Educate magazine November / December 2023 by Educate Magazine

Funding blackhole Government error to cost schools £370m. See page 7.

Whims of the market The privatisation of the early years sector. See page 19.

Tackling inequality in schools Shining a spotlight on Let Teachers SHINE. See page 22.

November/ December 2023

Your magazine from the National Education Union

Windrush

Celebrating the Caribbean contribution to education

Educate

Welcome

November/December 2023 Ivya Scott, former primary school teacher, equalities consultant and union activist. Photo by Kois Miah koismiah

Funding blackhole Government error to cost schools £370m. See page 7.

Whims of the market The privatisation of the early years sector. See page 19.

Tackling inequality in schools Shining a spotlight on Let Teachers SHINE. See page 22.

November/ December 2023

Your magazine from the National Education Union

Windrush

Celebrating the Caribbean contribution to education

NEU president Emma Rose

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede

Editor Max Watson Editorial assistant Frankie Faccion Journalists

Sally Gillen, Emily Jenkins & Sarah Thompson

Newsdesk t: 020 7380 4760 e: educate@neu.org.uk Design & subbing Amanda Ellis neu.org.uk facebook.com/ nationaleducationunion twitter.com/NEUnion

TO ADVERTISE IN EDUCATE Display adverts t: 020 7880 7614 e: educate-magazine@redactive.co.uk Recruitment adverts t: 020 7880 8542 e: educate-jobs@redactive.co.uk

WELCOME to this edition of Educate, which comes at the end of an academic term hit by one Government scandal after another. First, it announced the full or partial closure of more than 100 schools due to the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). The shameful way the Government has repeatedly ignored this disaster waiting to happen has exposed the woeful lack of funding for the school estate. In response, the union is asking members for evidence of the dilapidated state of school buildings and has launched a petition calling for an extra £4.4 billion every year for repairs. See page 6. Then, out of the blue, the Department for Education called our general secretary Daniel Kebede into a meeting in October to announce it had made a ‘miscalculation’ in the national funding formula for schools. This means schools will lose £370 million funding in 2024/25. That’s some mistake. And it doesn’t bode well for next year’s pay offer. Considering members only accepted last year’s pay offer of 6.5 per cent on the grounds that next year would see some element of catch-up for years of pay cuts, and considering that the cost of living remains high, we should expect a fresh struggle for a fully funded pay rise in the new term (see page 7). The horrific scenes in Gaza and Israel have seen thousands take to the streets calling for a ceasefire. We publish the NEU’s statement on page 6. It’s 75 years since the Empire Windrush arrived on these shores and while the contribution of Caribbean migrants to the NHS and transport is well documented, we wanted to celebrate their positive impact on education. We publish two interviews on pages 26-29. Charity Let Teachers SHINE provides substantial grants to teachers for projects which tackle inequality in schools in the north of England. We look at three shining examples on pages 22-25. We have all the regulars – incisive commentary, puzzles, a teacher’s pet, and the newly launched classroom confidential, publishing your amusing anecdotes from the classroom (on the letters page). Send us your funny stories and if yours is published you’ll win £30. I hope you enjoy this issue of your magazine and look forward to your feedback – email me at educate@neu.org.uk Max Watson Editor, Educate

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.

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The rest is history 25 November 1981

Women’s rights activists observe 25 November as a day against gender-based violence to honour the Mirabal sisters, three political activists from the Dominican Republic who were murdered in 1960 by order of the country’s ruler, Rafael Trujillo. On 7 February 2000, the UN General Assembly adopts resolution 54/134, officially designating 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Contents

Features

Regulars

21 Michael Rosen 31 Tim Sanders & Warwick Mansell 35 Ask the union 37 International 38 Jon Biddle & reviews 40 Teacher’s pet & letters 47 Photo opportunity

PHOTO by Kois Miah

48 Crosswords & sudoku 50 Final word

22 Tackling educational inequality

School projects in the north of England aiming to tackle educational inequality receive funding from education charity SHINE (above).

‘People are News tripping over AAC scandal robots. The 6 REngland’s crumbling schools expose lack of funding. kids love it.’ 7 Government funding error

p22-25

26 Windrush 75

National funding formula for 2024/25 readjusted by £370m.

We celebrate the contribution of Caribbean migrants to education (left).

9 Child poverty

Primary children call for free school meals for all.

14 News in brief

A-levels and BTEC at risk; Fulbright scholars; post-16 pay.

15 Bigger picture

A protestor calls time at the Conservative Party conference.

PHOTO by Rehan Jamil

17 Union people

Heather McKenzie and Sarita Healey scoop TUC awards.

26 33

33 A class act

Fiona Black runs an eco-school garden and community kitchen in Halifax (left).

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News

Schools crumbling due to years of neglect ON 31 August, days before the start of term, 104 schools were contacted by the Department for Education (DfE) and told to close, in whole or in part, due to the dangers of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). The autumn term is now almost over and many schools are still partially or fully closed because the buildings are crumbling. The RAAC crisis might have felt sudden, due to the Government’s last-minute action, but the risks posed by RAAC have been known since 2018 when a roof collapsed at a Kent primary school. Asbestos danger in unstable walls In May, the DfE said 572 schools suspected their buildings contained RAAC, and that it would investigate these sites by December. Later, it said there were 8,600 schools which might have RAAC that had not been investigated. In June, the National Audit Office report, Condition of School Buildings, found that “following years of underinvestment, the estate’s overall condition is declining and around 700,000 pupils are learning in a school that the responsible body or DfE believes needs major rebuilding or refurbishment”. RAAC isn’t the only problem. Many buildings containing RAAC also contain

asbestos, making it more difficult to safely remove RAAC and the consequences of a collapse even more serious. Daniel Kebede, NEU general secretary, said: “This is the product of years of neglect by a Government unwilling to prioritise education, and content to allow the school estate to drift into a parlous state. “Schools must now get all the support and help they need to ensure that a complete picture of the problem is given, and that proper measures to rectify it are undertaken speedily.

Portacabins and marquees are not a long-term solution. Our children deserve better.” The NEU, alongside five sister unions, has written a joint letter to Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, urging the Government to publish more comprehensive data on schools affected by RAAC. The letter, sent in September, seeks firm commitments to properly fund all mitigation costs, boost investment to restore the crumbling school estate and set a clear deadline for when all schools will be cleared of RAAC.

Send us evidence of buildings in disrepair THE union is calling on members to send us evidence – photos, videos or just text – of the effects of underfunding on the state of their school buildings, to help pressure the Government over the urgent need for extra funding in schools.

(Below left) A member sent in this photo of walls rotting at their school (Right) Peeling paint in this store room for PE equipment

Submissions will be anonymous unless you wish otherwise. To submit your evidence, sign the petition – calling for an extra £4.4bn every year to upgrade school buildings – or read the joint union letter to Gillian Keegan, visit tinyurl.com/3nj4b8um

NEU calls for immediate ceasefire and restoration of humanitarian aid to Gaza FURTHER to our statement on 14 October (neu.org.uk/israelgaza), the NEU is distressed and alarmed by the rising death toll of Palestinian civilians, particularly children, caused by Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza. Half of Gaza’s two million population are children and 40 per cent of all those killed in Gaza since 7 October are children. According to Save the Children, child fatalities in the besieged enclave since this date have surpassed the annual number of children killed across the world’s conflict zones since 2019. We call on the UK Government and wider international community to work for an immediate ceasefire and ongoing peace settlement that secures the release of Israeli hostages, ends the bombardment of Gaza, and restores the flow of vital humanitarian aid, including food, fuel and medical supplies into Gaza. More than 1.4 million people in Gaza have been internally displaced, with some 671,000 sheltering in 150 UNRWA facilities. We decry the attacks on UNRWA schools and

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hospitals and reiterate the call from the World Health Organisation for “all parties to the conflict to take all precautions to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure [including] health workers, patients, health facilities and ambulances, and civilians who are sheltering in these facilities”. The NEU is committed to challenging racism in all its forms, and we will continue to speak out against the alarming rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia that we are witnessing in the UK and elsewhere. Attacks on, or harassment of, Jewish or Muslim people are abhorrent and inexcusable. Everyone has a right to feel safe in their schools, colleges, places of worship and communities. We encourage all NEU members to take peaceful action in support of calls for a ceasefire, including joining peaceful protests and contacting their MP.

BANNERS on display at the Burston Strike School rally, Norfolk, in September. The annual gathering of trade unionists celebrates the longest running strike in history. Teachers Tom and Annie Higdon were victimised for their socialist and trade unionist activity in 1914, leading to a walkout by students and the setting up of a ‘strike school’ which lasted 25 years until 1939. This year NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede was a featured speaker, alongside singers, a brass band, Clive Lewis MP and Nigel Mason from the British Medical Association. PHOTO by Peter Everard Smith

£370m cut threatens school budgets FOUR unions have written to the Education Secretary after it was announced that schools will lose £370 million funding next year – the result of a miscalculation by the Department for Education (DfE). A joint letter sent by the NEU, ASCL, NASUWT and NAHT calls on Gillian Keegan to honour the Government’s original commitment on school funding, warning that overstretched schools “face the very real prospect of cuts to provision”. On 6 October, the DfE said it had revised the national funding formula (NFF) because pupil numbers in 2024/25 would be higher than it had forecasted. As a result, schools will now receive £45 less per pupil in primaries and £55 less per pupil in secondaries next year. The huge shortfall in funding will place pressure on already overstretched school budgets, leaving less money for pay rises. The union will, however, continue to press the

Government to give schools the NFF money promised back in July. The unions’ joint letter argues that the reduction in funding casts doubt on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s statement to the Conservative Party conference in October

that “my main funding priority in every spending review from now on will be education”. The letter goes on to say: “Sustained investment in the nation’s schools is desperately needed, after years of austerity.”

Have you received your 6.5% pay rise? MEMBERS’ strike action this year won the biggest pay rise – 6.5 per cent – in decades. The focus this term is ensuring the national pay award is implemented in every school. Long-term funding issues present a potential threat to the implementation of the award and, as schools now have a huge amount of discretion, we can’t assume pay rises will be applied automatically. It is imperative that NEU workplace groups approach head teachers and secure a commitment to implement the award in full. Additionally, members across the country have been using the engagement and organisation we built during our Pay Up! Save Our Schools campaign to tackle other pay issues beyond the implementation of the national award, including pay portability, pay progression and non-payment of TLRs for those undertaking additional responsibilities. The 6.5 per cent pay award for 2023/24 was just a stepping stone to full pay restoration for teachers. This year, we will be asking for an above-inflation pay rise as a step to restoring the pay teachers have lost since 2010, especially as the cost-of-living crisis continues to hit members hard, and demanding the funds schools will need to pay for this. n If you require further support with pay issues, contact your workplace rep or NEU branch.

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News

50% pay increase for ‘inspiring’ support staff

(From left) Natasha Merritt (NEU rep), James Armstrong (NEU rep), Jill Greenhalgh (NEU rep and matron), Sabina Mankoui (matron) and Carol Scott-Bristow (matron)

Welsh speakers, your country needs you… WELSH-speaking teachers and students are being encouraged to return to work in schools in Wales. The Welsh Government has set a target to have a million Welsh speakers in Wales by 2050 – and it needs teachers to help that happen. One of those who is returning to his roots in south Wales is Greenwich primary school teacher Jonathan Davies (pictured). He left Swansea in 2017 to study a music degree in London, followed by a Masters, and PGCE in 2021. At the time, he says, he had only ‘schoolboy’ Welsh. In 2021, he embarked on a beginners course online run by the National Centre for Learning Welsh. He now speaks the language fluently – and the Welsh classroom beckons. He plans to return at the end of the year. The Welsh Government offers incentives such as £5,000 for those studying to become Welsh-medium secondary teachers. n Find out about learning Welsh at learnwelsh.

