the Teacher – November 2014

e from the rs in z a g a m r u o Y n of Teache 14 National Unio ember 20 November/Dec .org.uk www.teachers

In this issue

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writes on n e s o R l e a h Mic ing pong education p

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Ask the Contents Union

e m o c l e W Welcome to the November/December issue of the Teacher.

The new school year may only be two months old, but it has been one of the busiest and most fruitful periods in recent NUT history.

Last issue we launched the NUT manifesto, a document that laid out the Union’s proposals for a fairer education system. Since September members have been hitting pavements, taking the vision to parents, teachers and MPs alike. From party political conferences to school governor meetings, the manifesto has been swaying hearts and minds – all in time for next May’s general election. You can read all about it on pages 4-9.

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In September we also sent a workload survey to members, in an attempt to measure the true impact of workload on teachers’ lives. The findings helped convince Education Secretary Nicky Morgan to announce a government consultation on the issue. Read what this could mean for teachers on page 16.

Features

Elsewhere in this issue, we are thrilled to introduce former children’s laureate Michael Rosen as our new poet-inresidence (p45). Finally, see our centre pages for an in-depth exposé into the Global Education Reform Movement.

04 Our manifesto in action Since launching the manifesto in our last issue, public endorsements have come flooding in and our members are busy spreading the word.

Thank you as ever for your membership of the NUT.

15 Our chemical innocence Kate Smurthwaite tackles sex and relationships education.

Christine Blower

16 Workload campaign paying off The shocking results of our September workload survey.

20 Union pressure wins Ofsted concessions Union success as Ofsted publishes statement clarifying what teachers are not expected to provide for inspections.

Regulars 10 Out and about 18 International 22 Your Union 34 Ask the Union

25 The GERM is spreading Prominent unionists discuss the impact of GERM on schools.

38 Reviews 41 Noticeboard 44 Staffroom confidential 46 Letters

President: Max Hyde General Secretary: Christine Blower Deputy General Secretary: Kevin Courtney Journalist: Emily Jenkins Administration: Maryam Hulme Design templates: Home

Cover: Justin Tallis

Newsdesk t 020 7380 4708 f 020 7387 8458 e teacher@nut.org.uk To advertise contact Century One Publishing, t 01727 739193 e jonathan@centuryone publishing.ltd.uk NUT membership enquiries t 0845 300 1666

Except where the NUT has formally negotiated agreements with companies as part of its services, inclusion of an advertisement in The Teacher does not imply recommendation. While every effort is made to ensure the reliability

30 Standing Up for Education at the party conferences.

Once again the Union had a high profile presence at the party conferences.

36 Celebrating experience As a growing number of senior teachers undergo capability procedures, we celebrate experience.

43 Learning with the NUT Our new 2015 course guide is on its way – here’s a sneak preview.

45 Education ping pong Michael Rosen writes a poem on the back and forth of pre-election policy.

50 Testing times for young children Emeritus Professor of Education Colin Richards puts primary school testing under the spotlight.

of advertisers, the NUT cannot accept any liability for the quality of goods or services offered. The Teacher is printed by TU Ink, London. Inside pages are printed on paper made from 100 per cent recycled, post-consumer waste.

November / December 14 I The Teacher

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Our manifesto in action Last issue we launched the NUT manifesto, a document that laid out our recommendations for how fairer, more considered policies could improve education for both pupils and teachers alike.

The launch was timed to coincide with party political conference season, to show the MPs our different vision for education and pressure them to consider new ideas ahead of next May’s general election.

We cannot achieve what every teacher deserves unless we fight for it. Whether it’s lobbying MPs, setting up street stalls, leafleting parents or attending marches and demos – the teaching profession needs you now more than ever before.

Inside the document we have tackled some of the issues that are damaging education in England and Wales and offer practical solutions to them. For instance, to end the school places crisis we recommend the rather straightforward idea of giving local authorities the power they need to plan and provide school places in their area. Also, to halt the creeping tide of profit being made from schools, we demand an end to the culture of outsourcing and the restoration of funding for high quality state schools, with access to local support.

