23 minute read
Conference 2022
Words by Sally Gillen and Max Watson. Photos by Kois Miah
It’s been too long… together again at last
WITHIN 24 hours of its launch at annual conference in Bournemouth (11-14 April), the union’s Replace Ofsted: Let teachers teach petition had 17,000 signatures. As Educate went to press, more than 27,500 people had signed.
Ofsted topped the programme at this year’s event – the first in person for three years – with delegates debating the damage done by the inspectorate in its 30-year lifetime. Ofsted must go – that was the message delivered by speakers and it met with huge applause and cheers from the audience of 1,600 NEU members (page 13 and sign our petition on page 46).
An urgent motion was debated on the rights of children in schools, following the review into the Child Q scandal. Following the strip-searching of a Black 15-year-old girl who was menstruating, national executive member Jess Edwards asked: “How can we trust a police force like this?”
The case should have been treated as a safeguarding concern not a criminal matter, said Jess: “Let Child Q be the moment we reflect on policing in schools.”
Zahra Bei from Brent said: “It’s not a oneoff – not just a few bad apples.” She called for schools to emphasise restorative justice practices.
Another urgent motion – on the Government’s White Paper on education – was moved by Megan Quinn from Camden. She talked of the challenges faced by staff during Covid: of special educational needs and disability (SEND) provision; of child poverty. But she said the White Paper fails to acknowledge all of these concerns, instead focusing on structural reform to push all schools into multi-academy trusts (MATs) by 2030. “We saw the same push for academisation in 2016. We didn’t need or want academisation then, nor do we need or want it now,” she said. (see Kevin and Mary’s speech, pages 16-17).
Jenny Williams, Croydon
“It’s brilliant. It’s just for me a big learning point. I was very nervous about speaking at first but it felt quite empowering afterwards. I definitely recommend it. You get a sense of unity. It builds your commitment to the union and the causes as well.” Khedija Doukani from Waltham Forest, first-time delegate and speaker
SEND: fighting for a fair future
Jenny Williams from Croydon proposed a motion, SEND – fighting for a fair future, denouncing a £2.5 billion shortfall in funding: “Money is at the heart of the problem. We must fight for a fairer, properly funded education that our pupils, especially those with SEND, deserve.”
Latifa Abouchakra from Ealing said: “If they can ringfence money for military spending, they can ringfence money for SEND support.”
Workload and a national contract
Delegates voted for the union to press the Government to remove clause 51.7 from the school teachers’ pay and conditions document (STPCD), which says: “A teacher must work such reasonable additional hours as necessary to enable effective discharge of a teacher’s professional duties.”
Proposer Gary McVeigh-Kaye of North Yorkshire said: “I’m calling on the NEU to
For photos, debate and much more, go to #NEU2022 @NEUnion on Twitter.
DELEGATES voted overwhelmingly for a motion calling for Ofsted to be replaced. The union will now establish an independent commission to report on the quality and reliability of Ofsted’s judgements, its effects on the education profession and on its pupils. The motion also calls on the NEU to campaign for a new system of collaborative support and accountability.
“The National Audit Office concluded in 2017 that Ofsted does not know whether its inspections are having an impact on raising standards. Ofsted is failing. Ofsted must go,” argued proposer Deirdre Murphy from Bedford. “Of course, schools should be accountable, but schools should also speak for themselves. I have stood up at conference for several years calling for a framework of self-evaluation. We cannot wait much longer. Let’s get an independent commission involving classroom teachers. We can deep-dive Ofsted into far-off waters and drown this offensive, outdated practice.”
Seconding, north London primary teacher Jess Edwards said: “After 30 years, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone working in education with anything positive to say about Ofsted. And Ofsted can’t find anything positive to say about itself. It’s a damning indictment.
“We know what makes good teaching and learning. So, Ofsted, don’t tell us how to teach. We know how to teach. We love to teach. Ofsted must go.”
JENNY Cooper from Brent moved a motion on the climate crisis, which cites the latest IPCC report that we are now at ‘Code Red’.
“There is nothing the Government and big business would love more than for educators to ignore the climate crisis and for us to carry on as normal,” Jenny said. “The results of inaction will be catastrophic. We are perilously close to tipping point.”
Sally Kincaid from Wakefield said: “This is not a crisis for the future, it’s a crisis now. We can’t leave it all to Extinction Rebellion activists; we need to take action now.”
Simon Shaw from Redbridge said: “If we get this wrong everything else becomes moot.”
lead the fight to try to remove this clause, ending once and for all that much-exploited ‘reasonable additional hours’ burden.