Embark on a new assessment journey EDUCATORS met at NEU HQ Hamilton House, London, to discuss a new era for secondary assessment with a panel of NEU members, academics and politicians. Delegates heard a range of stories where students felt ground down and battered by ‘high-stakes exams’ and schooling that removes enjoyment and waters down soft skills that employers so desperately want. The Independent Assessment Commission’s report, Qualifications for a new ERA: equitable, reliable assessment, makes ten recommendations to embark on a new assessment journey. A panel of politicians from all parties agreed that the real experts are in the classrooms. Equity between academic and vocational qualification routes is needed. We also need to recognise bias, develop accessible assessment methods (albeit including exams), and move on from league tables and Ofsted that stifle progress. By Jamie Pout, south Kent district secretary, and

Panellist, economist Dr Faiza Shaheen

cymru/education-workforce/#courses

A DISPUTE involving support staff workers at Brighton College, an independent school in East Sussex, has been resolved after the NEU secured a massive 50 per cent pay increase. The college employs nine matrons who provide pastoral support to students and administrative support to the school house staff. Annual pay for the all-female workforce, who were on term-time-only contracts, was £19,000. Following a ballot for strike action, the employer met with NEU reps and offered matrons a full-time equivalent salary of £36,000, with the option of moving to a fulltime contract. This represents a 50 per cent pay increase, or a 90 per cent increase for any matron who chooses to take up the offer of a full-time contract. NEU rep James Armstrong described the women as “inspiring and so united” throughout the dispute. Jill Greenhalgh, NEU rep and matron, said: “This result has changed our lives for the better.”

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PHOTO by Kois Miah

Dani Hosford, west Hampshire joint district secretary

n Visit neweraassessment.org.uk/findings

Food banks – worst winter yet

The Trussell Trust predicts more than 600,000 people will need the support of its food banks this winter, the most it’s ever provided.. THE NEU hosted a joint meeting with the Daily Mirror at the Labour Party conference on free school meals (FSM) for all primary children. Welsh Education Minister, Jeremy Miles (pictured right, with NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede), noted that “any child hungry in the classroom is not ready to learn”. Daniel praised the Welsh Government and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, for rolling out FSM in primary schools. Sharon Hodgson MP – a longstanding campaigner on school meals – told the meeting about recent Impact on Urban Health research, which noted the wider societal benefits of FSM alongside the educational and health benefits. Every £1 invested in FSM is estimated to generate £1.71 in economic and societal benefits. PHOTO by Jess Hurd

Educators struggling to cope with pupil poverty SCHOOLS are reeling in the face of rising child poverty, with a majority of staff reporting that they and their colleagues are increasingly having to divert from their allocated roles to deal with its impact, a survey by the Education Anti-Poverty Coalition has revealed. The survey of over 1,000 professionals working in every role in schools in England, found that 79 per cent are increasingly having to spend time on poverty-related issues. Examples include dealing with dinner money debt, referrals to specialist services, and sourcing food bank vouchers, hardship grants, children’s clothes and even home equipment like washing machines for families. This rises to 92 per cent among head teachers. At the same time, 51 per cent of school staff say schools have less capacity to support struggling families and children, with staffing cuts cited as one reason for this. “Staff have been spending more time helping vulnerable families. This leads to members of staff having to leave their allocated roles to attend to pupils and also to contact statutory

services to seek assistance and advice,” said one survey respondent, a primary teaching assistant from the North West. Asked which policies would have the biggest effect on reducing child poverty in their school, 80 per cent of those surveyed said providing universal free school meals. Other suggestions included increasing the amount of financial support low- and middle-income families with children receive and more Government help for families with costs such as school uniform and trips. Celebrities back FSM for all MORE than 25 public figures have signed the NEU’s joint open letter calling on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to extend free school meals to every primary school pupil. Celebrities including actors Kate Winslet and Olivia Colman and musician Ed Sheeran have shown their support for the NEU and the Daily Mirror newspaper’s campaign.

n Read the full report at cpag.org.uk/ schoolsurvey

n Visit freeschoolmealsforall.org.uk

PUPILS from Monksdown Primary School in Liverpool joined NEU campaigners in leafleting delegates at the Labour Party conference calling for free school meals for all. See letters, page 41.

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Opinion

Why we must now win on workload NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede reports on the latest talks on workload.

IT has never just been about pay. When we halted our campaign this summer, the union moved into immediate talks with the Government on workload. Our talks began with a focus on updating the list of administrative tasks that teachers are not required to perform. In this area, we’re looking for quick progress. But on other issues, the gulf between what those who work in schools know and what those in power barely recognise remains wide. The crisis in recruitment and retention – which we’re nowhere near getting out of – is driven by workload pressures. Research by University College London in 2020 confirmed that workload was the most frequently cited reason for people leaving teaching. This was a matter not just of quantity, but of quality. It wasn’t just about the hours that teachers put in, but what those hours felt like, under the pressures of performativity and accountability. The National Foundation for Educational Research, also in 2020, found that job satisfaction depends to a large extent on a sense of autonomy. And the level of this autonomy was much lower among teachers than in comparable professions. They had little control over their workload and less agency in the classroom. They could not influence their professional development. Physical and mental intensity This year the union published research by academics Alan Felstead, Francis Green and Katy Huxley, confirming that high teacher workload is not just a matter of long hours. It also means high work intensity – measured by the rate of physical and mental input to the tasks of the working day. The problems are increasing, at all levels of the profession. We asked Professor Ruth Lupton to research the situation of the NEU’s leadership members. Eighty per cent said their workload is unacceptable. And the demands are increasing. Weekly working

hours are on average two hours longer than in 2019. Four in five said they were spending more time on “supporting staff wellbeing and mental health”, “dealing with safeguarding and child protection issues” and “liaising with families and external organisations supporting pupil welfare”. The same story is told by classroom teachers. Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) demands are growing; provision for them isn’t. No progress until realities dealt with These are the realities of teaching. We place them at the centre of the arguments we make to a Government in denial – and to opposition politicians who are at least willing to talk about change. There will be no progress in education unless these realities are dealt with. No talk about ‘driving up standards’, no new qualifications system, no reshaping of SEND provision will work unless the Government addresses the burden of educators’ workload and its consequences for learners. The Beyond Ofsted commission, which the NEU brought together, will soon publish a blueprint for a new accountability

system. We have pushed for a review of the curriculum and assessment system – which drives so many workload issues – and are pleased that Labour has adopted this policy. Organising on workload in schools But we know that high-level arguments about system change must be supported by change on the ground. School-level organisation was essential to the success of the pay campaign. We must ensure that we are just as well organised on workload. Whatever concessions the Government makes in national talks must be translated into effective practice in our schools – and that’s where the role of school union groups is so important. Monitor everything. Challenge any shortfall. Press for further change. As I wrote when I was standing for election to the office I now have the honour to hold: the stakes are high. Either we stop the relentless intensification of workload, or we face a future of personal and professional exhaustion. As your general secretary, I will do everything I can to support a union strategy that builds on the gains of the recent past, to win real change in the near future.

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News

Head teachers join NEU pay pickets in Jersey TEACHERS on the island of Jersey have been in a pay dispute with our Government since the start of the year. We are calling for a cost-ofliving pay rise, but are being offered 2.5 per cent below this. Jersey is a British crown dependency with its own Government, laws, tax regime and currency. The island follows the English curriculum and has 35 schools run by the

Government of Jersey. We have been in negotiations since November 2022 and there has been no change in the Jersey Government’s position. The cost of living in Jersey is high, with inflation running at 10.9 per cent. We have seen a real-terms decrease in our pay for over a decade. In June, 91 per cent of our membership voted Yes to strike action. On the 5 July we held a rally in the Royal Square, outside our

parliament, which was attended by hundreds of teachers. We held further strike action in September and October and were joined on 12 September by the NAHT, the first time it had taken such action in Jersey. Our membership continues to grow, and we have further strike days planned for November. Thanks to all for their support.

By Adrian Moss, NEU joint district and branch secretary, Jersey

NEU and NAHT members join forces in Jersey

News in brief TUC disabled workers

Pay, funding and SEN in NI

H&S at Hazards conference

On 11 and 12 July, the TUC disabled workers’ conference took place in Bournemouth. Delegates spoke on issues including the disability pay gap, the effects of long Covid, reasonable adjustments and the need for inclusive and accessible workplaces. Nicky Downes from Coventry NEU spoke on building a movement of protest, while Sarah Carter from Oxfordshire NEU spoke of her experience regarding the need for accessible public transport. I moved the NEU motion on the need for more disabled educators, and the union also ran a well-attended fringe event to promote disability pride (pride in disabled identity).

REPRESENTATIVES of the Northern Ireland Teachers Council, the negotiating body for the recognised teachers’ unions (NEU, INTO, UTU, NAHT and NASUWT), met with political parties on 9 October to discuss pay, funding and special educational needs provision. Unions have been in dispute since 2022, taking strike action and action short of strike. Teachers’ pay has been eroded by more than 20 per cent since 2010. Pauline Buchanan, NEU NI secretary, said: “Pay must be treated as a matter of urgency. Teachers carry out vital work for the children of today, the workforce of tomorrow and shape education for generations to come. We will continue to work to resolve this dispute and to ensure education is adequately funded and fit to meet the needs of all children.”

NEU health and safety reps were among those who attended the Hazards conference, an annual event for trade union safety reps and activists. At the three-day event in Keele, issues such as the shortage and lack of diversity of H&S reps were discussed. Clean air and effective filtration systems were also on the agenda. Delegates heard from Hilda Palmer, of Families Against Corporate Killers, who spoke about the suicide of head Ruth Perry whose school was downgraded by Ofsted, only for the judgement to be reversed. She spoke about a campaign to address the Health and Safety Executive’s lack of enforcement powers around workrelated suicides.

By Colleen Johnson, NEU executive disabled members seat holder

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By James Starnes, NEU Trafford H&S officer

88% increase in childhood destitution since 2019

Destitution in the UK, a report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, claims one million children experienced destitution in 2022.

THE NEU Black LGBT+ educators’ network (pictured above) held its annual summer residential in August. The event aimed to inspire Black LGBT+ educators to become more actively involved in the NEU, highlighting the network as a safe space. Colleagues engaged in meaningful discussions about intersectionality and the

importance of belonging to both LGBT+ and Black spaces, and how to build activism within the union. Tevin Robinson, a media studies teacher in Croydon, said: “Hearing such amazing teachers speak honestly about their experience was everything to me. More safe spaces like this are needed. This was my first NEU event. I’m looking forward to joining future events.”

The following day, members ran a stall at UK Black Pride, which was marking its 18th year. Thousands attended the event – the world’s largest celebration for Black LGBT+ people – which took place at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. By Tashan Charles, NEU rep and member of the London and Black LGBT+ network committee and the LGBT+ national organising forum

Empowering and safe space for ‘heavier topics’ THE trans and non-binary educators network hosted a residential event in August attended by 28 members who came together for two days of learning and networking. We began by collaborating on behaviour guidelines to create an accommodating, safe space for all present. The thoughtful nature of this activity meant that when we came to discuss heavier topics, we felt well supported by the organisers and the group as a whole. With a range of activities across both days, it felt like we barely stopped to catch our breath. Sessions included the union structure and processes, winning policy in districts, and a valuable opportunity to make regional plans. Given the prevalence of transphobia from the Government and right-wing media, it was great to have a Q&A with

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede, who answered our questions openly and candidly. Advice on Government guidance One of the most pressing issues for trans and non-binary educators has been the Government’s imminent guidance for schools on trans and non-binary students. Two non-binary members of the trans and non-binary educators’ network committee, Katie Reynolds and Grey Roberts, reassured us by explaining some of the actions taking place and highlighting the TNB Education website (tnb.org.uk) as an excellent resource. On the second morning, we created a pop-up Museum of Transology by sharing an artefact focusing on our lived experiences of gender identity and transition. Contributions included poignant photographs, memes and some powerful poetry readings.

More often than not, we will be the only trans or non-binary staff member in our workplaces. Events like this are empowering and bring an important sense of community and belonging.