For a full list of ways that you can help Stand Up for Education, please visit: www.teachers.org.uk/manifesto

These are not radical ideas, but affordable and achievable methods by which we can fix the school system for every teacher, pupil and parent in England and Wales. And it seems that they are taking root.

Since hitting your doorsteps in September, the manifesto has received incredible support from across every sector of our society. Teachers, parents, pupils, MPs, journalists, artists and academics have stood behind our vision for education.

In the following pages you’ll find just who has been endorsing the manifesto and what they’ve had to say about it. You’ll also find a summary of how members have been using the document to win the hearts and minds of parents – in some rather novel ways.

While we’re thrilled with how the manifesto has been received, this is just the start of our march towards the general election 2015 and a fairer education system for all.

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November / December 14 I The Teacher

Consultative ballot result Over 98% voted to continue our Stand Up for Education campaign. 80% said that, if the NUT Executive believed it would help in negotiations with Nicky Morgan, Secretary of State, they would support the NUT calling up to two more days of strike action between now and the general election.

Since releasing our manifesto, we have been overwhelmed by the support we have received, not only from teachers, parents and educators, but from authors, journalists and professors as well.

Here are just a few of the many fantastic endorsements we have received.

Phillip Pullman – Author “The NUT’s new Manifesto for Education is first-rate and well worth supporting.”

Sally Gardner – Author “I believe we have to start valuing other forms of intelligence, rather than just academic performance and this manifesto goes a long way to recognising that.”

Michael Rosen – Author “I think this is great, and something we can all get round over the next few months...”

Beverly Naidoo – Author “A Government that is serious about education would be promoting community and school libraries and valuing the professional skills in maintaining them.”

Alan Gibbons – Author “Tests can’t teach you anything they just assess how you’re doing. Children have to learn first…the manifesto is about the centrality of learning and so it opens up the possibility of learning above continuous assessment.”

David Edwards - Deputy General Secretary of Education International “The NUT manifesto is a brilliant blend of wellinformed, globally accepted and professionally responsible recommendations with a call for comprehensive and systematic change that ensures great schools in every community. It’s a must read. Kudos to NUT!”

Peter Mortimer, former director of the Institute of Education, University of London “I am pleased to endorse the NUT’s new Manifesto for Education. It draws on sound evidence and envisages a way out of the muddled English education system that our politicians have created.”

The NUT Manifesto

Manifesto endorsements

Professor (Sir) Tim Brighouse – former Commissioner for London Schools and former Chief Education Officer for Birmingham “At last a set of statements which if acted upon could transform our children’s future. It will command the support of all engaged on a daily basis in education – parents, school staff, students and governors. Their voices need to be heard by all those seeking our votes in 2015.”

Sally Tomlinson – Emeritus Professor at Goldsmiths, London and Department of Education at University of Oxford “The NUT Manifesto on Education comes close to echoing R.H. Tawney who in the 1920s wrote that ‘what a wise parent would want for their child, a nation should want for all its children’ Let’s try and make this a reality.”

Professor Robin Alexander – Professor of Education, Director of the Cambridge Primary Review “How can we not support NUT’s 2015 Manifesto for Education? This is not some ideological wish list but a sensible and principled statement with a firm basis in evidence. The proposals on child poverty, the curriculum, assessment, teacher development, accountability, localism and the strengthening of education as a public service are all in line with those from national enquiries like the Cambridge Primary Review.”

Rhonda Evans – freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker “These seem like constructive proposals for quality state education, for all our children. I hope the Labour Party is listening...”

To read more about the manifesto and to read more of our fantastic endorsements, go to www.teachers.org.uk/manifesto

November / December 14 I The Teacher

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The NUT Manifesto

Member activity As our Stand Up for Education manifesto spreads to all corners of England and Wales, our amazing NUT members are doing their bit to spread the word.

Engaging the public NUT organiser from the London region Jen Larbie and NUT member Jackie, a science teacher from Barking Abbey School, recently visited Barking Methodist Church to speak to the 150-strong congregation about increasing workload and growing pressures on teachers.

“Jackie gave a very heartfelt speech and it was well received by the congregation,” said Jen Larbie.