“Working excessive hours drives down the value of our wages and drives up the anxiety and stress that makes so many teachers leave our profession within five years of entering it.”
Paul Busby from North Yorkshire said: “Who decides what is reasonable? It’s entirely subjective and open to abuse.”
Fighting for support staff
Members voted overwhelmingly to work with other unions to jointly organise campaigning on support staff issues, including a ten per cent pay rise. Proposer Tyrone Falls, a science technician and NEU rep, said the pandemic had taken a massive toll on support staff, adding that they are most impacted by the cost-of-living crisis. “We are vital to the education sector and to our workplaces. During the pandemic, it was support staff who kept schools open for vulnerable children and those of key workers. Without us, education institutions cannot function,” he argued.
South London librarian Kristabelle Williams said many support staff are on shockingly low pay and their jobs often the first to be cut. “We need to make the NEU a union for all education workers. There’s a strength from everyone in the same building being in the same union,” she said.
The audience broke into applause and cheers as Phil Lindsey from Newham said: “I stand in awe of every teacher in this room and the work you do, but I do not want your job, because I am proud of my job. And I’m proud to be an NEU member.”
Support libraries
“One in eight schools doesn’t have a library,” said Laura Butterworth from Tameside, moving a motion to support libraries. Laura said staff regularly spend their own money on books for underfunded libraries. “Reading for pleasure has a positive impact on mental health. When faced with a situation when we need libraries most, we are falling short. We are not a luxury, we are a necessity,” she said.
Kristabelle added: “Books can also be a mirror – we can see our own lives, leading to self-affirmation.”
Fair assessment, SATS and phonics
Proposer Vikki Fawcett from Durham asked why the assessment system is not moving with the times: “Ahead of the exams in a few weeks we’ve had people crying, parents worried. Our
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high-stakes system narrows the opportunities for many of our young people.”
“Our primary assessment system is broken,” said Theodore Whitworth of Southwark. He decried the “futility” of highstake summative tests, such as SATs, in schools.
Emma Rose of Warwickshire recalled how a ten-year-old boy vomited on a teacher during SATs. “The stakes are too high to get this wrong,” she said.
Anne Swift from North Yorkshire derided the Government’s obsession with a phonicsonly approach to reading in primary schools: “We need a holistic approach, with play-based learning. We need an inclusive model, focusing on reading for pleasure.”
Louise Regan from Nottingham said the phonics-only approach was a “narrow and dull view of reading. Children love books but we’re destroying their love of reading.”
Adult mental health in education
Delegates voted to pass a motion on the growing level of mental illness among staff resulting from the pandemic and the “toxic brew” of unreasonable accountability, tests and funding cuts. The union will lead a campaign on challenging mental health stigma in the workplace and survey the whole membership on invisible injury and traumatic experiences.
Scott Lyons from Norfolk said: “Everybody knows there is a mental health crisis in schools but nothing is being done.”
Save vocational education
Conference passed a motion calling on the union to campaign to save applied general qualifications, and to work with other unions to press the Association of Colleges to pressure individual colleges to respect pay deals.
Post-16 lecturer Duncan Blackie from Sheffield, who proposed the motion, said BTECs, which are 70 per cent of the work in further education (FE), offer second chances for working class people to find their way into the jobs they want.
“Pay is very serious for us,” he added. “FE teachers are paid 30 per cent less than school teachers. We are fighting back – the pay
Building professional unity
The motion calls for further unity with teaching unions.
Coming out
Conference passed a motion calling on the union to create a guide to support staff coming out as LGBT+.
Conversion therapy
Conference passed a motion to extend the ban on conversion therapy – described by Amnesty International as a form of torture – to cover trans and non-binary people.
Defending workplace reps
Conference voted to boost support for reps targeted by their employers.
Education funding
The total shortfall in school funding is £1.6 billion compared with 2015-2016. The motion called for a continued campaign through the school cuts website and with other unions.
claim in the FE sector is for ten per cent or a minimum of £2,000. We have an opportunity for schools and colleges to unite and fight.”
Windrush, BLM, anti-racist framework
Dalian Adofo from Brent (below) moved a motion expressing “dismay at the ongoing injustices meted out to the Windrush generation and their families”.
The way the so-called motherland treated the Windrush generation is a “disgrace”, Dalian said. “England would be the type of mother you call social services on.”
Sharon John from Surrey said. “Windrush is synonymous with the hostile environment. If you tolerate this, your children will be next.”
Jodie Mallier-Ridley from Coventry moved a separate motion on anti-racism. She said there was a deliberate attempt to sow division by the Government, which she denounced as “racist to the core”.