By Thyme Chapman (they/them), neurodiversity officer, West Hampshire district

How to build LGBT+ spaces in schools Free webinar looking at how we, as trade unionists and educators, can empower ourselves and our students around LGBT+ issues. Sunday 12 November from 1-2pm Book at tinyurl.com/

LGBTspaces

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News in brief 15 education leaders wanted ARE you an education leader interested in helping to inform the union’s policies on leadership? The union has the following 15 vacancies on its National Leadership Council and would like to hear from leaders who would like to join: n South West – female seat n South East – two female, one male n London – two female n East Midlands – one male, two female n Yorkshire and Humber – one female n Northern – one male, one female n North West – one female n Wales – one female n Northern Ireland – one male or female. Email steve.cooper@neu.org.uk

US university opportunity

NEU members at Connaught School for Girls, in east London, continue to resist plans to transfer the school to Star Academies, a multi-academy trust with a network of primary and secondary schools across England. Members took seven days of strike action (pictured) in October and two days in November. NEU joint district and branch secretary for Waltham Forest, Pablo Phillips, told Educate: “This is about privatisation of education, and an attempt by the Department for Education to support its favoured trusts and attack a successful school.” A previous attempt to convert to academy status failed last year, when, on the eve of strike action, the prospective multi-academy trust withdrew.

that agreement in negotiations with the NEU and other unions this term. TWO NEU members, Jill Somerville and Harriet Piercy, have been awarded Fulbright distinguished awards in teaching (DAI) scholarships. Representing Northern Ireland and London respectively, they spent four and a half months at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, USA. The program brings together 50 educators globally, spanning various subjects, experiences and backgrounds. Their time at Vanderbilt involved auditing advanced graduate courses, participating in seminars and engaging in research projects. Jill immersed herself in a research project centred on mathematical play within the classroom, while Harriet embarked on an exploration of oracy teaching in US classrooms. If you’re looking to advance your professional development, apply at tinyurl.com/pjfhf58t

Post-16 pay agreement THE pay agreement for teachers in schools in England included an additional £185 million for 2023/24 and £285 million for 2024/25 to fund pay awards for post-16 educators. This should mean that further education and sixth form colleges are able to at least match 14

Scrapping BTECs for T-levels could leave students stranded AT least 155,000 young people – 13 per cent of sixth form students in England – could be left without a suitable study programme from 2026. That is the warning by the Protect Student Choice campaign in a report on the potential impact of scrapping most applied general qualifications (AGQs) such as BTECs. The report by the campaign, of which the NEU is a part, finds that the dramatic reduction in AGQs, together with the slow growth of vocational T-levels, may leave tens of thousands without a programme of study. The Government believes T-levels will become more popular when AGQs are removed, but Protect Student Choice argues this claim is not supported by evidence. Its report says: “The requirement to complete a 45-day work placement and high entry criteria (often as high or in some cases higher than for A-levels) suggest that T-levels are not the mass-market replacement for BTECs the Government would like them to be.”

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Many schools and colleges predict that scrapping BTECs is more likely to drive up A-level numbers, particularly given that awareness of T-levels remains low, it adds. n Find out more at tinyurl.com/3jzvs9t3

’Pie in the sky’ Tory plans PLANS to replace A-levels and T-levels with an Advanced British Standard qualification for 16- to 18-year-olds have been dismissed by the NEU as “misconceived” and “detached from reality”. NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s proposals – announced at the Conservative Party conference in October but which the Government admits may take ten years to introduce – were “pie in the sky” when there is a national teacher shortage. “Post-16 curriculum reform is worthy of debate, but simply increasing the number of hours taught would require an additional 5,300 teachers. This year the Government missed its recruitment target for secondary teachers by 48 per cent,” said Daniel.“The casual headline-seeking announcements of the Prime Minister are no substitute for serious planning to address the needs of all our 16-year-olds, whichever courses they take.”

Bigger picture

THOUSANDS of people took to the streets of Manchester at the onset of the Conservative party conference to demonstrate against austerity. An estimated 50,000 trade unionists, peace groups and campaigners were

organised under the umbrella of the People’s Assembly Against Austerity (thepeoplesassembly.org.uk). NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede spoke at a rally after the demo, calling for an increase in school funding. He said: “The spending on the school

estate – the reason for our crumbling schools – is just a third of what the Office for Government Property says is needed. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan says children prefer portacabins. But it’s not the children of Eton or Harrow that have to endure them.” PHOTO by Jess Hurd

News Women in politics resources LIFTING Limits, a charity which supports schools to challenge gender inequality, has created two free assembly resources about women in politics for primary educators. The resources were produced to tie in with an event held at the Houses of Parliament in July organised by Centenary Action, a coalition of more than 100 women’s rights groups. Its Women Count campaign is seeking to boost the number of women MPs and reach 50/50 representation by 2028, the centenary of equal franchise. Suitable for key stage 2 children, the resources explain the role of Parliament and what is meant by equal representation. Children will learn about the role of an MP and consider what qualities and characteristics a person might need to do the job well and why diversity in Parliament is important. They will learn how to use their own voice to campaign for issues they care about. Each assembly is approximately 20 minutes, with lots of discussion points which can be expanded on in the classroom and which link to other core subjects. Guidance notes for educators and two videos accompany the resources. n Visit liftinglimits.org.uk/resources-forschools-and-families

NEU member becomes mayor NEU member and councillor Yaqub Hanif was elected as the new mayor of Luton in May, describing the appointment as a “tremendous honour”. Yaqub will continue to work as head of business studies at Cardinal Newman Catholic High School. He says that teaching, and his work as a trade unionist, link strongly to the role “in terms of striving for social justice, fighting for fairness and ensuring public services are protected and adequately funded”. Yaqub’s main priorities as mayor will be reducing food poverty and tackling domestic abuse and violence against women. n Join the NEU councillors’ network at neu.org.uk/get-involved/neu-networks/ councillors-network

NOMINATIONS for the 2023-24 representative and officer of the year awards are open. If you think your local rep or officer deserves to be recognised for their hard work and commitment, now’s your chance to let the union know. Find out more about how to nominate at neu.org.uk/rep-and-officer-award n See page 17, opposite, for more news on rep of the year Sarita Healey. n (Above) Andrew Cunningham, 2022-23’s officer of the year winner, with former NEU joint general secretary Kevin Courtney. PHOTO by Ben Broomfield

Low pay forcing TAs to leave A GROWING number of teaching assistants (TAs) and support staff are leaving their roles for better paid jobs elsewhere, a new report has found. The National Foundation for Educational Research’s (NFER) report, Cost-of-living crisis: impact on schools, has highlighted the challenges facing all school staff, with support staff most affected. More than 70 per cent of senior leaders reported that TAs are leaving their schools. One respondent, a mainstream senior leader, said: “TA pay is appalling. We cannot offer salaries that are an incentive to stay. The school budget cannot sustain the increase in costs without

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letting high-quality staff members leave.” For those support staff who stay, the NFER found that many are now taking second jobs to supplement their income. This is becoming particularly common in special schools, with 82 per cent of senior leaders from special schools reporting that some of their staff are taking second jobs for the first time. NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “Working as support staff in schools is becoming financially unviable, as this report clearly shows. Until such time as pay and workload across the whole education profession is addressed, the recruitment and retention crisis that is gripping our schools and colleges will persist.” n Read the report at tinyurl.com/4kac84w3

Union people

Championing and protecting women NEU reps won two prestigious Trades Union Congress (TUC) awards at this year’s conference in September. The women’s gold award is given annually to recognise the hard work, trade union campaigning and voluntary or community organising carried out by women lay members. The NEU’s Heather McKenzie was presented with this year’s award. Heather told Educate: “It’s a real honour and a privilege. I feel so proud and thankful to my fellow sisters for all that we have done. “I’ve not always been at the forefront; I’m the quieter one. But the main thing is that I’m there with a wealth of women behind me, and at the side of me, past and present. I’ve been lucky to be in the right place at the right time with the right opportunities and the right support.” Keep demanding better Heather’s aim has been to make sure that “all women feel they can have a voice”. “We have to make sure our union reflects our membership,” she said. “I’m extremely proud of the NEU because it continues to try to make that happen, I think more determinedly than other unions. But it’s taken very strong women to fight for that.” Heather’s message to women is that there is never a wrong time to take action:

“We have to make sure our union reflects our membership.”

“I accept this award on behalf of brilliant women who are fighting that fight on a daily basis. The union is for everybody. The union is about pulling together, because together we are stronger. For women, that togetherness is so important. We are so empowered if we are together. That’s the strength of the union and always has been.”

Heather McKenzie

‘Legendary’ anti-academisation picket NEU rep Sarita Healey won the TUC’s organising award. Sarita, who works at King Edward VI Lordswood School for Girls, in Birmingham, organised five days of strike action last year to oppose academisation. The TUC said: “Sarita’s dynamic leadership, particularly during the dispute over trust status, and the fact that she was seen by all staff to be active and effective as a rep, resulted in a significant increase in union membership at the school. “Sarita led negotiations with confidence, putting the views of members across with great skill. Members took great strength from this, resulting in the school group voting for strike action – something which would not have been possible without Sarita’s inspirational leadership. “She organised the most vibrant and effective picket lines imaginable – these are now legendary and are a benchmark for what a great picket should look like and be.”

“Just put one foot in front of the other and do a bit. You don’t have to do everything at once. Go for it, and make sure that you keep demanding better.” Safe, valued and respected Heather stressed that her award is on behalf of fellow union members: “Amazing sisters and brothers who have been really supportive of me, so that I’ve then wanted to empower other women. “There are lots of fabulous women, past and present, who schooled me coming along and tried to make sure we had policies within the union that championed and protected women, because if that happened it was good for everybody. “I want women to feel safe and valued and respected in our union. If it’s good for women and girls, it’s good for everybody.

n Watch a film featuring Heather (above left) and Sarita (above right) at tuc.org.uk/news/2023-congress-awards-winners

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The NEU knows the importance of early years education and we’re proud to represent early years professionals across the sector, from reception classes, to maintained children’s centres, to private nurseries.

Check your membership type: If you’re a teacher working in a maintained nursery or reception class, the NEU standard membership type will apply to you. If you’re a nursery nurse, a room lead, an early years practitioner in an early years setting, the NEU support membership type will apply to you. If you’re unsure about the right membership type for you, contact the membership team on 0345 811 8111 or membership@neu.org.uk

Already a member working in early years and want to get more involved? Go to neu.org.uk/EYWhatsApp to find out more.

NEU3177/1023

Did you know the NEU has an Early Years Reference Group for members to connect and organise?