“They were really pleased that we had spoken to them about the state of play in education and the high levels of stress and workload teachers are facing.

“Afterwards, a couple of primary teachers came up to us to chat about Ofsted and the pressures they were under. Together we handed out about 100 manifestos after the service to members of the congregation.

They then promised to hand out more at their schools.

It was a really great day.”

Jackie is a regular attendee of the church and was incredibly happy with the reaction she received: “It was fantastic to share with my friends in the congregation what it is like to be a teacher, I love my job, but people need to be aware that the unnecessary workload is making teachers stressed and causing them to consider leaving the profession.”

The manifesto at party conferences, TUC demos and more…

At the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat party conferences, General Secretary Christine Blower, and Deputy General Secretary Kevin Courtney lined up outside to hand out manifestos to politicians and delegates. Soon after, at the TUC demo, Christine Blower, never far from our giant ‘Hands Up for Education’ inflatable, urged trade unionists to support our campaign and thousands of manifesto copies were distributed to the public.

Every year the NUT has a strong presence at the Eisteddfod in Wales, and this year was no exception.

Stuart Williams, NUT Cymru Principal Officer, and former NUT President Beth Davies, led the way in engaging parents, teachers and schools and distributing our manifestos to festival goers.

Regional offices spreading the word!

In Islington, officers engaged with parents outside William Tyndale School. “The hot off the press – and very attractively presented – Stand Up for Education manifestos went like hot cakes and a whole box was handed out in next to no time,“ said Regional Secretary Bob Stapley.

300 manifestos and a rugby scrum NUT rep Paul Farr from Carshalton Boys School, who is also a coach for U18 Wimbledon Rugby Football Club, got his team, who are also students, to hand out NUT manifestos to all parents and spectators who came to watch the match one Sunday. In total they handed out 300 manifestos in one afternoon. Thank you Paul and the Wimbledon team!

Lobbying your MP NUT member Sylvia Erskine and NUT senior division support officer Helen Osgood lobbied their local MP Peter Bone, in order to discuss their concern over teachers’ workload and pensions.

“It was the first time that I had ever done anything like that and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience,” said Sylvia. “On the day of the lobbying it was great to have Helen guide me through the procedures. I look back and think that I was just one person…but with so many of us lobbying a difference can be made.”

Tweet from your stalls NUT members are also setting up stalls all round the country – and they’ve been tweeting as they go…

Mike McDonald @NUTnorthern Oct 11 One helper this morning said “I feel good about myself after that.” Get that feel good factor and help #standup4edu teachers.org.uk/volunteer Gawain Little @GawainLittle Oct 11 Thanks to @NUTox members (& families) who joined @MrEFinch giving out our #StandUp4Edu manifesto today. teachers.org.uk/manifesto Chris McHugh @cmchughlabour Oct 11 Great #StandUp4Edu stall in Whickham this morning with @Amesmaster @NUTGateshead. Public very supportive of @NUTonline manifesto for Edu. Siobháin Ní Ghacháin @Siobeans Oct 11 Got handed NUT manifesto in Canterbury today... abolish bedroom tax and league tables? Absolutely agree! #standup4edu

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November / December 14 I The Teacher

Friday 12 December 2014

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In partnership with

The NUT manifesto is packed with recommendations for key changes to policy that will improve education for children, teachers and schools.

Though each recommendation has the backing of parents, education experts and practitioners alike, not all of them will be an easy sell to MPs. Demanding a wider vision of learning and achievement, for instance, including the establishment of a national council for curricula and coherent 14-19 qualifications, will require a radical rethinking of the political dogma that has affected schools for far too long.

Some demands, however, are so well supported that it is almost unthinkable that they weren’t already part of politicians’ campaign promises.

An end to child poverty In the UK 3.5m children are growing up in poverty.

Huge cuts to local authority funding have impacted disproportionately on the poorest, most disadvantaged communities. Lessons from other countries such as Finland show that, when governments pursue policies to reduce inequality, educational outcomes radically improve.

In the manifesto we call for the bedroom tax to be abolished, increased funding for early years education and the restoration of financial support for post-16 students.