The motion called for a continued campaign to decolonise the curriculum. Venda Premkumar from Redbridge said: “Empowering students to become critical thinkers is the only way to build a better world for all of us.”
The union also launched its new antiracist framework at conference. It had been devised following a wide consultation.
Jenny Christopher from the Black members’ organising forum said: “Racism can be very complex and nuanced, and it’s largely invisible to white people because they don’t experience it. Racist incidents are not always overt.” She urged people to use the framework to engage members and pupils. She said she appreciates it can be a challenge and that most people want to help but don’t know how to.
Executive member Denise Henry said: “You can be guided by Black members but everybody has to take part. We need your support.”
Delegates passed a motion to campaign to reduce exclusions. The motion was proposed by Judith Johnson from Hackney, who said the zero tolerance policies in some schools were wrong and damaging.
“All students are entitled to have access to a quality education, irrespective of race, ethnicity and culture,” she said. She added that pupils from some groups are excluded at a higher rate, including Black Caribbean, mixed heritage, Gypsy and Romany, and those of Irish traveller heritage.
Keith Smith from Telford and Wrekin said: “You might have problems in your
“Conference is amazing. The fact that we can meet each other and have in-depth discussions rather than just looking at a screen feels fantastic. “I really loved the opportunity to speak and get my points across. I say to anyone willing to come to conference, it’s an important opportunity to get your voice heard.” Dalian Adofo, Brent, first-time speaker
GCSE and A-levels
Conference voted to campaign for fundamental reform to assessment and qualifications at 16 and 18, and to produce materials calling for changes including: an end to norm-referenced GCSEs and A-levels, replacing them with criteria-based assessments; a reduced dependence on formal examinations; and a diversity of assessment methods, in particular moderated teacher assessment.
Long Covid
Conference voted to campaign for Long Covid to be named as a disability under the Equality Act 2010, and for the union to produce a model return-to-work risk assessment for members with the condition.
Conference passed a motion to develop training for caseworkers in responding to the emotional needs of members, and strategies for protecting their own wellbeing.
Mothers in prison
Delegates voted for a motion calling for greater support for children whose mothers are in prison.
Subject leadership in schools
A motion was passed calling for teachers who are responsible for a subject to receive a TLR payment and time to complete duties, and to not be expected to prepare unnecessary paperwork for Ofsted.
Value Education, Value Educators
A motion was moved that the union’s VEVE work is “a key strategy to challenge on a range of crises: workload, professional autonomy, accountability, assessment and more”. THE founder of social enterprise Stemettes, Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon (above), received the Fred and Anne Jarvis award this year. A leading advocate for increasing access to STEM subjects and careers for girls, Anne-Marie was the youngest girl ever to pass A-level computing and graduated with a masters degree in maths and computer science. She was nominated by Tower Hamlets NEU, in east London, as a “role model and inspiration to all girls, young women and non-binary people”.
classroom, but we are saying: deal with it as a school, deal with it in its totality, because not dealing with it doesn’t solve the problem. We have to say exclusion is not the answer.”
Disabled members
A motion on pride and power for disabled members was moved by Colleen Johnson from the disabled members’ organising forum, who said there should be “nothing about us without us”. She urged members to self-identify as disabled as a position of “strength and pride”.
“Ultimately we see disabled members as a powerful, not a vulnerable group,” she said.
Challenging stereotypes, tackling porn
Neil Dhanda from Redbridge moved a motion denouncing unchallenged stereotypical sexist and homophobic language in schools and colleges. Many staff don’t feel confident challenging such language and the motion calls for the union to provide dedicated CPD and best-practice examples. “Comments like ‘that’s gay’ are commonplace,” Neil said. “We need to take bullying seriously.”
Executive member Debs Gwynn said: “All of us in this room have a duty to fight discrimination or we let it happen.”
Michael Dance from Redbridge said he was “massively inspired” by the way staff had responded to the cancellation of a gay author event at John Fisher School in Croydon with a ballot for strike action (page 20): “How brilliant is it to see a strike over LGBT rights?”
Amy Fletcher from Tower Hamlets and the City moved a motion on tackling pornography. Pornography is laced with sexist, ableist and racist tropes, leading to damaging and degrading views of women, Amy said. She referred to research carried out by You Can’t Consent to This, which found 38 per cent of UK women under 40 had experienced unwanted slapping, spitting and strangulation during sex. “As a union of over 70 per cent women, we must stake a stand against pornography,” she said.