News

Early years education is too precious to leave to the whims of the market Daniel Stone is an NEU education policy specialist. QUALITY early years provision should be the foundation of our education system but, while England has some examples of great practice, notably its excellent maintained nursery schools, there is widespread consensus that the early years education and childcare system is in crisis. Chronic underfunding is a key cause of the problems. It underpins the low pay and poor terms and conditions that most nursery staff receive. Underfunding also drives up the cost of nursery provision and childcare for parents. The money that is put into the Government’s ‘free hours’ entitlements is just not enough to cover the real cost of delivering the service, and so nurseries need to rely on income from younger children, additional hours and charges for lunch. 84% of childcare is for profit While the lack of adequate funding is rightly the focus of much public attention and campaigning, the problems unfortunately go a lot deeper. England’s early years sector is highly privatised and fragmented. A 2018 report by The New Economics Foundation estimated that 84 per cent of childcare in England was delivered by for-profit providers, compared to just three per cent in Germany and four per cent in France. International evidence shows that profitdriven settings offer worse care and leave public authorities with less control over fees and when and where services are provided. In a privatised system, cost cutting sees fewer staff employed, on lower pay, with worse terms and conditions. While many private providers of early years education and childcare are small in scale, this is quickly changing. Multinational companies and private equity firms are buying up existing smaller providers to create large national nursery chains. An investigation by

An NEU rally in 2021 to save maintained nursery schools under threat

the Guardian published this August revealed that investment funds have more than doubled their stake in the sector in just four years. Much of this expansion is being financed by high-risk borrowing strategies that involve saddling the companies with massive debt. Research funded by the Nuffield Foundation and published in 2022 warned that the nursery sector could be damaged in the same way as the adult social care sector, where companies have collapsed and closed care homes at short notice. The study also concluded that there has been no substantial increase in childcare places and “the proportion of income spent on wages is lower for the private, for-profit childcare companies than for the not-for-profit companies, with staff across the sector being poorly paid and many paid below the national living wage”. Below living wage vs £836,000 The low levels of pay that nursery staff endure stand in stark contrast to the astronomical sums received by the operators of some private firms. For example, accounts for Busy Bees – England’s largest chain consisting of more than 390 nurseries across the UK and Ireland – show that the highest paid director received £836,000 in 2021. Busy Bees is owned by a Canadian private equity firm and in late 2022,

PHOTO by Rehan Jamil

its debt was reported by the FT to be more than seven times its earnings. Credit rating agency Moody’s graded the debt as B3 — “speculative and subject to high credit risk”. Left to the whims of the market Unfortunately, there are no signs that the increasing corporate takeover is slowing down. Welcome Nurseries Ltd, one of England’s largest providers, collapsed in 2022. It was set up in June 2019 and quickly expanded to operate more than 40 nurseries by early 2022. However, in August that year, Welcome was forced to sell 26 of its 48 nurseries to newly created firm Harp Group after it went into administration with estimated debts of more than £3.5 million. Less than half of these nurseries are still in operation, with reports of parents being given only two weeks’ notice that they were closing. Cases such as this highlight the risks and waste inherent in the way England’s early years system is structured. While successive governments have been firmly committed to the privatisation of early years and childcare provision, there is a growing awareness of the problems that this approach poses. This key stage of education should not be left to the whims of the market and open to exploitation by cut-throat organisations primarily concerned with profit.

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Michael Rosen

Absence Minded The trumpet was sounded, the rally was called, the message went out to one and all: not a day of school must ever be missed, serial offenders must be put on a list. A streaming cold can be no excuse. If a parent asks, the school must refuse. But then came the news, the word’s on the street: our schools are full of ropey concrete. Pity the ministers with all their troubles when they heard of concrete full of bubbles. Well, to tell the truth – now please don’t groan – as it turned out, they had always known.

So not a day must be lost when children are sick. Get ’em out of bed and into school quick. But then they may find their classroom’s a hut. Or they may even find that their school is shut. School buildings: Government to blame or not? Or should we imagine that they just forgot? Words by Michael Rosen Illustration by Dan Berry n See page 6 for more on RAAC

Interview Feature Let Teachers SHINE provides educators with grants of up to £25,000 to pilot inspiring projects to tackle educational inequality in the north of England. Sarah Thompson hears from some of the teachers awarded funding over the last few years.

SINCE it launched in 1999, charity SHINE has invested £29 million in more than 300 education projects. It was set up in London by a group of philanthropists who wanted to support children from low-income homes to succeed at school. In 2017, SHINE relocated from London to the north of England. Eleanor Heathcote, programme manager at SHINE, explains: “The disadvantage gap is widest here, so we wanted to go where the greatest need was. “We want to empower great teachers and we’re looking for ideas that address a common problem where there’s a focus on innovation - something that sounds like it’s a fresh approach.” Transformed science lessons One project that SHINE awarded £25,000 of funding to is run by Darren Eales, science lead at Broughton Primary School in Lincolnshire. Two years ago, Darren (pictured above with pupils) decided the primary science curriculum needed shaking up and introduced 22

Darren Eales, science lead at Broughton Primary School in Lincolnshire, with pupils learning about robotics, thanks to funding from

Championing a robotics programme. It has transformed the way disadvantaged children in his class feel about the subject, he says. And with the backing of SHINE, he is planning to roll the project out to other local schools. The series of lessons, on the topic of space, challenges students to build a robot which can plant, grow and harvest crops on Mars. There’s a focus on using your imagination and experimenting. “A lot of our children struggle in classrooms and don’t like the environment.

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With this project, they’re allowed to go out and work in a corridor, work on their own or in a group, and they’re in their own world. It’s complete focus.” “School is absolute chaos,” he laughs. “People are tripping over little robots constantly as they’re flying along the ground, but the kids absolutely love it.” Broughton Primary sits on the edge of Scunthorpe, where children from low-income families can have very low aspirations, he says. “It’s a case of them thinking, I’ll just go and

Feature “School is chaos. People are tripping over our little robots constantly, but the kids love it.” Darren Eales (above & left)

SHINE: “A lot of our children struggle in classrooms. With this project, they’re in their own world.”

PHOTO by Kois Miah

social justice work in the steel works like my dad, or mum and dad don’t work, so I won’t either. “What this project does is spark something inside them that says, perhaps I could be a designer, or an astronaut?” The project also allows children the freedom to get things wrong, he says, which is such an important part of learning. “They are so programmed to get things right. They’re craving the green tick. I tell them it doesn’t matter, just work out why it went wrong. That’s more important – that’s learning.

“Children who are told they’re not in the top set can disengage with school entirely. This project gives them an ‘in’. This is using your imagination and your motor skills. And it might just be a spark, but it opens their eyes to what they’re capable of.” Hierarchy of need While most projects that attract funding are expected to show how they will raise attainment in maths, English and science, SHINE has also backed projects which tackle

the many barriers that exclude disadvantaged children from learning long before they enter the classroom. “There’s a hierarchy of need,” says Fiona McCrudden who, as strategic development lead at Bowling Park Primary School in Bradford, applied for SHINE funding in 2019 for her Stronger Me project. “You’ve got to get that first bit right – to make sure children are safe and cared for and feel confident before they can even think about learning.” The school sits in one of the most deprived areas of Bradford and Fiona says that children often come to school hungry, lacking access to resources or opportunities outside of school, and in difficult living conditions. Girls, in particular, had low self-confidence and questioned their ability to achieve. Her project, planned alongside fellow colleague and teacher Laura Breslin, provided support for a group of girls from disadvantaged backgrounds. “In another setting, in a leafy laned primary, they would have absolutely flown and been the leaders of tomorrow, but they were already facing so many barriers,” Fiona says. As part of the Stronger Me project, girls were provided with a rucksack of items useful to them outside of school, including sanitary products, plasters, tissues, as well as a book and a teddy bear. “A lot of those girls didn’t have toys or books at home,” says Fiona. “It was something special for them to keep.” continued on page 25

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Feature continued from page 23 The items inspired a programme of learning, including first aid training, den building, girls’ adventure club and sessions about building positive relationships, staying safe and improving self-esteem and resilience. And the girls flourished, says Fiona. “We knew that if we got it right for these girls, it would have an impact on their attainment because they would be ready to learn. We saw them make real progress – they did really well that year, and they became really confident kids.” Working with SHINE was brilliant, she adds: “They checked in often, came to visit the project and were always there. What I really liked was that they held me to account. In school it’s so busy and, in the loveliest way, SHINE was good at setting me deadlines and keeping me going.” ‘Sir, what’s a British Muslim?’ In Teeside, Sean Harris, teacher and improvement lead at Tees Valley Education Trust (TVET), discovered the curriculum he had written might not be working for all his students. Asking the class what the challenges might be for a British Muslim, he was met by the response: “Sir, what’s a British Muslim? Aren’t Muslims from other countries?” Sean says he had failed to understand that many of his students had never met a British Muslim and so the question was an impossible one for them to understand. TVET has five schools across Redcar and Cleveland and Middlesbrough, areas which have experienced some of the biggest rises in child poverty over the last few years. They also have one of the lowest diversity index ratings in the UK – the population is at least 96 per cent white. Sean’s experience highlighted for him the importance of creating an accessible curriculum and, with £18,000 from Let Teachers SHINE, he developed his project, Crafting a curriculum with poverty in mind. He worked with groups

“Children need to be safe and cared for and feel confident before they can even think about learning.” Fiona McCrudden (left)

of students to identify prior knowledge – and misconceptions – using that information to plan the curriculum before introducing topics in the classroom. It gives students “a sense of voice and advocacy” and Sean has already seen positive results with increased attendance and engagement. He stresses that it isn’t about making the curriculum easier, but about making it equitable. “We understand the need for a knowledge richness, but if children aren’t able to apply that to their real-world environments, the cognitive strain we’re asking of our most disadvantaged children is significant.” Strength and power of SHINE network The SHINE funding will allow Sean and his students to undertake research with the University of Teeside. He will also organise a conference for local schools and, ultimately, produce a toolkit which educators can use as a framework for creating a curriculum which works for their students. “For us to be able to take the grains of our idea and grow it with the input of SHINE is phenomenal,” he says. “What really comes through is the strength and power of the network. We’re not in a silo, we’re joining like-minded champions of the social justice agenda. It gives you huge courage in these bleak times to have a charity like SHINE backing individuals like us.”

“We’re not in a silo. It gives you huge courage in these bleak times to have a charity backing individuals like us.”

Apply for funding

Let Teachers SHINE applications are now open. If you’re an educator in the north of England with a great idea you’d like to make reality, and which will support disadvantaged students to flourish, you can apply for a grant of up to £25,000 (over two years). Successful applicants will be able to access training and development opportunities to support the implementation of their project. The closing date for applications is 15 January. Successful projects will begin in September 2024. shinetrust.org.uk/apply-forfunding

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Feature Interview

Marva Rollins: “The teachers knew nothing about us. We turned up in their schools, probably unwanted and unwelcome, I’m not sure. They were really surprised we were educated.” Portrait by Rehan Jamil

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Feature This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Empire Windrush’s first voyage from the Caribbean to Britain. It was the start of mass migration from the islands which, between 1948 and 1971, brought an estimated 500,000 people to the country. The Windrush Generation’s legacy in helping rebuild public services such as the NHS and London transport, where there were post-war labour shortages, is well-documented. Less celebrated has been its immeasurable contribution to education. From the teachers on board the Windrush, many of whom later took up jobs as teaching assistants, to the children of Windrush migrants working in schools across the country today, they have played a huge role in educating generation upon generation of children and young people. Marva Rollins and Ivya Scott are among them. As children, they travelled from Barbados to Britain to join their parents, where they experienced racism in the British education system, before themselves going on to forge successful careers as educators.

Disembarking from the liner Begona at Southampton in July 1962

PHOTO by TopFoto

Another empty seat in the classroom Interviews by Sally Gillen

Marva Rollins (left)

In 2017, Marva was made an OBE for services to education and the community, 53 years after arriving in London as a 12-year-old. Like many of her generation, when she arrived from the Caribbean in 1964 Marva

was placed in a secondary modern school, no questions asked. The chaotic Essex school was a world away from the secondary Marva had attended in Barbados after passing the common entry tests, where there were strict rules and high expectations She had done well despite hating school. Her dad had left for England in 1957, her

mum followed two years later, and their absence was keenly felt. “I didn’t enjoy school, but I didn’t enjoy life as my mum was gone, so school was like an extra burden,” she reflects. Her parents then sent for Marva, her brothers and sister. Thinking back, she was neither for nor against the move – it was just what happened. continued on page 28

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Feature

continued from page 27 Every week there was another empty seat in her classroom as a classmate left the village to join their parents overseas, she remembers. The class became smaller; her village became less of a village. “It was there but people had gone. The notion of moaning about having to leave wasn’t there because you knew it would be someone’s else’s turn next week.” ‘Teachers surprised we were educated’ In England, she was one of only two Black girls at her secondary modern school, and there was an assumption by teachers that they had had no education in the Caribbean. “The teachers knew nothing about us. We turned up in their schools, probably unwanted and unwelcome, I’m not sure. They were really surprised we were educated,” she says. “The teachers would become frustrated because I would answer the questions before the white kids. I’d stick my hand up and call out the answer. My level of knowledge was based on my education in Barbados.” Two years in, Marva, like many girls at the secondary modern, decided she wanted to do shorthand and typing but was told she couldn’t do shorthand because of her accent. She insisted, and the teacher relented. But a job in a typing pool wasn’t for her. Instead, aged 17, she became a comptometer operator. Three years later the first of her three sons was born, and she began childminding and earning money as a clothes machinist from home. “There were tough years but going back to work in the City would have been difficult as one of my sons had a medical condition that required regular hospital visits,” she explains. ‘My world started to open up’ It wasn’t until she joined a local group for Black women some years later that the world started to open up for her. “Two things happened in 1978: we set up the Sickle Cell Society, and the East London Black Women’s Organisation. That’s when my life shifted.” At a group meeting Marva found out about access courses, which were aimed specifically at Black people interested in careers in social work, education or occupational health. “That’s how my journey into teaching started,” she explains. “I was on the access course one evening a week and my early foundations in Barbados really stood me in good stead.” It led to a four-year Bachelor of Education degree and, from there, a long and distinguished career in primary education. 28