Nonetheless, the Conservative party has since announced benefit cuts for the poorest, a move that The New Statesman acknowledged “will push children into poverty.” Meanwhile, at Labour party conference, Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls pledged that his party would scrap the bedroom tax and extend the cap on child benefit rises.

Every child deserves a qualified teacher Academies and free schools in England are allowed to employ unqualified staff to teach. In free schools, people teaching without qualified teacher status represent 13 per cent of 1,500 full-time teachers.

The NUT manifesto calls for all those teaching to be either qualified or on a training route towards qualification – and that every teacher should receive regular training throughout their career.

Despite angering many with his suggestions for a teachers’ Hippocratic oath, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt has at least brought teacher training to the forefront of his campaign mandate. In October he pledged to reverse the coalition

The NUT Manifesto

Key manifesto demands gaining traction Government’s decision to allow free schools and academies to recruit unqualified teachers, stating: “If you allow people, who frankly shouldn’t be setting up whelk stalls, to set up schools without qualified teachers, with very dodgy systems of financial transparency and accountability, the public will have a view on it.”

More time for teaching, not testing While schools need to be accountable, the current system stifles creativity, leads to ‘teaching to the test’ and does not promote sustainable improvements in education. Our children are amongst the most tested in the world, with children as young as five years old labelled failures.

In response the NUT has called for a new approach to evaluating schools, which involves teachers, parents and local communities. This would include local authorities inspecting schools, rather than Ofsted, to ensure that school self-evaluation is accurate and valid – and for league tables to be replaced by national sampling.

At the Conservative party conference, Nicky Morgan spoke of her concern over teacher workload, yet only the Green Party has pledged to scrap SATs and the Year 1 phonics test, as well as to abolish league tables in their current form.

However, following the helpful clarification by Ofsted of activities that schools and teachers are not expected to do before or during an inspection, the Government has now announced its consultation exercise ‘The Workload Challenge’; in which they ask teachers in England what they think should be done to reduce unnecessary and unproductive workload. The survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Workloadchallenge Both the announcements on Ofsted and The Workload Challenge are significant developments that would not have happened were it not for the continued and determined campaigning of the NUT.

Help us make these demands a reality We can achieve these much needed changes to education policy by working together and continuing to push our case to parents, teachers, politicians and the media whenever possible.

For more information on how you can help Stand Up for Education, including by lobbying your local MP, please visit: www.teachers.org.uk/campaigns/ protect-teachers

November / December 14 I The Teacher

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t u o b a d n a Out

org.uk. acher@nut. te t a k s e d news ? Email our Got a story

Thomas Morley/Report Digital

World Teachers’ Day 2014

This year, to mark World Teachers’ Day, the NUT partnered with Amnesty International UK (AIUK) to hold an unforgettable evening, chaired by NUT President Max Hyde, that celebrated teachers around the world.

Speaking to an audience packed with teachers, human rights activists and students, the keynote speaker, an Afghani head teacher, shared her harrowing experiences of being targeted by the Taliban for opening a girls’ school in Afghanistan.

To unite for quality education for all, sign up here to add your voice at: unite4education.org.

To learn more about AIUK Women’s rights in Afghanistan Campaign, visit: amnesty.org.uk/issues/Women%27s-rights-in-Afghanistan.

She spoke with resilience and strength about the brutal murder of her son and the ongoing threats she receives from the Taliban, stating that these events continue to drive, and not deter her.

Guest speaker Kate Allen, Director of AIUK highlighted the fact that before the Taliban came to power, 70 per cent of teachers were women, while Craig McVicar, Director of Learning for Year 9 at Quintin Kynaston Academy, gave practical examples on how human rights issues could be brought into the classroom. Craig said: “Through human rights education, teachers have an opportunity to shape the minds of young people so they are empathetic and active, it is an opportunity that teachers cannot afford to miss”.

Keep up to date with education and the NUT – follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/NUTonline for the latest news and views. And stay informed at www.teachers.org.uk.

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November / December 14 I The Teacher

DGS elections Nominations for the position of DGS of the NUT are currently being sought. The deadline for nominations is 1 December 2014.