Lisa Tunnel from north Derbyshire said pornography “contributes to violence against women” and the 51,000 testimonies on the Everyone’s Invited website “shows how prevalent misogyny is in schools.” She said we need a “holistic education to give a safe space for boys and girls to talk about their emotions”.
Poverty in coastal schools
Moved by Lynne Naylor from East Riding, this motion highlighted the fact that poverty is more pronounced in coastal areas. Opportunities are closed off to children simply because they can’t afford basic facilities. Working class kids don’t get to university even if they’re bright. “It breaks my heart,” she said.
Eugene Doherty from Lancaster and Morecambe said: “Poverty is not a choice. It is not the fault of individuals. It is a political choice by politicians.” n CLIMATE CRISIS Lisa Tunnell from north Derbyshire said the climate crisis can feel overwhelming, but referred to the millions of students who in 2019 protested against climate change during their school strikes. “The energy is still there – there is still hope,” she said.
n ANTI-ACADEMIES ALLIANCE The push for all schools to be in academy chains by 2030 was castigated by speakers at a fringe meeting hosted by the AntiAcademies Alliance. Mary Bousted said: “Like a balloon that has been pricked, the rate of academisation has gone from a torrent to a trickle.” Julie Copeland, NEU rep at St Matthew’s in Preston, spoke about their 13 days of strike action against academisation: “Did we win? No. But we felt like we hadn’t lost because we stood up for something we believe in and we have bargaining power we didn’t have before.”
n CUBA SOLIDARITY The Cuba Solidarity Campaign fringe featured Cuban trade union leader Niurka González Orberá. She said that schools faced a lack of materials due to the US blockade, leading to shortages of Braille machines and wheelchairs, for example. She thanked delegates for their support of the Viva La Educación appeal: “We ask for your support and to tell the truth that the blockade is real.”
n STOP THE WAR Alex Kenny from the NEU executive chaired a Stop the War fringe meeting on Ukraine. The meeting heard from Yuri, a Ukrainian pacifist, who condemned “teaching children to meet violence with violence”. He said: “When we refuse to kill we challenge dystopias. We need to teach pacifism.” Daniel Kebede said he was proud the NEU was affiliated to the Stop the War coalition and stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. Kevin Courtney said: “We need talks, ceasefires and diplomatic solutions now that stops the killing.”
n STAND UP TO RACISM This fringe featured speakers Diane Abbot MP and Gus John, activist and author. Gus said we need a coalition of students, parents and teachers to fight racism and “to give us the country we deserve.”
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‘People like you make me confident we can win’
ANGER, pride and hope. In a speech packing an emotional punch, NEU president Daniel Kebede opened the union’s annual conference by taking aim at the Government.
“This is a Government which, while you were working through lunches to keep bubbles going, while your workload was rocketing, while you were juggling teaching online and in-person, was sipping wine and eating cheese on the patio of Downing Street.”
He blasted its failure to tackle the many problems affecting education – child poverty, fair pay, an accountability system not fit for purpose and an assessment system that does not put the needs of children and young people first.
On child poverty, Daniel tearfully recalled the struggles in his own childhood, before declaring: “Things should be different now, but the reality is they’re so much worse.
“If our education secretary was evidence based, he would provide the £15 billion outlined by Sir Kevan Collins for Covid recovery and ensure adequate funding for all schools and colleges during this crisis.”
Educators are facing a choice between eating and heating, as the cost-of-living crisis – on top of a decade of wage cuts – bites, Daniel said.
His anger gave way to pride as he went on to reel off a list of wins by union members over the past year – including those at the Girls’ Day School Trust who fought off their employer’s attempt to fire and rehire them (pages 26-27). “You’ve shown me how we can win,” he said.
“I’m confident we can reorganise education and reorganise society in the interests of our children and of our class. And friends, it is you and people like you who make me confident.
“Conference, the decisions on how we fight back lie with you.”
NEU president Daniel Kebede at conference
Kevin highlights holes in White Paper…
NEU joint general secretaries Mary
Bousted and Kevin Courtney addressed the final session of conference, saying: “We can build from strength. If we are united, if we are focused, if we are determined, then we can achieve great things.”
Mary derided the Government White Paper on education: “After 12 years in power, the Government wants to convince us that it is full of drive, determination and zeal and that its reform agenda is as fresh as a daisy.
“But the White Paper fails on all those fronts. It is a shoddy piece of work with no new ideas, other than to carry on grimly with structural reform which evidence clearly shows has failed in its aims to transform educational standards.”
