face of education

Officer of the year Andrew Cunningham

AT his school, Parklands High School in Chorley, Lancashire, Andrew Cunningham achieved a 100 per cent turnout in the pay strike ballot. As assistant district secretary at south west Lancashire NEU, he is also credited with helping to recruit reps in some of the district’s bigger schools.

Andrew said the Covid-19 pandemic encouraged him to become an active NEU officer and he had seen the power that strong workplace organisation can have in terms of saving lives. “The collective strength we built in the pandemic helped to prepare us for the pay strikes. We were used to meeting, to discussing tactics and strategy and to getting out campaigning. We felt a sense of empowerment in our school and were able to positively affect decisions. Teachers and support staff from my workplace were able to encourage and give confidence to other local school groups, helping us meet the ballot thresholds locally,” he said.

“I am proud to say that members in south west Lancashire have gone above and beyond to make these strikes effective: encouraging their colleagues, supporting each other’s schools and taking on rogue heads.”

Nikki Simpson award Maria Williams

MARIA, a workplace learning rep at Cambridge Regional College, was nominated by fellow union member and colleague Mahendra Soopaul, who described her as “dedicated and an asset to staff”.

The award is given in honour of Nikki Simpson, who was an exceptionally talented learning and development organiser at ATL, one of the NEU legacy unions. Nikki died from cancer in 2017, aged 48.

Maria said: “I was very surprised to find out that I had been nominated, and even more surprised and thrilled to find out that I had won the prestigious Nikki Simpson award. When I first became a union learning rep some years ago, I realised very quickly that by sitting on the staff development steering committee I could have a direct influence on the training our members and all staff would receive, making it more relevant to their roles as education professionals, as well as benefitting their wellbeing.

“Getting the NEU involved with some of the delivery enabled us to raise the union’s profile within the college.”

Blair Peach award Ivy Scott

AS the officer for post-16 and equalities at Ipswich and south Suffolk NEU, and officer on the Black organising forum for the eastern region, Ivy Scott was described as a “brilliant” candidate for the Blair Peach award.

With decades of experience working in the equalities field, Ivy’s achievements include organising a national Zoom during Covid, as well as a decolonising conference for more than 80 educators in the eastern region in 2021, and compiling The Mountains We Climb: writings by Black educators, in 2021.

“It fills me with pride to win this award,” said Ivy. “I have dedicated my teaching career to fighting for the rights of pupils, educators and parents. Equalities and diversity should be a part of every institution’s policy, to ensure children and educators are made to feel safe, motivated, valued, included and respected.”