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Educate
July/August 2023
Pay Up – Save Our Schools demo, London, 2 May.
AS I write my last welcome page, I feel immensely proud. Because our union is stronger than ever.
We’ve recruited more than 50,000 new members since our pay dispute began and have just announced a formal re-ballot of support staff over funding.
And at the time of writing, we’ve just called further strike action for teachers on Wednesday 5 July and Friday 7 July.
The School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) has reportedly recommended a pay award of 6.5 per cent next year, according to press leaks, yet the Government still sits on this proposal despite its significance to our dispute.
It would be unheard of for a Government to ignore the STRB’s recommendation. How disrespectful to all those head teachers worrying about balancing their budgets next year to not say how much the pay rise will be and how it will be funded.
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Except where the NEU has formally negotiated agreements with companies as part of its services to members, inclusion of an advertisement in Educate does not imply any form of recommendation. While every effort is made to ensure the reliability of advertisers, the NEU cannot accept any liability for the quality of goods or services offered. Educate is printed by Walstead Bicester Ltd. Inside pages are printed on paper comprised of 100% recycled, post-consumer waste.
It’s imperative the Government commits to fully funding any pay award – its failure to do so was a central reason our members voted to reject the last offer of 4.5 per cent.
It’s also vital that teachers in England vote in our re-ballot. A resounding Yes vote would send a loud message to the Government that we’re not giving up and are in this for as long as it takes to get what our members deserve.
Our sister education unions are all re-balloting their members too. We are much stronger together and stand united in the pay and funding dispute.
When our formal ballot of support staff members is launched, it’s crucial that they vote Yes because we must get over the prohibitive 50 per cent threshold to take action.
As this issue is my last as joint general secretary, it was a pleasure to reflect on sharing the leadership of this brilliant union with my great friend Kevin Courtney (see interview on page 26).
Also in this issue is a thought-provoking piece on eating disorders among children on page 25.
It’s got all the regulars – from puzzles to commentary, a cartoon and a bigger picture.
I hope you enjoy it. I look forward to Educate dropping onto my doormat in my retirement.
Mary Bousted National Education Union Joint general secretary
Ernest Jones, a leading Chartist, was released from prison after serving two years for seditious speeches. The Chartists were a working-class movement for political reform, calling for universal male suffrage and payment of MPs, among other things. By 1918 all men were finally granted the vote and the Chartists had won all of their demands except for annual elections.
“Kids aren’t getting what they deserve.”
Hannah Greenaway, a primary teacher from Brent, said: “Everything’s getting cut. We’re running out of materials. Special education needs support has been cut. It’s not just about teachers’ pay, it’s about the whole education system. It’s just not fair. Kids are not getting what they deserve.”
The latest offer is “appalling”, she said, “because it’s got to be fully funded. It’s taking money away from the rest of the school if we have a pay rise. And it’s got to be a lot more than the Government is offering.”
Being on the demo was “brilliant”, she added. “I’m so impressed it’s this busy again.”
Cat Worthington teaches in a secondary school in south London. Cat said: “I’m in my third year of teaching and the amount of amazing teachers we lost in my first couple of years because we cannot retain them is just crazy. The Government isn’t giving us the money to keep those good teachers.
“The other thing for me is the cost of living going up. I’m one of the lowest paid out of all of my friends. I just think it’s unfair that we’re losing great teachers because they won’t give us a cost-of-living pay rise.”
The size of the demo is “amazing”, she said. “I feel it’s really important to explain to my students that you should stand up for what you believe in. I preach that in my lessons, and it would be hypocritical for me not to stand up for what I believe in.”
Ella Maron from Hounslow said: “I’m here to fight for my students’ future because our schools are so poor. We don’t have enough funds. We have been struggling to employ teachers recently; there was just no interest.”
The latest offer is an “insult”, she added. “There’s no offer really. That’s why we’re here – it’s got to be fully funded. It’s great to be here with people who think the same, and to fight for the future of education.”
Holly Phipps from Hampshire explained why she was on the demo: “I recently made a career change to become a teacher.
I’m in my second year. It’s without a doubt the best decision I’ve ever made. But the way they’re paying teachers, it’s not a career I’m going to be able to stick with for the rest of my life. It’s just not economically feasible.”
The latest offer, Holly agreed, is “insulting”. “I think the Government has completely missed the point about why we’re striking and I think it’s trying to turn teachers against schools.
“The Government needs to stop messing around and actually pay us what we deserve, so we can get back in classrooms and do what we love most. I’d rather be in the classroom with my children, but I know that their parents are behind me.”
Leanne Philpott from Central Bedfordshire said: “I’m on strike because of the effect of budget cuts on classroom resources. I’m actually leaving education at the end of this academic year because I just don’t feel that I’m able to continue. I feel like I’m failing every day. So I’m here not because I’ll benefit from
any future pay rise, but because it’s needed for our classrooms. It’s needed for our children.
“We already don’t have enough in the budget. There’s no point in an unfunded pay rise that’s actually going to take away from our children and risk losing our support staff.
“The atmosphere here is great – being with like-minded people really affirms your decision that you’re doing the right thing.”
Ella Lister from East Essex said: “What the Government’s doing is appalling. We haven’t got the money to actually resource all our pupils right now; we haven’t got enough teachers. I trained with about 20 students, and only three of them are still teachers. They’ve all left – they can’t afford to be teachers anymore.
“We worked through all of the Covid lockdowns and this is our reward. The school hasn’t got any more money. The Government’s latest offer is ridiculous.
“This is my fifth day on strike so I’ve lost a whole week’s wages now. So it’s hard for me, but I will keep doing it. I’ll keep on fighting.”
On 2 May the London region organised another Pay Up – Save Our Schools demo. More than of the River Thames past Parliament to Downing Street via the Department for Education in to honour all those lives damaged by the punitive Ofsted regime.
THE union’s executive has announced two more days of national strike action on 5 and 7 July as members’ anger at the Education Secretary’s refusal to resolve the pay dispute grows.
Gillian Keegan has “wilfully turned her back on teachers in England”, said NEU joint general secretaries Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney. “No one wants to take strike action but when faced with an Education Secretary who clearly has no interest in settling this dispute, teachers are left with no option.”
Ministers in Scotland and Wales resolved the pay dispute with teachers several months ago. Keegan offered teachers in England an insulting and unfunded 4.5 per cent for 2023/24 at the end of March, following six days of intensive talks with unions.
That offer was rejected by 98 per cent of NEU members balloted.
Keegan has not met with unions since Easter, claiming she was waiting for recommendations from the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), the independent pay review body for teachers.
The STRB’s report, which is rumoured to recommend a 6.5 per cent pay rise for teachers next year, was leaked to the national press in early June, but the Education Secretary has since not published it.
Announcing the July industrial action as Educate went to press, Mary and Kevin said: “It is within Gillian Keegan’s grasp for this action to be halted. She could avoid the strikes in July by publishing the STRB report, entering substantive talks with us and our fellow education unions to find a settlement based on the report, its funding and this year’s pay rise.”
They added that her delay in releasing it was causing huge uncertainty for schools and was “hugely disrespectful” to head teachers, leaving them unable to plan properly for next year.
The pay dispute has now been running for six months and looks set to continue into the next academic year.
continued from page 7
TEACHERS in England took strike action on 27 April for a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise.
Ella Fairley, NEU rep at Queen Elizabeth High School (pictured right), in Hexham, Northumberland, told Educate: “There are between 25 and 30 of us on the picket line, which is amazing. It’s really positive – just a real sense of community. We’ve got flags and banners, and someone’s brought bubbles.
“We’ve had lots of people waving, and our students, parents and senior leadership are all really supportive.
“We’d much rather be in the classroom, but we know how necessary this is. The Government offer was insulting. We need to fight. Everyone is feeling the complete lack of funding.
“This is my second year at the school, and I’ve seen the number of support staff go down and down, and they’re so vital to us. And children are being taught by non-specialists -
the school is struggling to find supply cover for absence.
“My biggest class is 37 children. They’re squished into the classroom like sardines and I’m trying to get around to every single one of them. It’s all come from underfunding.
“There are people being kept on temporary contracts. That’s really
difficult for them. My husband is a primary teacher in Morpeth. He’s an ECT 2 and on a temporary contract. We have a mortgage. You feel like you can’t plan your life.
“We want a pay award that is fully funded. The fact it’s not funded is the reason people rejected it. We’d love to get a pay award like Scotland did.”
The NEU is re-balloting members for industrial action in the autumn term if members are not offered a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise. Fellow teaching union NASUWT and head teacher unions NAHT and ASCL are balloting their members too.
If all unions return Yes votes, strikes will impact almost every school in the country.
Sackfuls of ballot papers are arriving every day. The ballot closes on 28 July. The NAHT and ASCL’s ballots – the first in the union’s 150-year history – close on 31 July.
“Each vote is another message to Education Secretary Gillian Keegan that she must find a settlement,” said Mary and Kevin.
“She can no longer hide behind the STRB – she has the report and she must act on it. With four education unions balloting members for strike action in the autumn term, this should be a wake-up call.”
From 23 June, the NEU will be balloting all support staff in maintained schools in England over the failure of the Secretary of State to provide adequate school funding, leading to worsening employment terms and conditions for school support staff.
This follows an electronic indicative survey of support staff members over pay and funding, who voted overwhelmingly for action.
More than half of support staff members completed the survey. Of those, 87.7 per cent support the National Joint Council (NJC)recognised unions’ demand of retail price index rate plus two per cent on all pay points for 2023/24.
The two-week survey, which closed on 7 June, found 80.8 per cent are willing to strike to increase funding to support the pay demand. And 85.9 per cent would be willing to strike to increase funding to avoid staff redundancies and further detriment to service.
The union’s national executive reviewed the survey response before voting to move to a formal postal ballot for strike action.
The ballot is about the failure of the Government to provide adequate school funding and how that relates to support staff members, including but not limited to the threat of loss of hours, detrimental restructuring, downgrading of roles, job losses and redundancies.
THE picket line at Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge grew from a handful to more than a dozen members within an hour on the morning of the 2 May strike. There are more than 90 members at the college, which stays open on strike days.
“We always get a warm response from students who pass the picket as they go into the college,” members told Educate.
They added: “The membership is particularly tired of the neglect that the sixth form sector has received from the Government for almost 13 years.
“Our student numbers increase, our class sizes increase, our hours increase and our marking workload and overall workload continue to increase. But at the same time our pay has been continually stagnating.
“Members are determined to continue with this campaign and, if necessary, intensify our industrial action as part of our dispute with the Secretary of State for Education.”
In order to take strike action, 50 per cent of all members must vote and a majority must vote Yes. The ballot closes on 11 August.
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NEU joint general secretary Kevin Courtney is appalled by the Government’s misleading spin on the state of education.
ON 8 June a huge range of Government statistics on teachers and support staff in our children’s schools was released.