Highlights include being appointed, in 1995, as the first Black head teacher in Newham, east London, at a school where no Black teachers had ever been employed. She got off to a rocky start. Teachers at the school were extremely resistant to implementing the national curriculum, introduced a couple of years before, and Marva faced staff who were determined to carry on doing things as they always had. She believes her arrival disrupted the status quo but isn’t certain her race was the only factor. The teachers just did not welcome change. That said, there was the teacher who remarked: “Well, they needed a Black head in Newham, didn’t they?” At the time, there was an assumption that any Black leader was a token, she remembers. She toughed it out. With the help of a great mentor, Marva ending up staying five years, implementing the new curriculum and improving pupils’ attainment outcomes. At her next school she was head for 19 years, before retiring in 2019. Again, the challenge was improving the expectations of pupils in an inner-city school. Training future Black leaders Today Marva delivers bespoke training for Black educators, often with colleague Dolapo Ogunbawo. Together they have delivered training since 2007 for the NUT, and last year launched a new programme with the NEU called Positioned for success. For ten years, starting in 2005, Marva was part of a team which delivered the first bespoke programme for future Black leaders – Investing in Diversity – at UCL’s Institute of Education. It might have been something of a winding road into an education career, but her contribution to the sector was officially recognised with an OBE in 2017. In November 2016, the Barbados Government honoured her with a Golden Jubilee Award, celebrating its 50th Independent Anniversary, in recognition of her contribution to education and the community “as a member of the Barbadian community in Britain”. Thousands of personal stories When Marva received her Masters in Education degree, it was a proud day for her mum, who lined up for the photographs beaming “haven’t I done well,” laughs Marva warmly. “She deserved that, my mum, she worked very hard. When we are talking about the Windrush Generation, the splitting of

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families and the intergenerational trauma, how hard it has been, it’s important to reflect on the many thousands of individual stories. “Celebrating only the bigger picture sanitises the whole experience. There are all the personal pieces of the journey, what happened to us, even if most of us came through.”

Ivya Scott (right)

Ivya spent most of her education career working with teachers in London schools on equalities issues. “I have dedicated my career to fighting for the rights of pupils, educators and parents,” she says. “Two years into my teaching career, I left the classroom and became an English as an additional language teacher in the London borough of Haringey. Then I spent the next 20 years working with schools to raise equality issues.” Now retired from teaching, she was the equalities officer for NEU Ipswich and south Suffolk, before becoming joint secretary, and a member of the Black educators organising forum. This year she won the NEU’s Blair Peach award, given to members who have made an exemplary contribution to their school or union branch’s work on equality and diversity. These issues are close to her heart. Parents sent for children when settled She came to Britain in 1971 on a British Overseas Airways Corporation flight from Barbados to London, with her brother who is a year older. Landing at Heathrow, Ivya met her dad for the first time and was reunited with her mum, who she had seen only sporadically during her mum’s trips back to the island. Hers was a fairly typical Windrush child story, she says. Her parents left Barbados to make a life in Britain and sent for her and her brother once they were settled. In the Suffolk town of Ipswich, where her parents had found a home and jobs, the local authority placed Ivya and her brother straight into the bottom class in the local secondary modern. Her clutch of school reports showing she was a high achiever were ignored. “It was quite difficult to be put in a low ability class because, as a child of Windrush, I already knew from my cousins, my grandmother, and within our community that there was always that push to succeed. On my first day, I saw children being cheeky to the

to the teacher and they weren’t interested in learning. I had never experienced that before because in Barbados everyone was fighting to be first. “I remember I would finish my work in a very short time and then help others. It was my dad (pictured above) who then went to the school and said: ‘My children aren’t learning anything, they need to be moved.’” One grammar school place between two A hard-fought battle began with the school, and then the local authority. Her dad won, but there was a catch. He was told there was only one grammar school place and he would have to choose which of his children would take it. “It was absolutely terrible for him,” says Ivya. “It was only years later that I found out what had happened. I’m glad he made the decision that my brother would take the place because if he hadn’t gone to grammar school it would have affected his future detrimentally. “A lot of people from my generation were put in schools for children with special educational needs or emotional and behavioural difficulties. If your parents weren’t there to fight for education, it was often just assumed you had special educational needs.

Portrait by Ben Broomfield

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Ivya and her father, Mr Clyde Devonish “I remember my dad questioning why I was in the bottom stream, but after he went to the school, I was moved to the CSE classes [qualifications aimed at academically less able pupils than O-levels, before GCSEs were introduced].” She adds that once teachers saw you were capable, they were in the main very positive and wanted you to succeed, but by the time she reached year 5, racism had reared its head again. The careers adviser informed Ivya, who planned to go to college with her handful of CSEs, that a job in a factory was where her future lay. “I had classmates who had fewer CSEs than me being told they could be a nurse or a teacher, while I was in the top sets for maths and English. Again, it was my dad who went to speak to the careers adviser to tell her I was going to college, not a factory.” Black perspective in the curriculum She took O- and A-levels at sixth form college, which led to a place at teacher training college. From there, she spent two years in the classroom, before becoming a section 11 teacher until the funding, which had been provided by local authorities to support ethnic minority pupils, ran out.

n The Black Cultural Archives, in Brixton, London, is an archive and heritage centre devoted to the histories of people of African and Caribbean descent in Britain. blackculturalarchives.org n The British Library has a collection of Windrush Stories. bl.uk/windrush Ivya then became a primary school teacher, before moving into adviser and consultant roles, one of them as an ethnic minority achievement consultant. “I have spent most of my career going into schools and working with teachers to show them how to put a Black perspective into the curriculum,” Ivya explains. “It was part of my role as a consultant to make schools aware of the impact they might be having on children.” Her early positive experiences of school in Barbados, where there was healthy competition between pupils but enjoyment too, stayed with Ivya and infused her work as a teacher and adviser. The importance of Black role models, for example, is key. “In Barbados, we had role models, of course, because the teachers were Black.” Ivya is research and exhibition lead for Suffolk Windrush Select Committee and organises its yearly exhibition.

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EXPLORE EARTH ON A DIFFERENT SCALE

NARRATED BY DAVID ATTENBOROUGH THE DAIKIN CENTRE | EARLʼS COURT | LONDON

WEST BROMPTON

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Opinion

Cartoon by Tim Sanders

Untouchable MAT policy needs serious reform Warwick Mansell

is a freelance education journalist and founder/writer of educationuncovered. co.uk

THE reaction online was one of widespread dismay. How could an academy trust be quite so prescriptive with its expectations of teachers? And would this not translate into enthusiasm-sapping lessons for students? The prompt was a story and series of tweets I had posted on the latest goings-on at St Ivo Academy, a school whose travails I have been following closely. St Ivo, a 1,750-pupil secondary in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, is the largest school in the 26-academy Astrea trust, based 100 miles away in Sheffield. For the past year, St Ivo has been on the end of a series of directives from head office, the most controversial of which have involved tightly specified pupil behaviour and teaching approaches. My story had involved teachers being told to take down displays, including artwork, and

even objects such as rubbish bins, from the front of their classrooms, because these were argued to be distracting to pupils. However, trust-branded posters setting out Astrea’s behaviour philosophy were to remain. In addition, I tweeted a photo of the trust’s by-the-minute instructions to form tutors on how to conduct half-hour lessons during which they would read to students. These 11- to 16-year-olds were to enter the room in silence, have their books flat and follow the text with rulers, with the teacher ensuring “100 per cent compliance” at all times. On my feed on X, formerly Twitter, there was near-universal concern. The head teacher of a special school said they were speechless. Another head wrote: “How the wrong kind of teaching destroys the love of reading.” The author Frank Cottrell-Boyce lamented this teaching formula’s apparent joylessness, adding: “I swear the UK is… intent on eating its own children.” This had followed stories about parent and teacher concerns about trust behaviour policies at St Ivo. A group said to represent 500 parents had written to the Department for Education (DfE) complaining that strict disciplinary

policies, which included the “overuse of isolation” for minor offences, had resulted in depression, anxiety and even suicidal thoughts for their children. What this case shows, though, is the difficulty that any alternative opinion can have in altering a trust’s approach. It took six months for the DfE’s regional director to write back to these parents, only to offer the view that there was basically nothing he could do, as academies set their own policies. Ofsted, which conducted a trust-level review of Astrea this summer, gave it a glowing bill of health. It failed to mention parental concerns at St Ivo or other Astrea schools. Academy trusts such as this also have top-down control of school governance, giving community voice scant influence. Parents at St Ivo also have little chance even to vote with their feet, by finding another school for their children, since it is the only secondary in the town. Ministers have created a structure in which the decisions made by the managers of multi-academy trusts can be completely divorced from the views of those affected by their decisions: staff, parents and pupils. This policy is crying out for serious reform.

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Getting young people talking about the arts Find out more about how you can get involved today

nationalgallery.org.uk/articulation

A class act

‘Making tiny revolutions happen’ Fiona Black (pictured), a food and nutrition teacher and community partnerships officer at The Halifax Academy, has set up a community kitchen and established a climateconscious school garden. Emily Jenkins finds out what makes her a class act. IT all started during the pandemic, Fiona explains, when she was working as a cover supervisor at the academy in Yorkshire, which covers ages four to 16. After seeing how many families were struggling with food poverty she began working with the school’s hardship team to support them. “We applied for a grant of £3,000 to start a community kitchen, which was soon cooking 45 to 100 meals a week and handing them out to children and families to take home.” To date, they have given out more than 25,000 meals. All use seasonal and budget-friendly ingredients and are vegan or vegetarian. “It’s to save on cost, but also because of the ethical and climate arguments against meat,” Fiona explains. She established relationships with local shops and charities, which supply the kitchen with surplus produce that would otherwise be thrown away. Fiona explains that in her school catchment area, a third of children are living in poverty and a majority also have English as an additional language. As the kitchen has grown she has brought in charities and volunteers to provide wider community support – careers advice, mental health support, fuel vouchers and fruit and veg vouchers. Food surplus and sustainability Fiona is passionate about tackling child poverty using sustainable and eco-friendly practices and, having recently become food and nutrition teacher at the school, she is bringing this into the classroom. “We challenge ideas about what can be used in the kitchen. Everything is about surplus, sustainability and budget-friendly options,” she says. She has designed the lessons so pupils have something to eat in every lesson: “Pupils know that if they’ve got food and nutrition on their timetable, they’re going to have something to eat,” she says. Homework is always an act of kindness that positively impacts on someone else. Children are encouraged to go home and

Do you know a class act?

Email educate@neu.org.uk make a cup of tea for someone, learn to use the washing machine, or wash the car. “It’s not allowed to be ‘tidy your own room’ or ‘make your own bed’. That’s cheating,” she says. The homework is also designed to challenge gender stereotypes. “In a lot of our families the girls are expected to do it but not the boys.” Growing fruit and veg in school garden Every lesson also incorporates produce from, or work in, the school’s garden which, 18 months ago, was a rough patch of disused land. Fiona applied for a grant to turn it into a place for growing fruit and vegetables. The garden now has a polytunnel (funded by a grant and built by year 11 pupils) where produce is grown that can be used in the community kitchen and in lessons. Although overheads such as gas and electricity are

covered by the school, everything else has been funded through grant applications. So far, Fiona and her colleagues have managed to raise over £85,000 to support their community and climate work. Everything Fiona does is driven by a passionate belief that schools have an important role to play within the wider community. She wants to combat the growing trend of schools being seen as “GCSE machines” and that treating pupils “holistically, like human beings” is vitally important. “I’m so annoyed at a government which hasn’t taken responsibility for our children. I’m not going to sit down and write a strategy about this; I’m going to get off my arse and I’m going to do it – that’s what our community partnerships team is about. “It’s about being proactive and making tiny revolutions happen.”