NEU analysis shows the Government’s evidence for forcing schools into MATs is badly flawed, said Mary: “It systematically misreported Ofsted grades for many schools, claiming that improved grades were a result of being in a MAT when those grades were achieved by local authority schools.”
Kevin added: “The whole premise of the education White Paper is founded on fantasy. This Government paper is truly a statistics scandal.” He said the NEU would be writing to every councillor, every head teacher, every chair of governors to urge them “to resist this siren call for yet more structural change”.
Haemorrhaging teachers
The biggest hole in the White Paper, said Kevin, “is that we simply do not have enough teachers… Our education system is haemorrhaging teachers.” Applications for teacher training are in “freefall”.
The NEU’s State of Education survey asked members about their working lives. “The results are shocking,” said Kevin. Forty-four per cent of respondents said they will no longer be working in education
BRIDGET Phillipson MP (left), Shadow Secretary of State for Education, was a guest speaker.
To a mixed reception, she said Labour would reform rather than replace Ofsted: “Because we want schools to be better, we need to know where the support to achieve that belongs. Which schools, which parts of the system, which areas. And that means inspection.”
The previous day, delegates had voted to campaign to replace Ofsted (page 13), leading some to heckle her speech. But she said Labour would improve the inspection regime: “It’s time for Ofsted to turn a corner. To be supportive of inspection is not to believe it cannot be better.”
She acknowledged that the way Ofsted operates “makes teachers, leaders and lecturers too often feel punished rather than supported”.
“Getting the best out of people means respecting their professionalism and supporting improvement, as well as challenging their performance,” she said.
She denounced the Government’s White Paper as “hollow” of ideas and paid tribute to educators: “I want to thank you today, for all that you did, and all that you are doing.” n SEND GREEN PAPER Teacher Leigh Seedhouse from Oxfordshire said of the Green Paper: “It seems to suggest that behaviour is a sickness that can be cured in six weeks. Throughout this whole paper there is absolutely no exploration of behaviour as a response.”
n WELSH CURRICULUM Delegates found out how schools can rise to the challenges of an ethnocentric curriculum, climate change and inclusion at a session chaired by Welsh executive member Mairead Canavan. Information about a new resource commemorating the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre was also presented.
n PRIMARY ASSESSMENT Teachers on the new independent commission on primary assessment urged others to share their experiences. Commission co-chair and assessment expert Dominic Wyse said: “A big issue for me is pedagogy; now you can’t even teach the way you want to because you’re told how to teach.” Attendees also debated the frustrations of being forced to use phonics to teach children to read, with several saying the method is particularly problematic for dyslexic children.
Pay ballot if 8% demand not met
DELEGATES voted for a national ballot for industrial action on pay if the union’s demands for an eight per cent pay rise for teachers are not met.
In a lively debate, delegates heard that teachers at the top of their scale are now £7,000 a year worse off than in 2010.
Paul Gillett, Warwickshire branch secretary, said: “Educators work hard inside the classroom but outside many are increasingly struggling. Many of us are just about managing, despite the incredibly important job we do.
“Support this motion so young teachers can see in front of them a pathway to match their ambitions, and allow them to progress without having to constantly worry about pay.
“I know of valuable members of staff who left because they couldn’t manage on the low pay anymore. They cried as they left their schools – experienced staff forced to leave the job they love.”
… while Mary blasts tyranny of Ofsted
in five years’ time due to excessive and intensive workload.
“This is the most serious problem our children are facing – there are not enough teachers entering the profession. Those that do leave, leave far too early – burned out by overwork and exhausted by intense and unremitting stress.”
Mary said the Government White Paper seeks to resolve excessive workload ‘where it still exists’ with a staff wellbeing charter: “What an insult – completely inadequate to the scale of the problem.”
Mary pointed the finger of blame at Ofsted: “An agency which terrifies school leaders, and they pass their terror down to teachers. None of us here is against accountability. But we are against tyranny. It’s time to end the tyranny of Ofsted.”
Kevin urged members to sign the newly launched replace Ofsted petition: “Let’s get hundreds of thousands of people to sign it.”
Kevin and Mary celebrated the victories of members in schools and colleges. “These victories give us hope,” said Mary. “Hope that things can be different.”
Mary reminded delegates it had been three years since we were last all physically together and during that time we have learned new ways of reaching out to members – on 3 January 2021, more than 400,000 people joined a meeting on Zoom.
“The union became central to our members’ lives during Covid,” she said. “We have to work to make the union important to members after Covid.”
Kevin added: “We have shown that there is power in a union – and power in the NEU. We must harness this power, direct it and make it work for our members, and through them for children and young people who have suffered so much in the pandemic.”