The Department for Education (DfE), which holds most of these figures, then tweeted: “New data shows that there’s a record number of teachers in England’s schools – 468,371! This is an increase of 2,800 compared to last year, and over 27,000 more teachers than in 2010.”
They started that tweet with a celebration emoji and ended it with two clapping emojis.
Don’t believe the hype
Great – loads more teachers in our schools.
Gillian Keegan quote tweeted it, adding: “In today’s competitive job market, it’s fantastic to see so many people choosing a rewarding career in teaching, with a record number of teachers now working in our schools.”
Even better – teaching is a competitive career. Rishi Sunak then quote tweeted Gillian’s tweet, adding: “Providing every child with the highest possible standard of education was one of the reasons I got into politics. So it’s fantastic to see record numbers of teachers in our schools.”
So all is well in England’s schools; they are providing the highest possible standards of education. But wait… were there any other DfE statistics released on 8 June? What did they say?
They show a pattern of failure by this Government, revealing that the teacher retention crisis is getting worse, not better.
n There are 995,000 more pupils in statefunded schools than in 2010 – that is 37 extra pupils for every extra teacher.
n More teachers than ever before left the job last year.
n More teachers than ever before left prior to retirement.
n The number of head teachers who left before retirement has shot up alarmingly –the highest figure there has ever been.
Recruitment is also in a dire state. The gap between the number of new teachers needed (according to the DfE’s own model) and the number actually starting is the largest it has been for decades.
n The number of vacancies recorded in England’s schools is the highest since 2004.
n The number of children in classes of over 30 is the highest ever.
n The pupil-teacher ratio in secondary and primary schools is one of the worst in the OECD. In secondary schools only Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico are worse. For primary schools Chile is doing better than the UK and only Brazil, Colombia and Mexico are worse.
n The teachers we have often don’t have a post-A level qualification in the subject they are teaching and almost all secondary subjects are under-recruiting.
The DfE’s presentation of its statistics – not just in its tweet but also in an associated blog – are so far from impartial as to be farcical.
But it is not the presentation of the statistics that most concerns the union.
The biggest problem is that the DfE isn’t acting to put right the problems our schools face. The DfE is not engaging in discussion with the unions about teacher pay and workload, nor about the funding of pay rises.
This is the key question: is the DfE simply hiding the truth to justify its lack of action, or does it actually believe its own propaganda?
Whichever, the DfE is letting our schools and our children down.
The NEU campaign to force recognition of the issues is making progress – you can see that in the leak of the School Teachers’ Review Body report (which has reportedly recommended a pay award of 6.5 per cent next year) and in the fact that other unions are now joining us in balloting for industrial action.
If you want to hold the Government to account, it is vital to use your vote in the NEU re-ballot.
A REPORT into SATs and other primary statutory tests has concluded that the system has resulted in unintended negative consequences.
The joint report – from campaign group More Than A Score (MTAS) and research thinktank the Education Policy Institute – concluded that SATs have had a negative impact on pupil wellbeing, teacher autonomy and the breadth of the primary curriculum.
This supports findings from a recent NEU survey in which 92.4 per cent of teachers disagreed that year 6 SATs were the most accurate indicator of whether pupils have received a high standard of primary education.
THE TUC has launched a campaigning network focusing on the fight for trans rights in the workplace and wider society. It follows a motion supporting trans and non-binary rights brought by the NEU to the TUC LGBT+ conference last summer, which subsequently received overwhelming support at TUC congress in October.
Trans and non-binary individuals, particularly children, are increasingly targets of hostile media attacks and right-wing “culture wars” rhetoric. This is no accident: the Government is using the rights of an oppressed minority as a political football to distract from chronically underfunded education and healthcare systems, further
cuts to public spending, and a national costof-living crisis.
The network launch in April was well attended by NEU members. LGBT+ executive member Kacey De Groot highlighted the impressive levels of engagement among NEU trans and non-binary members, explaining what we do and the positive impact a supportive network can have on someone experiencing often multiple levels of oppression.
We also heard from NEU member George White, who told us about some of his excellent work on LGBT+ inclusion in Catholic schools (transcatholicteacher.com).
Passion and enthusiasm ran high, and we left with a renewed drive for change. We know that we are stronger when we stand together against all forms of oppression. n Email LGBT@neu.org.uk to find out more.
IN May, LGBT+ members came together in Devon for the South West’s annual LGBT+ Weekender. Mike Foster, an FE college lecturer, shares his experience of his first NEU event.
I was eager to meet new people and hear about their experiences as LGBT+ educators and how different schools and environments work. I felt quite nervous, but everyone was welcoming and embracing of people’s differences. It’s so refreshing to be around other LGBT+ people in education and not to have to explain or code oneself.
We got so much out of the event. The story of the Naz and Matt Foundation was so moving and left many of us in tears. The foundation was set up following the death of Matt’s finance, Naz, who took his own life after his family confronted him about his sexuality.
I was interested to hear about the challenges facing students and adults who are neurodiverse and LGBT+. It was such a safe and inclusive space and people felt able to be themselves – one of the delegates even felt inspired to come out to their parent.
The biggest takeaway was the importance for young people of having visible queer role models and of being able to celebrate who we are at school. Even small things – a rainbow lanyard, an LGBT+ reading list in the library – can really help. And we don’t have to do
everything ourselves; collaboration is key –getting colleagues to help, asking LGBT+ educators to give talks.
I felt full of ideas when I left. It was a treat to meet this group and I can’t wait to go again next year.
NEU members at Oasis Community Learning (OCL) multi-academy trust have negotiated a game-changing policy to support those who are going through fertility treatment.
This victory was the result of a grassroots campaign by Oasis members supported by staff from the NEU’s organising and bargaining teams.
Emma Addis, an NEU member in Oasis Academy Putney who sought help from the union in securing support for her fertility treatment, said: “My head teacher was supportive, but his hands were tied by the existing trust policy which only gave provision for ‘reasonable unpaid time off’.
“Once we started this conversation through the union, and opened it up to other members, we quickly realised that it is an issue that affects so many others, mainly but not exclusively women.”
NEU Oasis co-lead reps Maria Roberts and Rob Owen welcomed the new policy: “Many of us will have gone through fertility treatment of some form, or will know others who have, in the pursuit of a family, and will know the emotional, financial and physical toll it can take.”
The new policy provides up to 12 days of paid leave for those undergoing treatment and
three days for those supporting a partner.
Maria and Rob added: “It also accepts the needs for flexibility and support to make work accessible and safe for those going through fertility treatment. As far as we are aware no other education employer has a
AN NEU survey of nearly 3,000 teacher and support staff members working in the independent sector has found that almost 30 per cent have been forced to take on additional paid work due to rising living costs.
Twenty-nine per cent of teachers and 27 per cent of support staff members reported taking on extra work to cover their outgoings. For teachers, this included overtime (three per cent), working as a private tutor (16 per cent) and taking on a second job (ten per cent).
Support staff members report being hardest hit, with more than half (54 per cent) reporting that the cost-of-living crisis had affected their standard of living “a lot”. More than two thirds (68 per cent) of support staff members are only paid during term time.
From September 2022 to August 2023, just two per cent of teachers and support staff working in independent schools received a
pay increase that matched inflation. A quarter of staff and 21 per cent of teachers working in independent schools had their pay frozen.
NEU joint general secretary Mary Bousted said: “This survey confirms the reach of the cost-of-living crisis on working people. Independent school employers need to do better by their staff.
“We call upon all members working in the independent sector to put in a collective pay claim and join the NEU independent sector pay campaign.”
n Find out more at neu.org.uk/ making-pay-claim
policy such as this and we hope this will act as a benchmark for others to organise around, negotiate for and improve further.”
n If you are interested in organising around this issue in your workplace, email bargainingsupport@neu.org.uk
THE headlines are packed with stories about male online influencers who promote sexism and sexist attitudes to women. For educators, this poses the question about how to talk to boys and young men about the influences they see all around them.
It also raises the issue of how to address any potential negative behaviours, while ensuring that boys experiencing harassment or abuse also feel safe to seek help.
The NEU is proud to have partnered with Beyond Equality, an organisation that engages with men and boys to rethink masculinity and play their part in creating change, to produce a guide as part of the union’s It’s not OK toolkit.
n Download Working with boys and young men to prevent sexism and sexual harassment at neu.org.uk/media/26311/view
A JOINT NEU and UKLA primary reading conference took place in London on 20 May. NEU member and primary school teacher Abby Maddison reports.
I was keen to attend the conference, as reading is currently a contentious issue with controversial systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) programmes and reading framework (see pages 42-43).
NEU head of policy Ken Jones said the latest Progress in international reading literacy study (Pirls) rated the UK fourth in the world for reading ability, yet found that only 29 per cent of children enjoy reading. He discussed the policy and practice that has led to a ‘one size fits all’ education system.
Dr Wayne Tennent said many schools are under pressure to adopt unresearched approaches
through SSP programmes, and emphasised that assessment affects how we teach.
Author Patrice Lawrence MBE (pictured, above left) was captivating with her inspirational life and reading story. She referred to traditional books that
are very much ‘of their time’ but can provide useful talking points about how equality in society has changed. She said we need to ensure Black people in books are not just represented through events such as Windrush. Children need to see themselves
reflected and represented in everyday scenarios.
The day was a brilliant balance of speakers, workshops and practical ideas. We had time to discuss ideas and connect with other members, which is so important in our profession.
ON 19-21 May I attended the disabled members’ conference in Manchester. There were over 100 delegates in attendance from England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The conference began on Friday evening with a short welcome address and a buffet meal.
On Saturday morning, we had a panel discussion on invisible impairments. The afternoon keynote speakers were disabled activist and comedian Barbara Lisicki (from the film When Barbara Met Alan) and disabled journalist Rachel Charlton-Dailey. It was very interesting hearing about their lives and the challenges they’ve overcome.
Later there were several workshops for delegates to choose from. In the evening, there was a wonderful dinner and a fun quiz –our table didn’t win but we all enjoyed singing along to the music round…
On Sunday morning, after we were addressed by NEU president Louise Atkinson, there was a debate for everyone to vote on which disabled motion would be taken forward to NEU annual conference
next year. A motion focusing on promoting disabled people’s rights was proposed by Colleen Johnson (our executive seat holder) and seconded by Pablo Phillips. This motion aims to promote the rights of disabled people as enshrined in the social model
of disability, and was passed unanimously.
The disabled members’ conference was wonderfully welcoming and accessible to attend. If you ever get the chance to go to a future conference, give it a try.
n Visit neu.org.uk/disability
The TUC called a protest outside Parliament as the Government was passing a new law to further restrict the right to strike. The new law threatens public sector workers with the sack if they don’t provide a minimum service during strike action, causing the new law to be dubbed the ‘sack key workers’ bill. The TUC has threatened legal action against the law.