Ballot papers for the election will be sent to members eligible to vote on 5 January 2015, which must be returned to the independent scrutineer, ERS by midday on 26 January 2015.

Go to www.teachers.org.uk for further information about this important Union election, or contact your local association or Division Secretary. Get involved and use your vote.

You can also find the NUT on Facebook.

Keep up with the latest campaigning and Union news via the official NUT Facebook page at www.facebook.com/nut.campaigns.

Out and about

Burston 2014 Concern is mounting over the national shortage of governors, with up to one in four posts remaining vacant. The leading education charity Future First is calling on former state school students to sign up as governors at their old school.

Up to a quarter of school governor positions are vacant in some rural and deprived areas of England and 1 in 10 of the 300,000 governor posts nationally is unfilled.

Future First, which sets up alumni networks in more than 375 state schools and colleges across Britain, is now partnering with the charity School Governors’ One Stop Shop (SGOSS), which recruits volunteers to serve on school governing bodies across England. More than 90,000 people have registered with Future First to stay connected with their former school and some are already volunteering as governors.

Alex Shapland-Howes, Managing Director of Future First, said former students had a valuable role to play in shaping a school’s future, as they were relatable role models for students: “They know the school, they know the area and what the lives of the current students are like. For those former students looking for a way to make a difference in their local community, we would urge them to sign up and stand as governors.”

Governors do not manage the school’s day-to-day business but oversee its long term future by supporting the teaching staff and championing success, helping to set the school’s aims and objectives and monitoring progress, allocating the budget and appointing senior staff like the head teacher.

Anyone over 18 and living in the UK can be a governor. Contact your local school for more information, or go to http://futurefirst.org.uk

Peter Everard Smith

Future First

A record crowd of 2,500 gathered on Burston’s green on a sunny Sunday in September to celebrate the centenary of the Norfolk village’s school strike.

NUT members got busy collecting signatures for the Stand Up for Education petition, while Coventry NUT placed flowers on the Higdons’ graves.

100 years ago, on 1 April 1914, Pupils walked out in protest at the sacking of their teachers Kitty and Tom Higdon, both NUT members.

Author Owen Jones told the rally that struggles of the past – such as Burston, the Tolpuddle Martyrs and the Chartists – should be commemorated not through “dewy-eyed nostalgia” but because “we can learn from their example”.

The Higdons were victimised because of their progressive views on education and because they were organising agricultural workers in a trade union.

The villagers set up a strike-school which ran until 1939.

A highlight of the centenary celebration was a 25-minute musical ‘A Little Child Shall Lead Them’ telling the story of the strike and performed by Ipswich-based Theatre Train, a Saturday singing and drama club for six to 18 year olds.

Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn denounced the “deeper and deeper inequality” caused by government policies.

Unite London and eastern region secretary Pete Kavanagh applauded teachers taking strike action in defence of education in 2014. “There is a huge relevance between the battles of 100 years ago and the battles of today,” he declared.

#NUTchat #NUTchat, founded by Kristian Jones from Southend and Sarah Bedwell from Lancashire, began at this year's national conference as a way for grassroots members to regularly discuss union and general education issues.

Taking place on Twitter each Sunday from 6-7pm, it's hosted by anybody who has a topic they want to discuss.

Hosts simply provide a topic and three questions which are then published on Sundays.

Previous topics have included workload, behaviour, Ofsted and industrial action.

Anybody can take part in the discussion; follow @nutchatter or go to www.nutchatter.wordpress.com for more information.

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It’s Our World The Online Gallery is accepting submissions from schools and colleges in the UK with the aim of creating the largest collection of artwork celebrating the environment, as seen through the eyes of its future custodians (aged 4-19 years).

Participants are invited to bring their local urban, rural or coastal environment to life. Subject matter can be approached in a variety of ways including observation, critical thinking about environmental impacts and small steps to live more sustainably.

itsourworld.org

Artwork, from close-up studies of natural forms to sweeping landscapes, is accepted in any medium. The use of recycled and natural materials is encouraged in creating collages, mosaics or 3D artwork. All uploaded artwork will be digitally displayed nationwide from UN World Environment Day 5 June 2015.