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There’s nothing better than a NEU health and safety rep for leading the fight for a safer and healthier workplace. I used risk assessment involving ‘likelihood’ and ‘consequence’ to ensure a pregnant member was kept out of a violent environment.

I urged my head teacher to check with the local authority whether our school contained reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete and therefore could be at risk of collapse.

I negotiated with management to provide all staff with book trolleys to prevent back strain.

I argued successfully that a heavily pregnant member should be excused from playground duty.

What have NEU health and safety reps ever done for us?

With members concerned about long covid cases amongst staff, I persuaded management to adopt a supportive approach.

After a boiler breakdown led to freezing temperatures in all classrooms, I successfully argued for a temporary school closure and emergency heaters.

Using the NEU’s guidance, I negotiated and won daily monitoring and recording of CO2 levels in all classrooms.

Extreme heat meant that working in several classrooms presented a serious and imminent risk to health. I used my knowledge of health and safety law and Section 44 to ensure that those classrooms were taken out of use until safe to be occupied again.

Want to find out more about becoming a NEU Health and Safety Rep? Check out our website neu.org.uk/health-and-safety-reps 34

I worked with NEU members and members of other unions to prevent the use of fire extinguishers to prop doors open.

educate Your magazine from the National Education Union (NEU)

Persistent questioning of school management led to much more robust asbestos management in my school.

We persuaded management to invest in HEPA air filters in every classroom in every school across the MAT.

After members raised repeated concerns about physical assaults with me, we won changes to the school behaviour policy.

Health & Safety

NEU3100/0823

Backed by members I succeeded in getting asbestos removed from all accessible areas of school.

Never been given a contract

PHOTO by Lana Leon

I STARTED at my new school in September but have never been given a contract. How should I chase this up? Since April 2020 all workers have been entitled to receive a document, referred to in employment legislation as a Section 1 Statement of Terms and Conditions, which sets out the key terms of employment, on or before the first day they start work. The key terms include: whether you are temporary or permanent; start date; job title/brief job description; rate of pay and pay date; place of work; hours of work and notice provisions. In the education sector, you’re likely to find your statement of particulars set out in your letter of appointment. The letter may have included a schedule setting out basic terms to accompany the offer letter, which might meet the requirements, so check the information you received before you chase this up. If, after a couple of months, you still do not have adequate information about your terms and conditions, chase this up (by email) with human resources or your school business manager. If you still do not get anywhere, speak to your workplace rep or contact the NEU AdviceLine.

Ask the union

Holiday allowance for TTO work

Return to work after absence

All permanent employees are entitled to be paid for at least 28 days leave (20 days plus bank holidays), regardless of how many weeks they work each year. This includes school support staff who work TTO. Therefore, schools and colleges must ensure they calculate the TTO worker’s pay factoring in a minimum of 5.6 weeks leave, and make good any past shortfalls arising. Such calculations should be made at employer level – by local authorities or multi-academy trusts. Please contact your NEU branch and ask them to enquire into this on your behalf.

Your employer may be reluctant to schedule a meeting now because your health could change in the next few months. Check your school’s sickness absence/attendance management policy to see whether you are guaranteed a return-to-work meeting and, if so, when. Most policies state that such meetings should take place on the employee’s first day back, but this is unlikely to provide sufficient time to put any reasonable adjustments in place. The NEU recommends, therefore, that such meetings take place at

I’M a support staff member and heard about a Supreme Court ruling where pay/holiday entitlement had not been calculated properly for term-time-only (TTO) employees.

I’VE had a long-term absence from work and am due back in a few months. I’d like a phased return, but my school refuses to discuss this until the return date.

least a few days before the employee’s return to work. If your fit note states that a phased return may assist your successful return, ask for a meeting (preferably with a union rep present) to discuss this before your first day back. n Guidance at neu.org.uk/latest/library/ attendance-management

Contact us… n Please email your questions to educate@neu.org.uk n If your question is urgent, please call the AdviceLine on 0345 811 811

Free CPD webinars for all NEU members Primary: developing comprehension through inference making Practical workshop covering the importance of inference in comprehending texts, outlining the most important practical strategies. 22 November from 3.45-4.45pm Leadership – coaching others How to use coaching in your role; how to create a coaching culture in your setting; the difference between mentoring and

coaching; and different models of coaching. 23 November from 10.30-11.30am Leadership – surviving and thriving in middle leadership Practical, research-based approaches and strategies for dealing with the challenges unique to middle leadership. It will cover: you, your values and your purpose; how to have courageous conversations, and stress signs and signals. 28 November from 3.45-5pm

Returning to work after parental leave This online interactive workshop will support you to balance time for work, family and yourself, including tips to prepare you practically and emotionally, your key legal entitlements and identifying boundaries and goals. 6 December from 9.30-11am n Webinars are available for 14 days. n Email cpd@neu.org.uk or visit neu.org.uk/national-cpd

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International

SENDing Cuban pupils on pathway to success

IN October last year I went to Cuba as part of an NEU delegation, where we visited schools, learnt about the country’s education system and met with our sister trade union SNTECD. Cuba spends 16.6 per cent of GDP on education compared to 4.6 per cent in England. As a special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) specialist teacher, I was particularly interested to explore similarities and differences in the way Cuba educates SEND children compared with England. The English system is fraught with conflicting priorities and the needs of SEND children are often at odds with national government priorities. The result is adversarial for parents, services and local authorities. In contrast, Cuba’s SEND system is about co-operation between parents, teachers and professionals for the benefit of children. Early intervention to identify needs The key is early diagnosis. The first point of assessment is the family doctor check-up when a child is aged one, when any developmental concerns can be referred to a local multiagency team which includes a paediatrician. Before reaching school age, children attend daycare centres where their progress is monitored, and staff work closely with families to make them aware of any developmental concerns and, if required, refer children to health services. A referral might be made to a centre of diagnosis and orientation, a multi-agency team that undertakes assessments to determine which type of school is most appropriate for the child to attend. This may be a mainstream school with support, a special school or a blend of these. Before they start school, support workers assess each SEND pupil to determine their education programme. The staff are trained in the appropriate support and there is regular CPD to update staff, including support for medical issues like sensory disabilities.

PHOTO courtesy of CubaPLUS magazine

Steve Adderley (left) – a former primary teacher and local authority EHCP co-ordinator, and now a job coach for young adults with SEND – reports on education in Cuba.

SEND pupils may attend a mainstream school with support, a special school or a blend of these

Home visits by professionals and school staff support and prepare pupils for school and educate the family on what strategies will be used to ensure continuity in each setting. Family education continues throughout a child’s school life to update the strategies used so families can continue to use them at home. Family respite days are also provided.

“Our approach is adversarial, lacking in both funding and co-operation.” No automatic early diagnosis In England, an education, health and care plan (EHCP) is the key instrument in determining the type of placement for a child and the funding deemed necessary. There is no automatic assessment, which means many children needing additional provision may not get the required support due to lack of early diagnosis or input from health and social care services. Insufficient government funding and a significant rise in the need for specialist provision has led to a shortage of places in England. Local authorities are unable to keep up with the demand, leading to some parents

being dissatisfied and an increase in costly SEND tribunals, often then resulting in the use of expensive independent provision. Schools may ask for additional resources to support an EHCP, but this must be accompanied by a lot of evidence and may not be successful. In Cuba, support is provided to enable pupils to make progress in line with their peers, leading to reintegration into their local school. This could include being dual schooled, where they spend less time in the special school and more time in the mainstream school with the appropriate level of support. Children who continue to need special school education will remain there until they finish secondary education and then progress to a vocational college to learn skills for their chosen occupation. In England it is rare for pupils return to mainstream education. They can go into further education but this is not at the same level as their peers and more often it is in specialist education provision, where they can remain until they are 25, although usually they leave education by the age of 21. Lack of central government funding The Cuban system is based on co-operation between everyone involved with the child, with early intervention to identify needs. The system provides children with a pathway to being successful adults. The English system, in contrast, has developed an adversarial approach, lacking in co-operation and worsened by a lack of priority by central government to appropriately fund SEND.

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Reviews

Engaging a disengaged reader 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. IT’S always reassuring to look around the classroom and see the entire class totally engaged with their reading. They might be sprawled on the floor reading comics with a friend, hunched over a poetry book practising for Poem of the Day or digging into an exciting new graphic novel. However, when we look a bit closer, perhaps they’re not all as engaged as we initially think. One might be aimlessly flicking through a book and not actually focusing on the text or illustrations, another plodding through the same story they’ve been reading for months, and another enthusiastically rearranging the contents of their pencil case. It could well be a temporary blip; however, sometimes it’s a longer-term issue. They’re not necessarily reluctant readers – maybe emerging readers or vulnerable readers would be better ways to describe them. They might love reading but find it frustrating as they don’t have the decoding skills to access the texts they want to read. It might be because they come from an environment where access to books at home is limited, or they lack reading role models. Carp World might be just their bag… However, as painful as it is to acknowledge, there are some children who simply don’t find reading an enjoyable experience. Extrinsic motivation – stickers, certificates and other bribes – can provide a short-term boost, but intrinsic motivation – reading because they want to – is significantly more powerful. There are several ways to try and bring a disengaged reader back into the fold. One of the most obvious is finding reading material on subjects that they’re interested in. My former pupil who loved fishing and who would often get stuck into a copy of Carp World or Angling Times always springs to mind. The more ownership they have over their reading choices, the more likely they are to persevere. Pairing them up with a more engaged reader to read a picturebook or short poem 38

can also have dramatic results. It allows them to be a successful reader in a non-threatening way. Giving them time to practise together is essential, as is helping them select a text that contains a few guaranteed laughs. If they’re not confident enough to read straightaway, they can listen to other children model it first. Comfy and calm to concentrate Reading also needs to be a physically comfortable experience. Sitting on a plastic chair behind a desk isn’t how I’d want to read the latest Jack Reacher novel but, quite often, that’s what we expect of our pupils. Encouraging them to bring in a cushion (or getting hold of a few cheap ones) can create a calm and purposeful reading environment. Over time, it’s lovely to watch them find their favourite classroom reading spot. It’s always worth a conversation with the class about what they think would help them enjoy reading more. Reading with a friend in another class was something that came up when I last did this, so once a week

(Above) An essential year 6 book, which Jon describes as “raw, emotional but full of hope and optimism” (Right) Create a comfy and calm reading environment

educate Your magazine from the National Education Union (NEU)

Read more ideas from Jon next issue

the pupils took it in turns to read in each other’s classrooms. Sitting down with a pile of picturebooks, rather than having just one, was also suggested because it meant they wouldn’t have to move around as often. None of these suggestions are guaranteed to bring success. Some might work for a while and fizzle out; some may be more successful. It’s important to look at the class as a whole and compare their attitude now to their attitude at the start of the year. Has there been an overall shift? Are they more positive towards reading? Hopefully, the answer will be yes. Brilliant book for year 6 pupils I’m rapidly running out of words but need to let you know about The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow (illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton), a verse novel that tells the story of a boy going through his last year at primary school. It’s raw, emotional and heartbreaking, but full of hope and optimism. I read it to my class and there were nods of recognition after every page. An essential year 6 book. @jonnybid

Know any good educational websites and apps?