I RECENTLY attended the East Midlands NEU workplace reps foundation training course. Around 30 of us turned up at the Nottingham HQ, unsure of what to expect, but positive and excited to be on a three-day course, united by a passion for education and a drive for change.
We were a diverse mix of primary and secondary, male and female, old and young. I ticked the boxes of mature and support staff.
Our tutors welcomed us, put us at ease and gelled us together into a cohesive group.
By the end of the three days, we were inspired and ready to return to our workplaces with a plan of action to update noticeboards and spread the word of the NEU, and to lead by example with kindness and support.
I learnt that a sense of injustice is the most powerful form of motivation. Support staff suffer many injustices, mainly due to the evolution of the role from the ‘Mum’s army of paint pot washers’ to a band of often very well-qualified, experienced staff who are paid a low salary, have no recognition of their years of service, qualifications or experience, and are used by schools to cover classes. The list goes on.
Get involved – bang the drum of injustice.
SEVENTY-FIVE per cent of support staff members are routinely working outside of contracted hours, an NEU survey has found.
The survey of 7,500 support staff members in England and Wales – separate to the indicative survey on funding (see page 9) –shows that support staff are continuing to bear the brunt of stretched budgets in schools, regularly working unpaid hours and taking the role of a supply teacher at a fraction of the cost.
“There’s not enough members of staff. Lack of experienced staff. Lots of apathy –you can earn more in a supermarket,” one survey respondent said.
According to the survey, 75 per cent of members worked at least one to three hours over their contract per week, with some working an extra 11 hours a week or more.
Just 15 per cent say they are paid extra
for working these hours, while 19 per cent said they are paid ‘sometimes’. The majority (66 per cent) say they are not paid for these extra hours at all.
The reason given by respondents for undertaking this additional work was that “workload demands it”, and more than half said that there had been a reduction in support staff numbers at their workplace within the last year.
Support staff are most vulnerable to school staffing cuts, and they have also
experienced significant real-terms pay cuts in recent years. The survey also reveals that many support staff are used as “teachers on the cheap” – doing the same or similar work as teachers, such as delivering lessons.
Kevin Courtney, NEU joint general secretary, said: “Support staff are important but putupon members of the school community. Too many are being driven beyond the point of contractual agreement to deliver work which is either unpaid, unsuited or both.
“It cannot be right that a majority of support staff now do the work of teachers as a matter of routine. This is a consequence of workload and staffing cuts, brought about by persistent underfunding of schools.”
According to another survey, almost half of support staff (48 per cent) intend to leave the profession within five years.
“If this exodus is to be prevented, then a major shift in Government policy is needed,” added Kevin.
“There’s not enough members of staff. You can earn more in a supermarket.”
Safiyya Patel (pictured) is a primary school teacher and NEU rep in West Yorkshire. She is the Yorkshire and Humber representative on the NEU’s Black organising forum.
What do you love about your job?
Every day I get to engage with a huge variety of young people, which is a privilege. They challenge me, make me laugh, inspire me, frustrate me at times and never fail to make me want to help them learn.
From the smallest greeting in the morning as I walk from my car, to the longer, more involved and detailed conversations about whatever topic we are completing, the interactions with students are one of the things that make my day unique.
What do you love about being in the union?
The collective power we have as educators united under the NEU’s umbrella is empowering. Together, we can make a significant impact by advocating for our rights, improving working conditions and resources that benefit both educators and students.
Knowing that I am part of a network of passionate and dedicated individuals who share a common goal of providing the best education possible is incredibly inspiring. The support and guidance we offer one another make the challenges of the profession more manageable.
Most importantly, the NEU’s advocacy for education is something I deeply appreciate. Working collectively to shape education policies and campaigns that promote fairness and equity in our education
system is a cause I am proud to support. Being part of the NEU provides me with a sense of belonging, personal growth, and the opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of educators and students alike.
What have you been up to lately?
I have been involved in activities related to Black organising and advocacy. I’ve helped to organise a conference for the Yorkshire and Humber region, which will provide a platform for Black members to come together and formulate strategies for positive change. I’ve also been delivering training on the NEU’s anti-racist framework.
I am in the process of engaging with my multi-academy trust (MAT) to secure the role of branch secretary for all the schools within the MAT. This position would provide
THIS year I became a member of the NEU to join the strike action. At my previous union I had been active in the LGBT+ community.
My reservations about leaving this behind were dispelled during half term when I attended the south east LGBT+ weekender (pictured right) in Canterbury. It was so valuable: I have come away with an excellent bank of resources to help me run Pride month at school.
It can often feel like you are going it alone in school; having this space to collaborate has both saved me time and improved the quality of what I am going to deliver. It is important to recognise that many of our LGBT+ colleagues face specific challenges in the workplace that are not shared by all members. This conference gives members a safe space to share, support, and advise.
By Ben Ross, teacher at Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boysme with the opportunity to support and advocate for teachers, staff and students across the entire network of schools, promoting inclusivity, diversity and equality.
What’s important to you right now?
The future of our children and the education system depends on Education Secretary Gillian Keegan doing the right thing. The priority is to get members actively involved in the union, to act together as a profession to make the Government see sense and improve its offer to teachers.
What do you do on your day off?
I hit the gym for a challenging workout, go for a run to feel the rush of adrenaline, or engage in outdoor adventures like hiking or cycling. When I’m not on the go, I find solace in reading, diving into captivating books that transport me to different worlds. And I make sure to carve out time for relaxation, whether it’s enjoying a lazy day at home or unwinding with my favourite TV shows.
Tell us something we don’t know.
I was born in Malawi and recently revisited my home country. Inspired by the needs I witnessed, I am now in the process of starting a charity aimed at developing schools. My goal is to create educational opportunities and improve the infrastructure of schools in Malawi, ensuring that children have access to quality education. Through this initiative, I hope to make a positive and lasting impact on the lives of young students, empowering them with knowledge and skills that will shape their futures.
LGBT+ ‘space to collaborate’
MORE than 100 retired members (pictured above) gathered in London to celebrate their love of and commitment to the trade union movement at the NEU’s retired members’ conference in May.
NEU president Louise Atkinson, addressing delegates, said: “The experience and knowledge held by our retired members is so valuable to us as a union.” She added that retired members do many important jobs within the union’s local structures.
NEU lead pensions officer Nick Kirby gave an update on changes to the state pension and the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
PARENTS have successfully pushed back on Government plans to transfer Sheffield’s last local authority (LA) secondary school into a multi-academy trust with a controversial reputation.
Department for Education (DfE) officials had lined up Brigantia Learning Trust to take over King Edward VII School (KES), which received an Inadequate Ofsted rating in January this year. The plans were only discovered when Mark Boylan, an education academic based at Sheffield Hallam University, whose daughter attends the school, came across an online copy of the agenda for the DfE’s regional advisory board, due to take place the following week.
This meant parents challenging the decision had just a few days to respond.
Brigantia runs five schools, two of which are rated Requires improvement (RI) by Ofsted. Parents objected to the hypocrisy of plans to transfer KES to a trust which has two RI schools, given that the DfE has been proposing to academise LA schools with two successive RIs.
Yorkshire and Humber regional director Alison Wilson has deferred the decision on the takeover to June or July.
Debbie Huxton, community safety officer for modern slavery at Sandwell Council, delivered an extremely enlightening, yet harrowing, account of modern slavery in England. She focused on children who have been trafficked into the UK, semi-attend local schools and face unspeakable cruelty at home, and discussed the ways retired members and schools can help.
The conference showed that retired members are a powerhouse for trade union activity.
IN further education, I witness the effects of poverty first hand. Many young people from disadvantaged backgrounds struggle with limited access to resources, inadequate nutrition and a lack of educational support, which often hinders their academic performance and overall wellbeing.
With the rising cost of food and housing, many parents are struggling. This has led to a growing call for free school meals (FSM) for all children, regardless of their family’s income.
Here’s why: Tackling poverty FSM for all would help tackle poverty in Britain.
Improving
There is growing evidence that access to FSM can improve academic performance, helping concentration and performance in school.
Reducing stigma Children from lowincome families are often stigmatised for
receiving FSM. We can help to reduce this by treating all children equally. Promoting healthy habits FSM can help promote healthy eating habits and combat childhood obesity.
n Visit nochildleftbehind.org.uk
THE further education (FE) pay claim this year is significant in a number of ways. Not only are FE members more interested in taking industrial action over pay than ever before, but the joint unions are seeking to re-establish coherent collective bargaining in the sector. Since 1993, employers in FE colleges have been able to negotiate locally. Furthermore, unlike in sixth forms in schools, pay increases in FE are only recommended.
Unions met the Association of Colleges (AoC) on 11 May to negotiate on pay but were deeply disappointed that the AoC did not make a recommendation on pay.
The NEU, along with the other FE unions, will be consulting its members this term on the lack of an employer offer for 2023/24. The NEU and the other FE unions will then seek a mandate for action in the autumn term.
Every year, we know it’s always the same. You and I know that for them it’s a game. Fiddling with examinations they say we need, to ensure that education is up to speed.
They talk about something called ‘comparability’, and that exams and tests measure ability. Omitting to mention that they change the rules, and that we won’t notice because we’re fools.
This year they thought they’d play a trump card: they made key stage 2 reading much too hard. ‘Oh that’s not a problem, we’ll find a way. We’ll change the pass mark,’ they’re bound to say.
So every year they pretend it’s all objective, when really we’re in a system that’s obstructive. Hindering creative learning and investigation, with exams and tests dominating education.
A GROUP of children sit in a colourful classroom excitedly waving their hands, keen to chat about themselves in their newly learnt language of Welsh.
They have come from far and wide – one young girl says she used to live in India, another says she was from England, while another child is from the local area, the island of Anglesey off the north Wales coast.
And while they have different backgrounds, they will all be fluent in Welsh by the time they leave the language centre (canolfan iaith), in the village of Moelfre, at the end of just one term.
Eira Owen, who has been teaching at the centre for 13 years, says the ease with which different children pick up the language depends on their background and circumstances.
“Generally, foreign children do very well,” she said. “Sometimes they don’t have much English but that doesn’t matter because of the way we teach.”
The centre is one of two on Anglesey, collectively known as Canolfan Iaith Môn, which are described as immersion centres because of the way they completely immerse pupils in the Welsh language. There are just 16 children to every two teachers, often splitting into two smaller groups of eight, and the staff have a fun and lively approach to learning using movement and song.
Eira explains: “Movement is very important to learning, and singing as well. So it doesn’t matter if a child has no English, they can learn Welsh using a lot of gestures.”
During a quick tea break after a clearly energetic session with her group, Alison Edwards says breathlessly: “It does work. Singing definitely helps, they can pick up the rhythm of the language.”
If there are any problems with understanding, the teachers use the SayHi Translate app, which Eira says is particularly useful if, for example, a child is distressed.
Some of the youngsters are from refugee families who have fled dangerous parts of the world. Before Christmas three Ukrainian children won the hearts of the staff with their enthusiasm and success in learning Welsh, but Eira said there was sometimes a sadness about them too. One had left their father behind and another worried about her cousins.
