Proposed action over pay or Academy Status should be an opportunity to involve more people in the union.

Union learning rep is an interesting job and the union’s Continuing Professional Development and ICT work are very useful both in their own right and as a way of promoting the union.

I have continued to use a weblog which has been a useful way to publicise union activities, including CPD to members.


When I am not blogging I am tweaking my Moodle :) and my target for this year is to involve more members in online discussion and learning not just ICT but all aspects of CPD and union work. Anyone who is interested email wstalearn(at)yahoo.co.uk and you will be welcomed to the wonderful world of Moodle Lifelong Learning.

Having one day a week to cover our 4000 plus members, the internet has been an invaluable tool. However, for those who still prefer paper-based materials I have produced a Lifelong Learning newsletter.

Derek McMillan
Helpline Co-ordinator
Union Learning Rep
Website author, blogger and Moodler

(Moodle is an open-source online learning environment which is being used more widely in West Sussex and has a lot of potential for building the NUT.)

Ten Years of the WSTA Helpline

1996 to 2006

The increased number of calls shows we are providing a useful service although it cannot be described as good news: our members do not call to say they are feeling happy.

The helpline system only works because I can pick the brains of other members and we have a very good team of caseworkers: Bob Cross, Phil Dufty, Marje Hammond, Chris Miles, Dave Thomas, and Veronica Peppiatt.

I am happy to go on doing the helpline for another year if elected but we will need more caseworkers to cope with the rising load of casework.

Union learning rep has been an interesting new job and the union’s Continuing Professional Development work is very useful both in its own right and as a way of promoting the union.

I have continued to use this weblog which has been a useful way to publicise union activities, including CPD to members.

I have also made use of email wsta_addresses@yahoo.co.uk and yahoo messenger (id wstalearn) and MSN messenger (wstalearning@hotmail.co.uk) as well as the website http://wsta.org.uk. (I don’t get out much!)


Derek McMillan

Helpline Co-ordinator

Union Learning Rep

Website author and all round little blogger

WSTA Helpline ICT advice

WSTA Helpline ICT advice

The biggest area which teachers find interesting for lifelong learning as well as continuing professional development is ICT

To this end the NUT organises courses at both basic and intermediate level. If you are interested contact wsta_addresses@yahoo.co.uk

You can also get help straight away. Experimentally, we are using Yahoo Messenger, which can communicate with Windows Messenger and MSN Messenger to provide fast advice to NUT members who want it. I am available most evenings. If you leave a message I will respond as soon as possible. All you need to do is to add wstalearning as a “friend” If I don’t know the answer to a question on basic ICT I will usually know someone who does.

If you do not have Yahoo Messenger:
Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com and click on “Get it Now”
Follow the onscreen instructions to download messenger to the desktop
Click on the desktop icon to install yahoo Messenger
When it is installed, I recommend:
Click on the word Messenger
Click on Preferences
Click on General
Click on a tick to remove it, click on an empty box to put a tick in it.
Change the General Preferences until they look like this:



This will mean that Messenger will only be there when you want it to be.

Then click on the OK








Click on the plus to add wstalearning as a friend.

You will have to set up a yahoo identity to use yahoo messenger but this is free. If you do not use yahoo you can still email queries to wsta_addresses@yahoo.co.uk

Helpline

Derek McMillan writes:

I run the helpline. The number is 01342 410805. If want to volunteer to help other teachers or you want help from the NUT ring me. (preferably after half term!)

All calls are confidential. Anyone can help, the "special skills" which all teachers have - being able to listen and help people - are all you need to start with. Then there are training courses locally or at the union training centre in Stoke Rochford if you need them.

A member "somewhere in Sussex" rang me last night after being told that her pay was being cut with the introduction of TLRs and wanting to know what she had done wrong. She hasn't done anything wrong but I wish I could say the same for the government and the other people involved in the TLR proposals.

People do not need to feel isolated by the proposed pay cuts, we are all in this together. That is what the union is for.