Let us know if you’d like to review them – email us at educate@neu.org.uk

Working with Boys:

40 Ways to Diversify the History Curriculum

Creating Cultures of Mutual Respect in Schools

WHY do some boys have toxic attitudes towards girls and women? Former head teacher Andrew Hampton addresses this sensitive topic and provides a programme of study to help schools create cultures of mutual respect. The book is split into three sections. Part one delves into boys’ behavioural attitudes by analysing their relationships with their peers and some boys’ fear of humiliation. Part two provides 13 lesson ideas aimed at year 7 but which can be modified for years 5 to 8. These incorporate questions and scenarios for discussion and reflection. The final section shows educators how to audit their findings. A valuable resource. Cindy Shanks

Working with Boys: Creating Cultures of Mutual Respect in Schools, by Andrew Hampton. Routledge. £19.99.

Rosie Raja: Mission to Cairo AN interesting book that follows Rosie, a young princess, who comes to terms with her heritage while on a secret mission with her father in Cairo. The book touches on cultural aspects and differences in an informative and captivating way that young audiences will be able to understand. There is action, drama and a storyline that builds an interest in historic and political events. Written for ages nine and over, the story includes some challenging and emotive language to express concepts and reflect real-life interactions. A great book to introduce young audiences to the joys of reading. James Ball

Rosie Raja: Mission to Cairo, by Sufiya Ahmed. Bloomsbury. £7.99.

Reimagining the Diary: Reflective practice as a positive tool for educator wellbeing

AN extremely useful toolkit to use as a starting point to help diversify, reimagine and decolonise the history curriculum. While shedding light on experiences of the working class, women, Black and LGBT+ communities, it provides thoughtful suggestions on how educators can teach key historical events through an alternative lens. Each chapter includes the background context to a history once forgotten and a viewpoint never seen. Online resources are also available to support chapters on African kingdoms, migration, and the empire and slavery. It encourages educators to challenge undermining notions of incivility and backwardness when it comes to African civilisation and culture. A great resource for teachers to deepen, enlighten and enrich their history lessons from key stage 2 upwards. Elisha Gray 40 Ways to Diversify the History Curriculum: a practical handbook, by Elena Stevens. Crown House. £16.99.

Get Children Writing WRITING creatively can tend to take a back seat in the busy classroom. But help is at hand. Sue Walsh’s 22 creative writing exercises are divided into three sections: inspiration, poetry and references. We tested out the A Point of View: I am a Pencil activity with year 7 students and found the notes for teachers especially useful. These are true ‘pick up and run with it’ activities with clear objectives, instructions and examples. A handy guidebook for both primary and secondary levels.

BASED on a project asking teachers to use a diary to help them become better at reflective practice, this is a thoughtful and inspirational book. Diaries enable us to do various things which can help us as teachers. The author suggests they can be mirrors, sounding boards, anchors and comfort blankets. She rightly wants to encourage teachers to celebrate their successes and to be grateful for their abilities, as well as consider where they need to improve. A terrific read.

Helen Williams

Cavan Wood

Get Children Writing: Creative writing exercises

Reimagining the diary: Reflective practice as a positive

for teaching students aged 8-11, by Sue Walsh.

tool for educator wellbeing by Lucy Kelly. John Catt. £16.

John Catt. £14.

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Letters The terrible impact of funding pressures SCHOOL funding is the issue that will not leave. A report by the National Foundation for Educational Research, published in September, confirmed: “The cost-saving measures schools are taking in response to the increased cost of living are impacting directly on the teaching and learning environment of pupils.” In the summer term, our campaign group Calderdale Against School Cuts surveyed all Calderdale primary head teachers to assess the impact of funding and cost pressures. n Eighty-eight per cent did not replace staff who left. n Sixty-seven per cent made cuts to support staff. n Forty-two per cent made cuts to teaching staff. n Ninety-eight per cent have concerns about balancing the

NEW Classroom confidential A new, regular item bringing you the lighter side of education. Tell us your funny stories and we’ll send a £30 gift voucher to the winner.

A perfect ten In primary French class, I had given out crosswords in French for the pupils to have a go at to consolidate what we’d learned in the lesson. school budget for the next three years. This is a startling increase to the previous year’s figures. Head teachers have had to reduce their budget for school meals, cut classroom resources and are seeing a “mounting crisis” in the need for special educational needs and disabilities support. Our schools have been pummelled by the pandemic, rising inflation and the cost of living. Children have been

Everything was going well until one girl came up to me, to say: “Miss, miss, I’ve got two dicks in my crossword!” Very confused, I looked down to realise she’d found the French word for ten – dix.

let down by the abysmal performance of the Education Secretary and her predecessors, who are choosing to ignore the impact that underfunding is having on schools. Unless it is addressed by the Government, the tsunami of cuts that schools are being forced to make will see a generation of children who have missed out. Sue McMahon, Calderdale

Magical memory DURING my first year at university, me and my classmates were given the amazing opportunity to have a first glance at the children’s books nominated in the three to six age range for

the UK Literary Association (UKLA) book awards. We created a scrapbook page on ways that they could be incorporated into our lessons. I was then fortunate to become one of the students selected to have a sponsored place at the UKLA conference, which took place at the University of Exeter in June. I was able to talk to authors and illustrators and learn about different methods to support me in my future teaching. It was a magical memory that I will treasure and has opened my mind to so many more ideas on how to incorporate books into my day-to-day teaching. Jessica Knight, Bristol

Teacher’s pet Sheeben Sheeben is an Irish sports horse, and the beautiful pet of Belinda Horn, a teacher in Surrey. Belinda says: “I’ve been a teacher for more than 30 years and started riding in my late 40s. Riding and owning a horse is so therapeutic. The relationship and trust you build is like nothing else. It keeps you fit and grounded, and cantering through the woods is exhilarating. “Whatever happens during the day, time with Sheeben keeps me sane.” 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

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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.

Inspiring tale of union empowerment IN September, I attended an event called Raising Ratios: remembering the 1984 Islington nursery workers’ strike, hosted by On the Record, an organisation that co-produces arts and heritage projects with groups that are otherwise under-represented. There were three women speakers who had been involved in the Islington strike, which challenged the council over its plans to raise child-to-adult ratios in their nursery. As I am a nursery teacher working in a state-maintained nursery school, listening to their account was fascinating and inspiring. I have recently taken eight days of strike action, and the sector faces renewed Government interest in raising ratios. We also heard about support staff from the National and Local Government Officers’ Association, which had never been on strike before. So much of this felt like my recent experiences: their initial union meeting, walkout, picketing, petitioning, public speaking, marching and protesting with parents and other trade unionists in solidarity. Theirs was a story of the steep learning curve that you experience when you strike and suddenly feel the empowerment of the collective. Their action won a range of demands, including the addition of 26 additional posts and a pay rise. There was a panel discussion about the funding, pedagogical attacks, pay and recruitment issues we face today and how we can push back against Government. For me, unionising our sector and involving parents were key themes. This event showed that early years workers can strike and win – and that there is power in the union. Events like these should be rolled out by districts to help fight the funding crisis that is ravaging our early years settings. Paula Champion, Cambs

Monksdown pupils at Labour Party conference in Liverpool with MPs Ian Byrne and Kim Johnson

Star letter Superhero pupils take free school meals message to TV’s This Morning OUR names are Mia, Helena and Nelly and we are year 6 pupils at Monksdown Primary School in Liverpool. We have been supporting the NEU’s free school meals (FSM) for all campaign. You may think that we are from just a normal school, but it is full of children who have superpowers and can change the world. Free school meals are important to families at our school and we have done several things over the past few months to support the FSM campaign. We filled a book with hundreds of letters addressed to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, trying to persuade him to allow all children to have free school meals, and it was delivered to number 10 Downing Street. Over the next few days our teachers were on radio stations talking about our letters. We felt important and proud that we had done this and that we had made people listen to something that was so important. In July we held a protest in our school playground and everybody – from reception to year 6 – came out onto the playground to sing about what we wanted. Parents came, our MP, our local newspaper the Liverpool Echo and people who worked with our school. We then saw pictures of ourselves chanting in the Echo, on some TV stations and on Twitter. Following our protest, some of the children and staff were invited to go on the TV show This Morning and be interviewed. We all watched, and we were just so shocked that everybody was interested in what we were saying, that we had a voice, and that we were able to stand up for what we believe is right. As a school we were told about the Labour Party coming to Liverpool. We have studied democracy and the rule of law in school and so we know that if a new election happens Labour might come into power. So we went to stand outside the Labour Party conference and hand out leaflets and talk to the MPs to tell them how important FSM for all is. We are extremely proud of our school and of what we have achieved in a few months. We have learnt that we all have a voice and that you are never too young to change things. If we stand together and work with each other to put our message across then maybe we will change the world. Our teachers always tell us to respectfully share our opinions and our thoughts, and that what we have to say is important. We have seen the power our voices have and we personally think that no matter how big or small you are we can all change the world for good. We will continue to stand with our local MP Ian Byrne and other organisations to try to get free school meals for all, to ensure that all children are well fed and that nobody has an empty belly. Mia Smith, Helena Piekarek and Nelly Wu, Monksdown Primary School, Liverpool The editor writes: Well done, you should all be very proud of yourselves. n See page 9 for more on child poverty educate Your magazine from the National Education Union (NEU)

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educate Your magazine from the National Education Union (NEU)

Yours for good.

d le pe es h ds urch n e h Fri 00 c r ou er 2 r ea e ov y St Mildred’s, st sav Whippingham a L us Photo: Brian Woodruffe

Time is running out to save the UK’s churches – join us to help stop the biggest heritage crisis Photo: Mypix [CC BY-SA 4.0]

There are more than 900 churches on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register. Across the UK, churches are closing as they cannot fund the urgent repairs they need to remain safe and open. We risk losing these beautiful buildings for good. Just £40 a year – less than £3.50 a month – will help ensure church buildings remain at the heart of communities for generations to come. Please join us today. Matt he w studyi By rn ng e has for nea and pho bee tog rly for of the ty yea raphing en n exploring ro rs. he glis his wo yal Photo was ele h church , rk graphi es cted publish in archit c a Fellow ectura Society ed fou in l pho of the r pre tograp 1988 for vious hy. Parish Northwest, boo Church Beautif ks: Great he has es and ul Chu Church Chapel es s and rches, Eng Church lish Fonts.

By becoming a Friend of the National Churches Trust, your support will help us save these wonderful buildings, keeping them open, in use and in good repair. th ne ss

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Email Your information will be treated as private and kept securely. We will never make public, swap or sell your details. Read more at nationalchurchestrust.org/privacy-policy

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Return coupon with your cheque to: National Churches Trust, 7 Tufton Street, London SW1P 3QB Tel: 020 7222 0605 hello@nationalchurchestrust.org Registered Charity Number: 1119845 @NatChurchTrust nationalchurchestrust @nationalchurchestrust national-churches-trust

Noticeboard Free resources on peace in NI

Whizz Pop Bang fans learn about physics – pendulums and levers – in the playground

WHIZZ Pop Bang, the magazine that makes science fun and accessible to six- to 12-yearolds, will soon publish its 100th edition.

Each magazine is linked to the science curriculum and is packed with experiments, activities, reading resources and puzzles designed to spark a love of science in primary school children. Its library of over 1,500 downloadable school resources written by teachers will help you to teach memorable science lessons.

THE National Archives has created a set of resources to mark the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement, which ended the conflict in Northern Ireland. The free resources, From Conflict to Peace – 25 Years On, support secondary school and college teachers to give an assembly on the agreement using a short, animated video, and to lead a follow-up classroom discussion. There are additional resources to support student discussions about how it successfully brought an end to the violence and established a new era of peace in Northern Ireland. n Visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/ resources/belfast-good-friday-agreement

Wellbeing Toolkit for educators

n Sign up for a welcome pack including a free

copy of Whizz Pop Bang at tinyurl.com/wpbhello

NUMBER Champions supports primary children who are struggling with maths. Its volunteers use games and other creative activities to engage children in one-to-one sessions and help them gain maths skills. The UK charity is seeking experienced former primary teachers who are passionate about maths education to give a few hours a month as mentors to train and support volunteer tutors. The charity works in schools across London, but the core role can be done remotely. n Visit numberchampions.

org.uk or email volunteer@ numberchampions.org.uk

ILLUSTRATION by Hannah Robinson

Mentors wanted to train Number Champs ONLINE platform Welbee has launched its free Wellbeing Toolkit. The toolkit has more than 50 free bitesize guides, videos and in-depth online courses based on current research and expert knowledge and is designed to provide help and support to improve wellbeing for school leaders, teachers and staff. The wide range of resources cover topics across five categories, focusing on personal wellbeing and leadership: managing stress, mental health, personal development, leading staff, and leading an organisation. The bitesize guides are designed to fit around busy schedules. n Visit toolkit.welbee.co.uk/the-educationstaff-wellbeing-toolkit

educate Your magazine from the National Education Union (NEU)

Photo opportunity

WIN!