Eira has completed a trauma-informed diploma to help her understand how to approach such situations: “I thought it was important – we do see a lot of distress.”
It is not only children from abroad who come to the centre. Other “late arrivers” – for example, children of English people moving to the area or working in the nearby university or hospital – join the classes, as do local children who have fallen behind with their Welsh for different reasons.
Many struggled following the Covid lockdown, and the centre is able to help rebuild their confidence and boost their language skills so they can return to their own schools better able to continue their studies.
Anglesey County Council has a bilingual system of education and is committed to all school pupils being proficient in Welsh and English by the end of their schooling.
The two language centres on the island are for seven- to 11-year-olds, but extra funding from the Welsh Government in 2021 means the staff can now go into local secondary schools to help older pupils.
The money was part of a £2.2 million fund for local authorities across Wales as part of the Welsh Government’s aim to have a million Welsh speakers by 2050.
For many local authorities it meant the creation of their first immersion centres, and Canolfan Iaith Môn has received many visitors from across the principality keen to learn from its expertise.
A spokesman for the council said: “Years of experience tell us that the time spent at the centre is a fantastic investment in the future.
“When the children return to their own school, they can work, learn and play in both languages and, in doing so, fit into school life effortlessly, confidently and happily.”
A language centre in Wales which opened in the 1980s is still leading the way with creative ideas to encourage children from all over the world to become fluent in Welsh.(From left) Eira Owen and colleagues at Canolfan Iaith Moelfre, Delyth Gwyn and Alison Edwards
A NINE-year-old pupil from the West Midlands has been named overall winner of Show Racism the Red Card’s (SRtRC) anti-racism school competition, which is sponsored by the NEU.
Sophie Bond’s film, described by the charity as one of the most unique entries in the competition’s 24-year history, was chosen from more than 25,000 entries.
The UK-wide competition encourages young people to produce creative work with an original anti-racism theme.
In her imaginative video, Sophie dons a series of different coloured fish hats and argues that the rich diversity of humans should be celebrated in the same way as multicoloured fish.
“Look at our beautiful ocean full of billions of colourful fish, they don’t care about skin colour, on land this is my wish,” she begins.
Her parting message is: “My stand against racism is a tiny drop in an ocean so big and vast, but if every human added their drop, we’d see sea change so fast. So look at humans like fish, and appreciate that every skin colour you see makes our wonderful world a much better place to be.”
SRtRC’s director of operations Paul Kearns said: “The competition judges absolutely loved Sophie’s creative way of articulating a strong anti-racism message. It is genuinely one of the most unique entries that we have received in the 24-year history of the competition.
“Sophie’s film was a clever way to portray a serious message – that we all have a part to play in helping to change the world for the better. The film was also really well received by the audience at the awards ceremony and there can be a no more fitting winner of the 2023 school competition.”
Sophie is a pupil at Solihull School, where pupils from nursery upwards entered the competition, the biggest equalitiesthemed competition in the UK.
Winners in six categories travelled to Liverpool Football Club’s ground, Anfield Stadium, for the awards ceremony on 4 May, where they were presented with prizes by former Liverpool and England player John
Barnes and Liverpool women’s team captain Niamh Fahey.
CBBC presenters Alex Winters and Ben Cajee hosted the awards, which also featured a number of other guest presenters including former Liverpool players Alan Kennedy and Michael Thomas, as well as England rugby international Luther Burrell.
The event was an opportunity for young people to showcase their ideas, creativity and passion around the anti-racism message with their colourful and powerful entries.
Thanks to the teachers NEU joint general secretary Kevin Courtney presented Sophie with her prize.
He spoke of the importance of the competition and the impact that it has on tackling racism in schools, while also highlighting and recognising teachers’ hard work and thanking them for prioritising anti-racism in their schools.
He said: “The standard of the work is fantastic, and a tribute to the children involved, but also to their teachers. One of the pieces says ‘no one is born racist’ – and that was a vital message.
“Sophie drew an extended parallel between the beauty of multicoloured fish and the tragedy of discrimination based on race or skin colour. We can all agree with Sophie –we should be more fish.”
Teacher Florence Taglight (left) argues that teachers and parents should opt out of the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP).
SCHOOLS automatically opt into the NCMP – a programme that will see year 6 children being pulled out of their lessons to be weighed by strangers. I watched my pupils line up one behind the other with their shoes and socks off and stand on a cold, metal weighing block.
At the beginning of 2023 referrals for under-18s with eating disorders were up 82 per cent compared with two years ago. More than a quarter of children who are a ‘healthy weight’ are on a diet. Yet we still bring in nurses to calculate the body mass index (BMI) – a value derived from the mass and height of a person – of four-year-olds and 11-year-olds when the latter is also under pressure from every direction in their lives.
Many schools – and parents – are not aware that they can opt out of NCMP. What struck me most was how other staff responded when I expressed my dismay about this happening and asked a senior leadership member if we could let parents know they can opt out. I had known these children for two years, watched them get smartphones, suddenly obsess over Tiktok dances and stop wanting to do PE because they didn’t want to have to get changed at school.
I was met with fatphobic comments from other staff – some of whom I believe meant well. “Surely we should make sure the children don’t get fat if we can.” “But some parents won’t know that their child is too fat and could help them now before they start secondary school.” When did the worst thing someone could become is fat?
Reasons to opt out of the NCMP
n BMI – this is an equation made up by a white, male mathematician, sociologist, statistician and astronomer in 1830 that does not take into account gender, muscle mass, a child’s heritage or ethnicity – all of which have a strong link to body shape and size. This would be like using Morse code (also invented
in the 1830s) to communicate with someone in America today.
n Worth – I have seen many parents begin to worry less about their child’s grades and more about their progress and behaviour at school. This was something that I experienced as a child. Fortunately, I came home with my report card and my parents read the comments about whether I was trying my hardest and being kind and polite in class before reading my grades or scores. We are taking steps backwards if we are now sending a letter home to parents telling them their child’s weight.
n Judgment – these measurements we are sending home do not consider whether the
child has lost a parent, a pet or if someone in their family is sick. They don’t take into account if their parent has an eating disorder, or is putting pressure on their child to look a certain way. The people weighing these children do not know if their weight is something that already keeps a child up at night watching #WhatIeatinadayvideos.
If you are a head teacher, a teacher, a parent and reading this and you think of someone you once knew who stared at the nutritional information on the back of food packets, or always went to the loo after eating, or obsessively ran on a treadmill, I urge you to opt out, or at least make the right people aware of how harmful this is.
n Body Happy has resources, templates, letters and advice: bodyhappyorg.com/play-not-weigh
n Discuss this issue with Florence at @growthnotgrades
n What do you think about the NCMP? Email educate@neu.org.uk
“BMI does not take into account gender, muscle mass, a child’s heritage or ethnicity.”
FIVE years ago, the National Union of Teachers (NUT), representing teachers, and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), representing educators in schools and colleges, amalgamated and became the fourth biggest trade union in Britain with 450,000 members. The National Education Union (NEU) was born.
At the helm were ATL general secretary Mary Bousted and NUT general secretary Kevin Courtney, who had committed to the daunting task of leading this shiny new union through its first five years as joint general secretaries.
From day one, they presented a united front, so much so that their names are now inextricably linked. “If I had a pound for every time a member has asked me ‘are you Mary, from Kevin and Mary?’ I would have collected a small fortune,” laughed Mary during her last annual conference speech in April.
It was her last because, from 1 September, ‘Kevin and Mary’ will be no more, as they step down to make way for new general secretary Daniel Kebede. I sat down with them to reflect on how far the union has come since its creation and what made their partnership such a success.
‘I thought he was very tall…’ It quickly becomes clear that they are not just colleagues, but good friends.
They first worked together in 2011 during the pensions dispute. The Government, led by David Cameron, had proposed reforms to public sector pensions that would have left workers out of pocket in the short and long term, and the ATL and the NUT decided to work together to build a ballot for strike action.
It was Mary’s “steely determination” that first struck Kevin. He was particularly impressed that she managed to get ATL to win a national ballot at a time when its members hadn’t been on strike for decades.
“I don’t know how many sleepless nights she must have had before making that decision and going for it,” says Kevin.
What were their first impressions of each other? Mary’s immediate response is:
“I thought he was very tall,” and Kevin, who is 6ft 7in, chuckles warmly. Mary adds that Kevin was extremely approachable and sincere. “He doesn’t say anything he doesn’t think or feel, so you know where you are with him.”
That year, NUT and ATL members voted Yes to two days of strike action. On 30 November, they joined other public sector workers on one of the biggest strikes in decades. With 67.5 per cent of schools closed as a result of the action, the Government was forced back to the negotiating table.
On the back of this success, both unions began to think seriously about amalgamating. The NUT already had a commitment to
“Kevin doesn’t say anything he doesn’t think or feel, so you know where you are.”
Mary Bousted
professional unity and, with then Education Secretary Michael Gove’s new academies rollout, both unions knew that strength in numbers was the only way to fight his misguided policy.
However, amalgamating two organisations was never going to be an easy task. What were the biggest challenges and was there anything they were afraid of?
Kevin says a lot of people were cynical. “General secretaries from other unions said it wouldn’t work. They said there would be infighting and jealousy between staff of the two bodies and that it would take at least ten years for the amalgamated union to work properly.”
There were also concerns from some quarters that because the NUT was seen as more left wing than the ATL, it would be difficult to reconcile their political differences.
But Kevin says he never believed that would be an issue.
“Unions, at their core, are about their members. And most members join a union not for ideological reasons, but because they know someone else in it or it’s the first union that asks them.”
Proving the doubters wrong, Mary and Kevin quickly found that their vision for education and their values were mostly aligned, with similar positions on Ofsted, SATs and on teachers needing more autonomy. “Our motto was ‘shape the future of education’ because that’s what we wanted to do,” Kevin explains. Mary confesses that, initially, one of her biggest fears was that the ATL, as the smaller union, might get swallowed up by the NUT. She worried about employees in both unions whose lives were going to be disrupted during the amalgamation, and those who might not want it.
“It was a big worry,” she says. “You do your best, but everyone was wary about it and some colleagues were upset. We just had to project: ‘this is going to be fantastic and we’re going to make it’.”
And it’s the strength of their relationship that has driven the NEU through what has been a particularly tumultuous period in modern history, with Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis tumbling thick and fast over each other.
“We have complementary skills,” says Mary, who qualified as an English teacher in 1982. She explains that Kevin, who started working as a physics teacher the following year, is very detail and number-orientated and a great campaigner. “I’ve learned so much from him about being relentless and getting the whole union behind a campaign.” Kevin responds that he really admires Mary’s academic knowledge of education and her intellectual demolition of Ofsted.
Individual skills made a great team Their individual skills and ability to work as a team became vital in 2020 as the NEU faced its biggest challenge to date.
As coronavirus began to spread in February 2020, the Government’s slow reaction to rising infection numbers meant that it was the NEU which first called for the temporary closure of schools in order to protect the lives of teachers, students and the wider community. “If the Government had closed schools when we suggested, they would have been closed for far less time as there wouldn’t have been the same peak in Covid cases,” argues Kevin.
Mary adds: “It was vital at that time to be on top of the science. I would have found that very difficult if I hadn’t had Kevin to answer my questions.”
continued on page 28
“Mary’s steely determination… I don’t know how many sleepless nights she had.”
Kevin Courtney
continued from page 27
As schools opened and closed throughout 2020, the NEU was often giving advice that directly contradicted the Government. “We were challenging the Government and what it was saying about handling Covid, and many people told us we were right outside the space we should be in,” says Kevin.
Mary agrees: “We were in the limelight and having to go for interview after interview and we were attacked. People were implying we were being unreasonable or denying
“Our profession is under unprecedented attacks,” stated former President Philipa Harvey –moving a priority motion on greater professional unity We must work closer with our allies and come together as one ”
Seconding the motion, Gawain Little of the Executive reiterated that a new unified Union would remain a part of the TUC and combine the two memberships Conference voted near unanimously to carry the motion supporting continued negotiations with ATL with a view to formulate a detailed proposal to create a new union
Commenting after the debate
Christine Blower said: “Professional unity has been a long-standing policy position of the NUT This aim is more important than ever We believe that it is helpful for the profession to speak with one voice, both at national level and at the increasingly devolved school level ”
children their education. The establishment was pounding down on our heads. But we supported each other through that.”
Over Christmas 2021, despite rising Covid numbers and the emergence of the Delta variant, Boris Johnson was insisting schools were safe to open on 4 January. From the data collected by NEU statisticians, Kevin and Mary knew this decision could be disastrous.
On 3 January, they held a Zoom call, explaining to members and the public that
they had an individual right to use Section 44 of the Employment Rights Act to refuse to go to work if their workplace was unsafe. More than 400,000 people attended that Zoom, making it the biggest political online meeting in UK history. But, they can both admit now, it wasn’t an easy call. “I was scared at that point because we were going up against the force of the state. It didn’t stop us, in fact it made us more determined. But that doesn’t come without some personal cost,” admits Mary.
By the end of that day, thousands of teachers had sent a Section 44 letter to their workplace and, on 4 January, Boris Johnson U-turned and admitted schools were unsafe, partially closing them again. The union gained 20,000 members within the month, and 100,000 new Facebook followers, giving it the biggest social media presence of any union in the UK.
“I was scared at that point because we were going up against the force of the state.”
Mary Bousted
“I honestly think the NEU saved so many lives over that time. Not just teachers, but parents and grandparents,” says Kevin.
With so much responsibility and 40 years each of working as educators and activists, I ask Kevin and Mary if they ever get tired of fighting? Their answer is a definitive “no”.
“You get tired, but not tired of fighting,” says Mary. “During Covid we weren’t the ones having to go into schools, it was our members, so you have this huge ethical and moral responsibility to keep going and keep them safe.”
Kevin shares a story about how one day, during the pandemic, he went on his daily walk and a teacher approached him to thank him for everything he had done. “That sort of thing is a real boost,” he says, emotionally.
The NEU is now the third largest union
in the Trades Union Congress, with over 500,000 members. “We are a really effective union. We are able to mobilise quickly. We have a strong activist base. We are able to lead the intellectual argument and we are able to organise quickly to be effective industrially. I am very proud of that,” says Mary passionately. And this year, the NEU overcame stringent Government strike thresholds in one of the biggest single ballots of any union for decades – as members overwhelmingly voted Yes to strike action over pay.
Educators, who have faced a real-terms pay cut of 20 per cent over the last ten years, have so far taken six days of action this year, with a huge swell of public support and more than 50,000 educators marching through London on 15 March. With the Government refusing to listen, the union is now re-balloting to continue industrial action, meaning it is unlikely the dispute will be resolved by the time Kevin and Mary step down in September.
continued on page 31
“I think the NEU saved so many lives… of teachers, parents and grandparents.”
Kevin Courtney
continued from page 29
I ask them how they feel about leaving during the middle of the pay dispute.
Mary replies stoically: “You have to leave some time, don’t you?” She says she would love to have been able to finish what they collectively started. “But the worst thing you can believe as a leader is that the organisation can’t carry on without you. You occupy these positions for a period of time and then you leave, and the union carries on without a backward glance.”
Kevin admits: “It does feel good to be leaving on this high,” adding that he’s extremely proud that the NEU was able to exceed draconian legal thresholds to win the Yes vote.
The pair agree that the union is in “a really good place” and share a moment of pride in the part they have played in that.
When I ask what’s next, Mary tells me she doesn’t want to be sitting at home on the first day she is no longer NEU joint general secretary, so she and her husband Martin are
spending three months in France to learn French. “I wish I’d done that,” Kevin says, jumping in. “But I’m going to be at home thinking ‘what am I going to do now?’”
He is considering doing a geology degree, but also likes the idea of spending some time reflecting on all the experience he has gained in 40-plus years in education and trade unionism. “My first NUT conference was back in 1986 and I was possibly the youngest person there. It’s a bit of a surprise to me that I’m one of the oldest now. It’s snuck up on me. But then you realise you’ve built up all that experience, so I’m going to see if I can write some things down.”
Does he have any advice for Daniel Kebede? “Unions work best when they are united and progressive. Unions have to be ambitious but also grounded in members’ needs. Focusing on organising in the workplace is absolutely what leads to the ability to win a national dispute. Focus on that. And shaping the future of education.”
Farewell, Kevin and Mary. And thank you.
n Support not surveillance: How to solve the teacher retention crisis by Dr Mary Bousted. John Catt Educational. £15.
The dawning of a new era, after a successful vote in 2017Photo
by Jess Hurd
“ The NEU is able to mobilise quickly. We have a strong activist base. We are able to lead the intellectual argument.”
EVERY issue of Educate magazine has included an introduction and article from the joint general secretaries. “Educate is the one thing that every member gets so it was really important they always heard from us,” says Mary.
“It’s one of the biggest circulation magazines in the country,” says Kevin. “We want members to see themselves in the union magazine. We want to connect with and reflect the working lives of our members, and through Educate members can see the union as part of their life.”
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THE recruitment and retention crisis in schools means that our children are missing out. One in four teachers leave within three years of qualifying; a third within five years. The system is failing, harming the education that children and young people receive.
Since the 2022 NEU conference, the union has balloted members on strike action to win a fully funded, above-inflation pay award, continued the fight to replace Ofsted and launched a campaign to introduce free school meals for all primary school children. Now we need to move forward on the instructions to the executive made in two other 2022 motions to:
n undertake a publicity campaign to educate the wider public on the need to reverse deregulation in education;
n develop a strategy with the aim of reversing deregulation, enabling a return to national pay and conditions for all education workers; n continue to work with the Socialist Educational Association’s (SEA) Give Us Back Our Schools campaign.
The three campaigns that the NEU is prioritising – especially the strike to win a fully funded pay increase in line with inflation – are important, but if won will only temporarily alleviate some of the symptoms caused by the systematic marketisation and privatisation of our education services.
The NEU must also resist every academisation and multi-academy trust (MAT) expansion. We must also be clear that unless deregulation and privatisation is challenged and reversed, the NEU will not be able to improve the pay and conditions of many of its members or ensure that no child is left behind.
Academies do not have to honour nationally agreed pay increases – funded or not – and there is no way to ensure that private companies, which now mainly provide school
meals, provide nutritious food. The NEU needs to start a joined-up campaign to bring education services back in house.
In 2020 the SEA launched the Give Us Back Our Schools (GUBOS) campaign. GUBOS is not just a response to academisation. It represents opposition to a raft of attacks on the education system that go back much further.
In the 1980s, Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher forced compulsory competitive tendering on local authorities (LAs), and over the last 40 years governments of all persuasions bought into the idea that private is good, public bad. Outsourcing has allowed employers to cut workers’ terms and conditions.
The 1988 Education Reform Act transferred many of the powers and responsibilities from local education authorities (LEAs) to head teachers. It also gave the option for head teachers to turn the schools they manage into grant-maintained (GM) schools. GM schools got their funding directly from central government, bypassing LAs completely. The funds given to GM schools were then deducted from LA budgets.
Once heads were given control of schools’ budgets, and the opportunity to opt out of using LA-provided services, the floodgates to outsourcing opened. The business model operated by these private companies offering
cheaper services relied on cutting conditions and wages to boost profitability.
This change to the way money was provided for central services had a devastating effect on LAs. Once a certain tipping point was reached it was no longer viable to provide many school services, as councils could no longer be sure of finances from year to year. Inevitably, over time central services diminished and staff were made redundant, teachers’ centres closed, and years of capacity, experience and expertise were lost. This, in turn, made it much easier to convince schools to opt out entirely, become academies and join unaccountable MATs, run by chief executives paid six-figure sums.
The academy system is merely the tip of the iceberg. All schools compete for pupils and funding with other local schools.
The NEU’s pay and Ofsted campaigns are ideal opportunities to show the public (and education staff) why delegation of money away from LAs, principally on the basis of pupil numbers – as well as the false accountability system sustained by SATs, league tables, Ofsted and so-called parental choice – is financially negligent. It is destroying teachers’ national pay and conditions and ruining the educational experience of the children in our schools.
We need to co-ordinate with other public sector unions and start a fight back to end privatisation.
TeachVac is the largest vacancy system for teachers in England. Our simple but effective technology matches you with suitable jobs based on your chosen subject and where you would like to teach.
We also offer you a useful newsletter as well as a search widening facility and career advice services with our Chair, Professor John Howson.
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MANY statistics jumped out at me when investigating the incidence of high salaries in academy trusts versus what happens within the local authority (LA) maintained sector.
But one was perhaps most striking. In 2021-22, six of England’s largest LAs, jointly responsible for the education of 481,000 pupils in non-academy schools in their areas, had six people paid £130,000 or more. By contrast, in that year the largest 19 academy trusts, with 474,000 pupils, had 106 people paid £130,000 or more.
There were other staggering figures. Large academy trusts spend eight times as much per pupil on highly paid managers as do England’s largest LAs. Lancashire, England’s largest LA in 2021-22, had only one education official paid £100,000 or more for its 140,000 pupils. England’s three largest
academy chains, with 126,000 pupils between them, had 36 people paid at least £130,000. This was uncovered as part of research I carried out for the Campaign for State Education. It begins to tell what I think is a vastly under-reported story within English state-funded education: how recent years have seen the development of a new, often highly paid administrative architecture presiding over state-funded schools.
Where they were once entirely overseen by relatively leanly staffed LA operations, now multi-academy trusts embody what can seem like layer upon layer of central management.