Send us your photo to win a £20 book token MICHELLE Roe, an early years and primary lead in Wakefield, took this beautiful photo. Michelle says: “After a busy day at work, a friend of mine suggested we take a walk. I must admit I didn’t really feel like I had any more energy left for a walk at first, but when I arrived in this beautiful wood, I suddenly felt all the hurry of the day leave me. “I stopped to take this photo to remind me of this calm, mindful moment.” 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.

Update your membership details – visit my.neu.org.uk 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

n or write to Membership & Subscriptions, NEU, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD.

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

Access myRewards today myNEU is also a portal to accessing hundreds of exclusive discounts available to members through myRewards. From savings on your weekly shop to holidays and special treats, you could save up to £1,000 a year. Visit neu.org.uk/neu-rewards educate Your magazine from the National Education Union (NEU)

Quick crossword Across 1 Country now called Sri

25 Type of downhill skiing

race (6)

Lanka (6) 7 US state where one finds Springfield (8) 8 ___ Longoria: actress in Desperate Housewives (3) 9 Coffee-flavoured liqueur (6) 10 Baghdad’s country (4) 11 ___ and Juliet: Shakespeare play (5) 13 Classic Western TV series (7) 15 ___ Duncan: US pioneer of modern dance (7) 17 Peter ___ : singer of hits including Mysterious Girl(5) 21 ___ Novello: Welsh composer and actor (4) 22 Europe’s second-longest river (6) 23 Celestial body our planet orbits (3) 24 Actor who played Tyler Durden in Fight Club (4,4)

Down 1 Julius ___ : Roman politician

8 9

and general (6) 2 Dwight ___ : US country music singer (6) 3 ___ Bohr: Danish physicist (5) 4 Comedy TV series starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge (7) 5 Verse sung before or after a psalm (8) 6 The ___ : Cornish peninsula (6) 12 Legendary city of fabulous wealth (2,6) 14 ___ Mercury: lead vocalist of the rock band Queen (7) 16 The longest river in the UK (6) 18 Type of internal combustion engine (6) 19 Rapper whose alter ego is Slim Shady (6) 20 Wading birds (5)

13 14

22 23

24 25

Across

Down

1 - Country now called Sri Lanka (6)

1 - Julius ___ : Roman politician and general (6)

Answers at bottom 2 - Dwight ___ : US country music singer (6) of page 49 3 - ___ Bohr: Danish physicist (5)

7 - US state where one finds Springfield (8) 8 - ___ Longoria: actress in Desperate Housewives (3)

Sudoku

5 - Verse sung before or after a psalm (8)

11 - ___ and Juliet: Shakespeare play (5)

6 - The ___ : Cornish peninsula (6) Sudoku solutions will feature 12 - Legendary city of fabulous on this page next issue.wealth (2,6)

13 - Classic Western TV series (7)

1 7

Easy

Last issue’s (Sept/Oct 2023) sudoku solution (from left: Easy, Medium and Difficult)

15 - ___ Duncan: US pioneer of modern dance (7)

14 - ___ Mercury: lead vocalist of the rock band Queen

17 - Peter ___ : singer of hits including Mysterious Girl (5)

16 - The longest river in the UK (6)

8 2 5 4 18 - Type of internal combustion engine (6) 21 - ___ Novello: Welsh composer and actor (4) whose alter ego is Slim Shady (6) 5 2 4 1920 -- Rapper 3 22 -3 Europe's second-longest river (6) Wading birds (5) body our planet orbits (3) 9 5 2324 -- Celestial 6 7 1 6 Actor who played Tyler Durden in Fight Club (4,4) 25 - Type of downhill skiing 2 6 race (6) 7 2 4 1 5 4 8 9 8 3 9 6 3 7 5 8 1 4 7 6 9 7 2 1 8 9 6 3 1 5

3 1 9 4 6 7 7 8 6 3 1 9 4 6 4 1 8 5 7

4 - Comedy TV series starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge (7

10 - Baghdad's country (4)

9 1 6 7 1 2 4

9 - Coffee-flavoured liqueur (6)

5 4 9 8 3 6

Medium 1 6 8 4 3 2 5 9 7

2 5 7 1 6 9 3 4 8

educate Your magazine from the National Education Union (NEU)

9 3 4 8 5 7 2 6 1

3 7 1 5 9 6 8 2 4

5 9 6 2 4 8 1 7 3

8 4 2 7 1 3 9 5 6

7 1 3 6 2 5 4 8 9

4 8 5 9 7 1 6 3 2

6 2 9 3 8 4 7 1 5

Difficult 4 9 8 2 6 1 7 3 5

7 1 3 5 4 8 2 6 9

2 5 6 9 3 7 1 8 4

9 8 1 3 5 4 6 2 7

6 2 4 7 1 9 8 5 3

3 7 5 6 8 2 9 4 1

5 3 2 1 7 6 4 9 8

8 6 7 4 9 5 3 1 2

1 4 9 8 2 3 5 7 6

5 4 9 6 3 2 1 7 8

8 7 1 4 9 5 2 3 6

2 6 3 7 8 1 4 5 9

1 8 6 9 4 7 3 2 5

4 2 7 8 5 3 6 9 1

3 9 5 2 1 6 8 4 7

7 1 2 5 6 4 9 8 3

9 3 4 1 7 8 5 6 2

6 5 8 3 2 9 7 1 4

Prize crossword

WIN!

Across 8 Girl isn’t

unfamiliar 8 with Scottish university (8) 9 In rehearsal I very much 10 like Dickensian musical (6) 10 To revise intensively might produce miracle – no lie! (4) 13 11 Small educational institution starts updating new intake (3) 12 He sits about, writing this long essay? (6) 17 13 Wild shouting is missing nothing (6) 15 Drunken boy tries the opposite! (8) 17 Masters replaced groups of children of similar ability (7) 22 23 19 Concerning poetry, it’s the other side the coin (7) 22 Ankle was twisted in ballet (4,4) 24 I left university unexpectedly – 25 pointless (6) 25 Sulphur and aluminium used to make summer footwear (6) 29 27 Head of History, identity concealed (3) 28 See 7 down 29 Clever person sees sign EU is breaking up (6) 30 He tells the story of Scottish island heading west to rocky peak (8)

University (6-4)

A £50 Marks & Spencer voucher

Down 1 To begin, tutor sat awkwardly (5,3) 2 School dance is back in the gym, or playground (4) 3 Encountered 11 turning up inside piece of music (6) 4 Opposed to a new sign about a kind of junction (7) 5 Mobile lab involved in endless poetry production (8) 6 Not very bright getting Ecstasy for 10 cents (4) 7 & 28 across Trio that we arranged at Edinburgh

21 24

The winner and solution of this prize crossword will feature on this page next issue.

14 Content of degree needs to be environmentally friendly (5) 16 Clumsy, upset pen in it (5) 18 Set meals altered to become vegetarian? (8) 20 Hopelessly lost in OU? Here’s the answer! (8) 21 It’s a greenhouse gas, but the name is different (7) 23 Big fish obtained from hotel in the Principality (6) 24 Hat for the iron road, perhaps? (6) 26 Platform for heartless dons embracing AI (4) 28 Lacking willpower, maybe, you and I put on a kilo (4)

Send your completed crossword, with your contact details, to: November/December crossword, Educate, NEU, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD, or email a photographed copy to crossword@neu.org.uk. Closing date: 30 November.

Last issue’s (September/October 2023) prize crossword solution

Across 1 SOPHOCLES 6 HOMER 9 LOIRE 10 PLAYGROUP 11 DEAN 12 COOKS 13 VERY 16 A LEVELS 17 REGALIA 19 SEYMOUR 21 DELETED 22 HOSE 24 APRON 25 DAMP 29 THERAPIES 30 ELGAR 31 COPSE 32 AUDIENCES Down 1 SALAD 2 PRIVATELY 3 OBEY 4 LAPTOPS 5 SLACKER 6 HUGE 7 MOOSE 8 REPLY PAID 14 DEFOE 15 AGILE 16 AESTHETIC 18 LETHARGIC 20 REPLICA 21 DROWSED 23 SHEEP 26 PARIS 27 JANE 28 BEDE Congratulations to last issue’s winner – Andrew Evans from Taunton This issue’s quick crossword solution (p48)

Across 1 CEYLON 7 ILLINOIS 8 EVA 9 KAHLUA 10 IRAQ 11 ROMEO 13 RAWHIDE 15 ISADORA 17 ANDRE 21 IVOR 22 DANUBE 23 SUN 24 BRAD PITT 25 SLALOM Down 1 CAESAR 2 YOAKAM 3 NIELS 4 FLEABAG 5 ANTIPHON 6 LIZARD 12 EL DORADO 14 FREDDIE 16 SEVERN 18 DIESEL 19 EMINEM 20 KNOTS educate Your magazine from the National Education Union (NEU)

Final word

Small tweaks for big gains in eco education WHERE is climate change being taught? Where are there opportunities for teachers to demonstrate to students that what they are already learning in the curriculum is relevant to their understanding of climate change, as well as their ability to communicate that understanding and their anxieties, and ‘green’ their lives and careers? These are the key questions raised by ongoing calls for better climate education in schools. A report published by the Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS) in June looked at all the GCSE specifications and found that there are many opportunities for learning about climate change. In some subjects, teachers will already be talking about climate change and sustainability. In others, the relevance of the material that is already being taught will only be obvious to teachers that have some expertise. Small changes could lead to students leaving school with a far better appreciation of climate change and its relevance to their future lives and careers. Crucially, this can be done without increasing teacher workload or the volume of content teacher and students have to cover. Not just geography and science lessons At the moment, most of the teaching about climate change takes place in geography and science. However, not all students take geography at GCSE, and even there the focus is on past climate change with missed opportunities for links from topics such as urbanisation and food security. Although many people think that the teaching of climate change is largely associated with science, it features in very few science lessons. There are many opportunities, particularly in physics, for demonstrating to students that what they are learning is relevant to their understanding of climate change, its impacts, and adaptation and mitigation opportunities through the use of appropriate examples and questions. The expert reviewers we engaged in the project were surprised about the many existing links from subjects such as design 50

Former head teacher Sue Harte with pupils from John Stainer Community Primary School, London, during the 2019 strike for climate action PHOTO by Jess Hurd

and technology, religious studies, modern languages, and food preparation and nutrition. The key lies in providing high-quality, engaging materials – particularly where technologies and attitudes are evolving quickly. Maths and, in particular, statistics are other subjects where, with the right support, teachers could significantly improve students’ climate literacy. Data collection, processing, manipulation, representation and interpretation can all be done with data or contexts taken from the social, physical and biological sciences. Music, English, drama and other arts subjects lend themselves to students’ ability to communicate their understanding of and anxiety about climate change. We strongly believe that, by working with the curriculum and exam specifications, significant improvements to climate education can be made in a short timeframe, without the need for curriculum reform.

educate Your magazine from the National Education Union (NEU)

As a result of this review, the RMetS is calling on all those involved in curriculum development and implementation to make rapid use of some of these findings, through the development of teacher training and other support materials, high-quality, adaptable sample schemes of work, data sets and sample exam questions. n Read the RMetS report in full at tinyurl.com/599zyr2a

Fact file

Sylvia Knight is head of education at the Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS) and a visiting professor at the University of Reading.

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