One example recently caught my attention. Overseeing its nine secondary schools spread across Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster and Cambridgeshire, the Astrea Academy Trust has a chief executive, a director of secondary, three regional directors, an executive principal for its four Cambridgeshire schools and “national leads” for several national curriculum subjects.
This is in addition to its school-based senior leadership teams and subject heads of departments. Recently, the trust has also been advertising for an up-to-£100,000 director of curriculum and assessment.
Implications seem twofold. First, there are worries about the financial impact in terms of school-level cutbacks. Second, this management regime sits against the backdrop of what unions are criticising as a standardisation of teaching approaches taken by Astrea’s schools, where teachers are told to implement in tightly prescribed detail the techniques of the Teach Like a Champion (TLAC) textbook. “Booklets” are being produced by the central trust, which set out the content of individual lessons so that, as one staff source put it to me, anyone – qualified professional or not – could take a class.
Elsewhere, material from a school within the largest academy trust, United Learning, also suggests it seeks to “embed” standardised approaches to teaching, including TLAC, in the classroom.
While some defend such approaches as ensuring a consistency of teaching which is especially valuable for early career teachers, I wonder if this centralised prescription of techniques is a price being paid for the MAT sector’s high spending on administrators?
For if such centrally directed policies were not being rolled out, how else would this new management architecture be justified?
I WORK in a primary school and a child in my class is diabetic. I am expected to administer medication and feel uncomfortable doing this.
There is no legal or contractual duty on teaching staff to administer medication. Support staff may have this duty in their job description, but should not be expected to take on this role without consultation and if there are practical or workload concerns.
Where staff have agreed to administer insulin injections in the case of younger pupils, they should be fully trained by an appropriate health professional. They need to be aware of arrangements for safe disposal of needles and syringes and the local policy for collection. All such arrangements should be detailed in the child’s individual healthcare plan. n Visit neu.org.uk/advice/diabetes-schools
I WORK in early years and have been told that when there are other adults in the school building, they count towards the child/staff ratios and, strangely, that staff ratios don’t apply when children are sitting down.
Your concerns are fully justified. The statutory framework for the early years foundation stage stipulates that for staff to be included in child-to-staff ratios, children must usually be within sight and hearing of staff, and always within sight or hearing. These ratios do not change if children are sitting down.
Politely draw your head teacher’s attention to what is required by the statutory framework, or ask your NEU rep to do so, as the current
situation could put children at risk and create problems for staff if there is an accident, or if parents challenge supervision ratios.
I WAS employed on a fixed term contract and have been on maternity leave. Although my contract has ended, I’m told I must return to my previous role for 13 weeks after the leave finishes to be eligible for maternity pay.
If you are entitled to occupational maternity pay under the Burgundy Book scheme but can’t return to your job for the 13-week period after the end of your maternity leave, you are entitled to retain all of your statutory maternity pay and the first six weeks of occupational maternity pay, but your employer may claw back the 12 weeks of half pay.
Employers can waive the requirement to return to work and they have discretion to reduce the amount that is clawed back. We believe that teachers unable to complete the 13 weeks of service for a reason which is in the hands of their employers should not be expected to repay occupational maternity pay. In addition, some local authorities have
NEU members have exclusive access to our continuing professional development (CPD) webinars. Here are some of the courses coming up.
This webinar will equip support staff with a wealth of strategies to support reading, and look at key study skills to enable pupils to get the most out of their learning. The strategies can be taught one-to-one or in small groups in both primary and secondary settings.
4 July 3.45-5pm
Meeting the needs of children with English as an additional language (EAL) Delivered by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, participants will develop an understanding of the stages of language acquisition and explore a range of teaching approaches and texts that can be used to support EAL learners.
5 July 3.30-5.30pm
An interactive online workshop for those preparing to return to work following a period of maternity, adoption or shared parental leave. It will explore the practical
a policy of not reclaiming maternity pay if teachers return to work at another school after obtaining a new post during maternity leave. We believe returning to work on this basis should be regarded by the current employer as sufficient to comply with this condition.
Check the reason for ending your fixed term contract. Termination of a fixed term contract because of pregnancy or maternity would be discriminatory. Your employer must provide written reasons for your dismissal, regardless of your length of service.
Contact your NEU branch or the AdviceLine if you believe you may have been discriminated against or if you need support in persuading your employer not to claw back your maternity pay.
n Please email your questions to educate@neu.org.uk
n If your question is urgent, please call the AdviceLine on 0345 811 811
and emotional sides of returning, along with building confidence.
14 July 11am-12.30pm
Writing proficiently and creatively is a vital part of education and spelling is an important element. This webinar will equip support staff with strategies to help primary and secondary learners.
19 July 3.45-5pm
n Webinars are available for seven days.
n Email cpd@neu.org.uk or visit neu.org.uk/national-cpd
Huw Bucknell (pictured) has written a book on staging plays in a hospital school setting. Emily Jenkins finds out what makes him a class act.
PUTTING on a school play is always a challenge: casting, rehearsing, building sets and making costumes, plus dealing with the anxieties of both students and staff, can make it an overwhelming task.
But imagine doing all that twice a year, every year, in a school attached to a child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) inpatient unit. In a hospital school where the majority of your cohort are in recovery for acute mental health and psychiatric events.
This is the challenge that Huw Bucknell both embraced and delighted in during his ten-year headship of Forest House Education Centre (FHEC) in Hertfordshire.
“We wanted to make the experience of hospital schooling, which might otherwise feel transitory and ephemeral, into something memorable and meaningful. For the young people in our care, working towards a dramatic performance gives school life a vitality and focus,” explains Huw, who previously worked in a mainstream secondary school as an English and drama teacher.
Working with a small cohort of 13- to 17-year-olds from the inpatient unit (who may be dealing with suicide attempts or severe eating disorders) and year 11 day-pupils supported by CAMHS in the community, Huw and his colleagues embedded two school productions a year into the timetable. Staged at Christmas and at the end of the summer, the original productions, always comedies, were performed by students, script in hand, for families, carers, clinicians and staff.
“The theme and characters would be decided by the group,” explains Huw. This often led to a hilarious mix of characters, including Santa Claus, Dracula and Donald Trump. “The kids loved Trump as a character. Him and the queen were very popular. Boris Johnson only made one appearance,” he laughs.
For Huw, offering drama as a complementary activity to the clinical work
Do you know a class act?
Email educate@ neu.org.uk
performance-based enrichment might be fairly unusual in the sector: “Hospital schools don’t tend to know what other hospital schools do due to the nature of safeguarding issues.”
Despite Huw and his team’s passion and tireless efforts, the school’s entire teaching staff were made redundant or resigned their positions in the summer of 2022. The new provider has opted not to carry on the tradition of drama work with inpatients.
of the hospital unit next door is a vital part of recovery and enrichment: “When you’re admitted to hospital with a mental illness it’s a very introspective and disempowering space you find yourself in and this, in part, can be countered by purposeful, celebratory projects.”
Huw talks passionately about how drama can help build resilience. Discussing his year 11 pupils, he says: “If they got their GCSEs but were not able to work with other young people and manage to commit to a bigger project, there was always that risk that they might not have the skills to cope in a more challenging environment like a further education college.”
Huw wanted to share his practice with other hospital schools, believing that
So Huw has instead put his knowledge into a book: Creating and Performing Original Drama in an Adolescent Mental Health Setting. The book is a distillation of over a decade’s experience of mounting plays at FHEC and includes several original scripts, as well as resources on writing and devising plays in similar settings. Huw has sent 50 free copies to equivalent CAMHS schools.
“I believe the work we did in FHEC was really transformative for the youngsters we worked with. I’d love to get the word out to as many colleagues as possible,” he says.
n Huw’s book and scripts can be downloaded free at spanishamanda. com/drama
“We wanted to make hospital schooling memorable and meaningful.”
Hello, we’re Jess and Emma, two of the Send My Friend to School campaign champions, a group of 13- to 15-year-olds across the UK who are campaigning for global education.
Send My Friend to School brings together young people, charities and teachers to demand educational justice for all children across the world. Each year, around 250,000 young people like us come together to take part in their schools.
This year’s Send My Friend to School campaign is called Let My Friends Learn, and we are campaigning for the right of all children to access a quality and inclusive education in emergencies.
Did you know there are 222 million children who have their learning interrupted by emergencies annually? Conflict, climate change, food crises, forced displacement and the aftermath of Covid-19 are all obstructing children’s education. We believe this is unjust and know well that a lack of education can reduce the quality of children’s lives, both now and in the future.
As campaign champions, we attend training sessions, deliver our understanding of the campaign to other schools and organisations, go to local primary schools, and run workshops about the necessities of a quality education, as well as meeting with
MPs to persuade them to take action in our fight for educational equity.
We strongly believe that, as young people, it is important to use our voices to speak up for the education of our friends across the globe. We want others to feel the passion that we do regarding educational equity, and influence others to join the fight for others’ rights.
The schools campaign pack gives students and teachers everything they need to run the project in their classrooms. The campaign pack is free, vivid and accessible for all age groups and abilities. Students learn about the issues and solutions around education in emergencies and will be inspired to use their voices to create genuine change by giving them the tools to democratically influence their MPs.
As campaign champions, we are calling for the Government to:
n PREPARE We are asking the UK Government to invest in preparedness. For example, by looking at trends in data and investing in anticipatory action. Further, the UK Government should ensure that measures are put in place so that we are ready to act quickly when sudden or slow-onset emergencies happen.
n PROTECT It is important that every child’s right to education is protected, and this is a question of equity. This means making sure we protect the children who are the most likely to be affected by emergencies.
The threats that children already face will be greater during emergencies, particularly for those who are most marginalised, such as girls or children with disabilities. Protection also means prioritising education, psycho-social support and safeguarding during a humanitarian response.
n INVEST We are asking the UK Government to invest in education in emergencies by supporting areas that are most affected, as well as investing in preparedness and higher quality evidence bases.
We are also asking the UK Government to return the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget to 0.7 per cent. This has been reduced to 0.5 per cent, which is not only an infraction of the law, but is morally wrong.
n ACT We need to hold the Government to account to make sure it fulfils its promises and ensures that no child is denied the right to an education because of emergencies. We need our leaders to speak out and support other countries – as they should not have to face these challenges alone.
n Find out more at sendmyfriend.org
n Download a free campaign pack at act.sendmyfriend.org/campaignpack2023
Jess (14) and Emma (14), students at Croxley Danes School in Hertfordshire, explain their commitment to the Send My Friend to School campaign.Emma, Jess and fellow Send My Friend campaigners
IN Deer Class, we talk about books and reading a lot. Actually, pretty much all the time. It basically underpins our whole classroom community and ethos.
Much of it is spontaneous and informal. It might be a child who is desperate to let their peers know about a new book they’re enjoying, a pupil from another class popping in for a recommendation or perhaps just a chat about a favourite graphic novel on the way to the dining hall.
Occasionally, I’ll try and guide it and display some reading-related questions around the classroom for the children to discuss. When we recently we did this, pupils selected four questions from our reading question bank; we have over 60, with new ones being added as we think of them. The questions were:
n What is your first memory of reading?
n When did a book make you emotional?
n Who do you talk to about books you read?
n Have you ever been wrong about a book?
These questions led to some fantastic discussion, particularly the first two. Their first reading memories reinforced how important the role of school is in nurturing readers. Lots of them mentioned teachers reading them stories and nursery rhymes in early years, the joy of sharing books with friends and the moment when they moved to being a ‘free reader’ after completing a reading scheme.
Once I’d given examples of when books had made me emotional (which included the ending of Then by Morris Gleitzman, the reunion in The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo and the return of a favourite character in The Outlaw Varjak
Paw by SF Said), my class really opened up and started to talk about the times when a book had impacted on them. Many went for stories we’d read together. What’s that in Dog Years? by Ben Davis was mentioned numerous times, which I’d expected because there had been a river of tears when we finished it.
Another common theme was when a character was being treated unfairly or bullied at school, which are experiences they could empathise with. There were also several examples of positive emotions, of when a book had given someone uncontrollable giggles or when a favourite character had arrived at the last moment to save the day.
There was some interesting debate about whether a book could even be classed as good if it didn’t make you emotional. Some pupils were of the view that occasionally you just needed something fun to read and that not every book had to be filled with traumatic episodes. Some argued that there was no point in reading a book which didn’t make you feel anything. Some thought it depended on how they were feeling that day.
The children were given time to note
down their thoughts on sticky notes, display them near the questions (pictured above) and read what each other had written. They then talked in small groups, before we shared our final thoughts as a class and chose the next set of questions. They want to theme the next discussion around reading outside school, which will be fascinating. It’s obviously the area that schools can ultimately influence the least, but knowing about their reading lives at home can significantly impact on our practice.
Time is always the limiting factor but book talk, both spontaneous and planned, is so important. The benefits are huge: it increases their knowledge of books, it allows them a chance to reflect upon their reading identities, it helps them articulate their thoughts and it creates a safe classroom environment where differing opinions are always welcomed. Once book talk becomes part of the classroom ethos, it is almost an expectation from the children. @jonnybid
Jon Biddle, English lead and NEU rep at Moorlands Primary in Norfolk, is passionate about fostering a love of reading for pleasure. Here he shares ideas and tips for schools to try.
Read more ideas from Jon next issue
Know any good educational websites and apps?
Let us know if you’d like to review them –email us at educate@neu.org.uk
HOW do you make history lessons more inclusive? These 60 engaging ideas and resources empower teachers to achieve this. Sources from The National Archives enable educators and pupils to examine history from a diverse perspective. Studies include Mary Seacole (and her work during the Crimean War) as well as composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Each activity comprises of teacher’s notes, links to the national curriculum and an enquiry question. There are also warnings when the historical resource has inappropriate or sensitive content. Also included are useful websites and suggestions to further develop and explore each topic. An informative key stage 3 resource.
Cindy Shanks
Diverse Histories by Claire Horrie and Rachel Hillman. Bloomsbury. £24.99.
SUNIL lives in Manchester next door to a teenage inventor called Alex. Her greatest invention so far is a slightly unpredictable time machine that she keeps in the downstairs loo. In Explorers and Milkshakes, Sunil and Alex travel to the past and meet Ernest Shackleton and Neil Armstrong. In Scientists and Stripy Socks, they meet scientists including Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton.
These fast-moving, quirky stories are filled with eccentric characters, both real and fictitious. The footnotes are educational, but written in the same snappy, humorous style as the main text. Rebecca Bagley’s illustrations complement the text perfectly. A fun and informative read for seven- to 11-year-olds.
Katrina Reilly
THIS charming story from Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho and Allison Colpoys is a wonderful celebration of individuality and an inspiration to all who are looking to find their voice.
Vibrant colours and clever word play help to tell the story of a young boy scared by the prospect of the school poetry performance. Slowly
Creating a school library with impact: a beginner’s guide AN accessible, comprehensive guide to creating a library in primary and secondary schools. It covers a range of vital topics, including reading environment, working with teaching staff, information literacy, and equality, diversity and inclusion.
The wealth of expertise and ideas on offer make it indispensable for those new to the profession, veteran librarians and anyone working within schools who wants to create the best possible resource for their students.
Owen ClementsCreating a school library with impact: a beginner’s guide, by Caroline Roche et al. Facet Publishing. £32.99.
WHEN Redcap becomes a young carer, he finds himself grappling with challenges around illness, healthy eating and the need to ask others for help. This book explores these issues with a light touch. Redcap and his new-found woodland friends work together to support Redcap’s household at a difficult time.
but surely, aided by his nurturing teacher, he pieces together his poem. Line by line and verse after verse he finds what he wants to say and how to say it. This book would be wonderful to share with primary age pupils.
Sian Collinson
My Beautiful Voice by Joseph Coelho and Allison Colpoys. Frances Lincoln. £7.99.
The accompanying online printable worksheets allow children to test their comprehension of the story and complete word searches and games on themes in the book. The teaching resources offer activities for children at different levels of development.
This sweet story is published in support of ActionAid, an international charity that works with women and girls living in poverty.
Katy IliffeRedcap, by June Mari Louise Lipka. Purple Mash Publishing. £7.99.
The Time Machine Next Door series by Iszi Lawrence. Bloomsbury. £6.99.Pour yew, sew tough! ENGLISH is a wonderfully simple language grammatically. As a modern foreign languages teacher and adviser for over 35 years, I dealt with many languages other than English.
English has barely any verb conjugations that matter. There are no noun cases to decline. Adjectives do not need to agree either in gender or number. No wonder it is easy to grasp the basics. But to expect words and sounds to match to spelling is a step too far in English.
Watching the political shifts around the teaching of reading has always been interesting. People with no experience of teaching have decided they know best and insist on phonics when we all know that English spelling is inconsistent.
Let’s take some simple words. Sometimes they follow a pattern. Bad cad lad mad fad tad sad. Bog cog dog fog log.
But so often they do not follow the pattern. Even at basic levels there are unexpected swerves.
To too two. For fore four. Poor pour door dour. Paw saw
raw roar tor lore. Sew so sow unreliable.
And when we get to OUGH then the world explodes… Cough bough rough trough slough though through thorough.
Then add a t. Sought. Bought. Thought. They follow a pattern. Until you are caught.
Enough. English is not a phonic language.
Glynis Rumley, FavershamI REALLY enjoyed reading the article by Molly Hall (Educate, March/April, page 29).
I have been a teacher since 1989 and have always taught phonics as one of the skills to help children learn to read as part of a ‘balanced instruction’. However, I have found the current obsession with systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) to be frustrating and unhelpful, particularly for children who are struggling.
In our school we are under a huge amount of pressure for children to pass the phonics screening check (PSC). Teachers and learning support assistants
spend a ridiculous amount of time practising decoding examples of words found in the PSC, to ‘hothouse’ children to pass. Our precious time would be better spent listening to children read actual books.
English is such a complicated and irregular language, and I just cannot see that SSP is the best approach. I hope that in the future, government ministers and senior leadership teams will begin to listen to experienced teachers, rather than continue to bombard the profession with new initiatives which may well be based on the results of questionable research.
Alison Francis, BristolI AM a retired teacher and NEU member. My grandchildren attend the school at Caversham. It was horrible news about the suicide of the head there. Does the NEU intend to lend its weighty support to the outrage this has generated concerning the way in which Ofsted conducts its inspections?
Ofsted has been confrontational and destructive instead of helpful and constructive for far too long. Given the pressures under which our teachers bravely work and the outstanding commitment they display to the children in their care, it is high time that such power and negative influence is robustly challenged and brought to account.
Terry Adlard, Wirral
If you have a treasured pet you’d like to show off, email a high-resolution photo with 50 words about what makes them so special to educate@neu.org.uk
Lancashire.
Dawn says: “Jaz gives me unconditional love, listens to all my stories about school and lets me know in no uncertain terms that marking time is over, although sometimes he just gives up and sleeps quietly by my side on top of the printer.
“He became a feature of lockdown lessons and is still often asked after by pupils he ‘met’ via Teams sessions.”
Please write The editor welcomes your letters but reserves the right to edit them.
Write to Letters, Educate, NEU, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD or email educate@neu.org.uk
Please note we cannot print letters sent in without a name and postal address (or NEU membership number), although we can withhold details from publication if you wish.
IN education, children are, rightly, at the centre of everything a teacher does. However, all teachers want to keep their pupils safe and give them an excellent education. With such a dedicated workforce, perhaps the focus should be on supporting and caring for these professionals rather than the intense scrutiny favoured by the current system?
Perhaps if Ofsted prioritised supporting, rather than inspecting, head teachers, they would feel valued. In turn, a head teacher’s priority should be ensuring their staff feel valued and supported.
This would still be a childcentred approach as happier head teachers and teachers would provide even better provision for young people.
Sarah Tandy, StaffordshireThe editor writes: The NEU believes Ofsted is an unfair and unreliable inspectorate. The NEU is sponsoring an independent inquiry, chaired by former Schools Minister Lord Jim Knight. Beyond Ofsted aims to develop a set of principles for underpinning a better inspection system and proposals for an alternative approach.
n Visit beyondofsted.org.uk
I READ the article New report highlights the dangers of a MAT system (Educate, March/April, page 15) and it reinforced my decision as to why I quit the profession having served one term shy of 31 years.
My school came out of local authority control and became part of a multi-academy trust. Rather than leave, which is what many colleagues did, I thought I’d give it a go to see what it would be like. The mantra ‘Every child matters’ was ditched and
I ATTENDED my first south east LGBT+ conference last summer in Brighton. It was a fantastic experience which inspired me to look at what else I could do to support our LGBT+ students and educators. So I was back this year in Portsmouth (pictured right), this time as a trainer.
Teaching attendees and seeing them work together on new resources was satisfying, but what was most rewarding was to see how quickly the torch could be passed. The impact these events have by providing a safe space for members, increasing participation and growing support for our community, cannot be measured.
And activism can be infectious. By the end of the
management was solely interested in getting decent grades. Why? It looked good in the league tables.
Those who weren’t academically inclined could either sink or swim, irrespective of the fact that, for some pupils, passing their GCSEs is an achievement no matter what the grades are.
Every young person has something to offer this world and there’s more to a school leaver than high grades. I was spending alternate weekends marking test papers – my students were becoming test automata. It got to the stage where ironing was more attractive, so it was time to get out.
That was in 2010 and, 13 years later, not a lot has changed.
Teresa Bullock, NorthantsI WAS disappointed by the misrepresentation of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) research in your phonics feature (Educate, March/April, page 29).
While it mentions
session, we had signed up potential new LGBT+ officers for various districts, individuals who could go on and share the positivity in their own areas. We also recruited a team
‘difficulties’ it neglects to mention that what should have been an excellent tool for gauging Read Write Inc properly was fatally compromised by the pandemic. EEF has published what it can, but is not attaching any of its usual gradings of value and months gained/lost to it.
Equally, describing the intervention progress around Fresh Start in secondary schools as ‘disturbing’ is unhelpful when EEF freely admits that this research was flawed and did not reach its usual standard. There is definitely more room for quality research here, and the use of nonsense words in the phonics screening remains a waste of time needing overhaul.
Aside from that, the fact that reading standards have neither declined nor risen since the introduction of phonics-driven early reading shows it is at least equally effective to the previously dominant ideologies.
I would argue the structure of it is very useful for teaching
of members willing to organise our next event. If you have never attended a sector conference, go along and be inspired to get active.
Graham Childs, Hampshirechildren from low literacy backgrounds and learners with English as an additional language. As a year 1 teacher, I find it frustrating that the assumption is that comprehension and phonics are not linked.
In any decent phonics programme from the point children are putting sentences together they will be questioned about their reading on a regular basis. Phonics is an effective shortcut to decoding 52 per cent of the English language and it makes sense to heavy load it into early reading.
A balanced approach is important, but as I highly doubt any mainstream year 6 teacher is delivering reading through phonics, they most certainly get this throughout their primary school journey. If anything, phonics is disregarded and forgotten too early as a potential support strategy for a reader who did not secure early reading skills within the usual time frame.
Gareth Alder, Reading
FINISH This... is a free music-making programme developed by the English National Opera (ENO) for key stages 2 and 3, and special educational needs and disabilities learners.
Students are introduced to a specially commissioned operatic piece, using film and animation, and invited to respond as a group
to create and perform a new piece of music. The seven, 60-minute sessions have been designed in collaboration with educators and ENO artists. The programme includes a teacher pack, films, an online project briefing session and a toolkit with ENO badges for students.
n Visit eno.org/discover-opera/learning/ finish-this
PLATFORM is an awardwinning rail education programme that offers free workshops, trips and resources to schools in south-west England. The bespoke local resources, which link to the curriculum, cover topics such as Brunel’s contribution to the railways, a self-guided tour to Bristol and its links to slavery, and Roman Dorchester. Students will build their knowledge of rail safety and sustainable travel and their confidence in travelling by rail.
n Visit platformrail.org
WHAT if Shakespeare’s characters had more to say? Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation (CSSF) is inviting children and young people aged eight to 25 to write a new speech for a character as part of its national competition, What You Will. Speeches can be in any medium, including song, art, movement or visual message. Free resources including top tips to get your creative juices flowing are available to download. Closing date for entries is 31 July.
n Visit shakespeareschools.org/pages/ what-you-will
PICADOR (McMillan) has 200 copies of Jeffrey Boakye’s powerful book, I Heard What You Said, to give away. The book recounts Jeffrey’s experience as a Black student and, several years later, a teacher, and discusses how it feels to be on the margins of the British education system. Thought-provoking, witty and completely unafraid, it is a timely exploration of how we can dismantle racism in the classroom and do better by all our young people.
n Email publicity@macmillan.com with I Heard What You Said (free copy) in the subject heading.
WIN!
Send us your photo to win a £20 book token
Ian says: “The photo was taken at 6.45am at Murray Park School where I work as a caretaker. There was a fantastic sunrise and a wonderful
reflection on the rain cover of the long jump pit. I set my phone to timer and dropped a stone in, creating this effect.”
Why not send a picture to us at educate@neu.org.uk It should be large and high resolution, accompanied by 50 words about its subject. We send a £20 book token to each featured so don’t forget to include your address in the email too.
IT’S vital that the NEU has up-to-date details for all its members. You may be eligible for reduced subscriptions – for example, if you work part-time, are about to take maternity leave or retire.
It’s important that we have the correct address for you for balloting purposes so, if you have moved, make sure you tell us your new home or workplace address.
The easiest way to update your details is by logging on to myNEU. Go to my.neu.org.uk to manage
your membership, including updating your address, workplace and equality information. Alternatively:
n call us on 0345 811 8111 (Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm)
n email membership@neu.org.uk
n or write to Membership & Subscriptions, NEU, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD.
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Across
1 Royal ___ : golf course and a host of the Open Championship (8)
5 ___ Fisher: Australian actress (4)
9 J. ___ Hoover: first director of the FBI (5)
10 ___ Lauren: fashion designer (5)
11 Jake ___ : US actor in October Sky (10)
14 The mount where Noah’s Ark rested after the Flood (6)
15 ___ Scherzinger: US singer (6)
17 Actor who starred in High Fidelity (4,6)
20 Mountain ash (5)
21 Nick ___ : US actor whose career has spanned over five decades (5)
22 County in Ireland (4)
23 Cheese that contains holes (8)
1 Jessica ___ : US actress (4)
2 Diana ___ : Emma Peel in The Avengers (4)
3 Film starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey (5,7)
4 ___ Dorrit: novel by Charles Dickens (6)
6 ___ Dali: Spanish surrealist painter (8)
7 Mythological Greek hero of the Trojan War (8)
8 Aromatic gum resin (12)
12 Culinary herb (8)
13 Anne ___ : actress who won an Oscar for her role in Les Misérables (8)
16 Soul ___ : band with the 1993 hit Runaway Train (6)
18 The Gunpowder ___ of 1605 (4)
19 Mammal with species including Weddell and Crabeater (4)
Across
1 - Royal ___ : golf course and a host of the Open Championship (8)
5 - ___ Fisher: Australian actress (4)
9 - J. ___ Hoover: first director of the FBI (5)
10 - ___ Lauren: fashion designer (5)
11 - Jake ___ : US actor in October Sky (10)
14 - The mount where Noah's Ark rested after the Flood (6)
15 - ___ Scherzinger: US singer (6)
17 - Actor who starred in High Fidelity (4,6)
20 - Mountain ash (5)
Answers at bottom of page 49
1 - Jessica ___ : US actress (4)
2 - Diana ___ : Emma Peel in The Avengers (4)
3 - Film starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey (5,7)
Sudoku solutions will feature on this page next issue.
4 - ___ Dorrit: novel by Charles Dickens (6)
6 - ___ Dali: Spanish surrealist painter (8)
7 - Mythological Greek hero of the Trojan War (8)
8 - Aromatic gum resin (12)
12 - Culinary herb (8)
13 - Anne ___ : actress who won an Oscar for her role Misérables (8)
16 - Soul ___ : band with the 1993 hit Runaway Train
Last issue’s (May/June 2023)
21 - Nick ___ : US actor whose career has spanned over five decades (5)
22 - County in Ireland (4)
23 - Cheese that contains holes (8)
18 - The Gunpowder ___ of 1605 (4)
19 - Mammal with species including Weddell and Crabeater
Across 9 Strange college member, one belonging to an international fraternity (9)
10 In particular, a re-reading reveals it’s much less common (4)
11 I’m returning to Clare unexpectedly –extraordinary thing! (7)
12 Gradually diminish to a crazy, wild end (7)
13 Bath takes on Head of Engineering to produce underground railway (4)
14 Tries Dante translation, restored to its previous position (10)
17 Futile instruction to reduce consumption? (7)
18 New clues with hard centre not connected with religion (7)
20 Colleges for priests – mine’s possibly
‘The Ram’ (10)
23 London hospital for men? (4)
25 He leaves poor orphanage – a perfect example (7)
26 Let nine off, not being strong on discipline (7)
28 Badly riled by lazy type (5)
29 English university with a small central rebuild (9)
Down
1 Shape the class? (4)
2 Lad tangled with a robe – delightful! (8)
3 Go and get some buffet, children (5)
4 Ignorant – unlike this crossword! (8)
5 Country where special needs include whisky? (6)
6 Maybe it’s a crime that brings an end to the fighting (9)
7 Money lent leads to direct change (6)
8 Cheese that’s short but endless? (4)
13 Support for former Prime Minister (5)
Last issue’s (May/June 2023) prize crossword solution Across
The winner and solution of this prize crossword will feature on this page next issue.
15 Pub game enjoyed at end of bland creative subjects? (5)
16 Generates unruly young people (9)
18 Stendhal novel: ‘A Small Pony’ (8)
19 This kind of poet brews a true ale! (8)
21 Group spirit seen in an exam or a lesson (6)
22 Irritate right leg joint (6)
24 Panto rewrite readily available (2,3)
25 Twosome provides piano tune (4)
27 Part of the school year during winter months (4)
This issue’s quick crossword solution (p48)
Chris Walters is national organiser for education and health and wellbeing at the Musicians’ Union. Visit TheMU.org
THE Musicians’ Union (MU) represents more than 33,000 musicians in the UK. Since 2012 we have had a partnership with the NEU (at that time the NUT), born of our shared belief in every child’s right to music and our desire to support those who teach it.
My role at the MU is to look after our teaching members (who number some 11,000, a third of the total membership) and to advocate for music education at a political and music industry level. That’s why I was delighted when one of our joint MU-NEU members, Victoria Jaquiss, told me that her motion on the importance of music and arts education had been tabled for the 2023 NEU annual conference.
The motion was passed, with the outcome that the NEU is now called to campaign for music and the arts in education, working alongside the MU and others.
Arts education is inherently complex and faces many challenges. There are school performance measures that stifle non-STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – subjects; insufficient space and resources; specialist teacher shortages; and inadequate music training for primary teachers, to name but a few. While some schools do great things, others find their hands forced and their priorities shoved in different directions.
Most teachers instinctively know what the arts can do for children. As well as being fascinating and rewarding in their own right, arts subjects have been shown to develop confidence, focus, self-sufficiency and many other positive traits. Some children may eventually be suited to careers in the arts, but if their school doesn’t support these subjects, that vital moment of inspiration can be missed.
Large parts of the music industry are much less socially mobile than they once were. Where our professional orchestras were once full of state-educated musicians, a child growing up in a low-income household today stands much less chance of accessing the subsidised instruments and lessons that are required for that career. Government funding for the arts – across education, grassroots and the professional culture sector – has been decimated. When we turn on our TVs and see musicians and actors who are disproportionately privately educated, is that fair?
Arts careers are one thing, but it’s important to remember that most children will enter different professions entirely. For them, the arts are something that will carry them through their lives, accompanying them through the highs and lows of human experience. For that to happen, we need to make sure that every child has the opportunity to build their own personal relationship with the arts, through discovering what enthuses them in a safe and nurturing environment.
That’s why we must campaign for music and arts to take their proper and equal place in the school curriculum, as Victoria’s motion demanded. Very few private schools would get away with not offering a rounded programme of arts subjects. Why does the Government allow that in the state sector?
n If you’re an NEU member who also works as a musician, or a musician who also teaches, visit neu.org.uk/neu-andmu-joint-membership or musiciansunion.org.uk/becomea-member/joint
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