It’s Our World has been developed to support the curriculum and timed to enable teachers to plan ahead.

Artwork can be uploaded as a scanned image or digital photo until end of May 2015. Unique PIN Codes have been issued via a Head Teachers/Tutors Mail-out. If you would like your students to take part please visit itisourworld.org.

Newly qualified teachers welcomed to Hackney Hackney Teachers’ Association held another extremely successful event to welcome newly qualified teachers to the borough this year. The function was held in a local restaurant where new teachers could meet local NUT reps and officers from the area.

Dave Davies, Hackney NUT Secretary, reported that local NUT membership had risen significantly in recent years for which he thanked officers and reps. The Association has an officer with specific responsibility for supporting newly qualified teachers.

New teachers to the borough can look forward to joining colleagues from neighbouring boroughs on their annual day trip to Boulogne later in the term.

Shakespeare’s Globe offers bespoke CPD for NUT

On 24 July, 24 NUT teachers enjoyed a full day’s cross-phase training, including a tour of the Globe Theatre and the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

The focus was on Julius Caesar, and participants learned techniques for storytelling, exploring characters and understanding the language. One participating teacher said: “The fact it was so practical was brilliant. As teachers we can forget that plays were written to be performed!”

Workshops are taking place across the country and are delivered by Globe Education Practitioners who develop the techniques employed in the rehearsal room and on stage, into

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November / December 14 I The Teacher

lively and practical teaching tools to take back into the classroom.

Tajinder Gill, from the NUT Professional Development Programme says: “It is brilliant that Globe Education could work with our members. With the change in curriculum it is critical that teachers are comfortable with

Shakespeare in the classroom. These workshops offer a range of skills to remove the ‘Shakesfear’ in both teachers and students.”

Upcoming dates available across the country; more details and booking online at: https://www.teachers.org.uk/node/21127.

Office Globe Education Press

Globe Education, the dedicated Education Department at Shakespeare’s Globe on London’s Bankside, is delivering bespoke training sessions on teaching Shakespeare in the classroom exclusively for NUT members.

Out and about

TUC demo

Anthony Walker Memorial Lecture

Justin Tallis

The annual AWML was founded in 2007 after the racist attack and murder of student Anthony Walker in 2005.

Thousands of NUT members joined around 90,000 trade unionists in London at the TUC’s march against austerity on Saturday 18 October to demand that ‘Britain Needs a Pay Rise’.

The march, from Victoria Embankment, culminated in a rally at Hyde Park where speakers included NUT General Secretary Christine Blower.

Christine told the large crowd that teachers were seeing growing numbers of children attending school hungry which affected their ability to learn.

Food banks are no substitute for an adequate family income and children were entitled to know that their parents could afford to feed, clothe and keep them warm.

Christine urged trade unionists to support the NUT’s Stand Up for Education manifesto, copies of which were distributed in their thousands at the rally and to the public. The NUT’s new inflatable, ‘Hands up for Education’ (see cover), was a showstopper, drawing widespread attention and admiration.

Speaking to over 100 attendees in Barking, Baroness Oona King said: “If we could bottle the example set

by Anthony’s family, the world would be a better place.” Baroness King went on to deliver a moving address, charting her family’s history opposing racism in America’s south and linked this poignantly with the often high price that is paid for standing up to racism.

Respondent speaker Jeremy Crook OBE was greeted with applause in the Broadway Theatre when he stated the need for more black teachers in the education system.

A vote of thanks was given by Dr Gee walker, Anthony’s mother and the inspiration behind the Foundation.

Dr Walker’s heartfelt address connected with the audience, her courage to bring about positive action from tragedy is an inspiration to all.

Campaigning for education – Fred and Anne Jarvis Award 2015 Since 2008 the National Union of Teachers has awarded the Fred and Anne Jarvis Award to individuals who, despite not being NUT members, have campaigned on national or local educational issues.

The award pays tribute to the example and commitment to education shown by former NUT General Secretary, Fred Jarvis, and his wife, Anne, a lifelong NUT member and former chair of the Education Committee for Barnet Council, who died in 2007.

The 2014 award was presented to Michael Lees OBE who received the award for his work over many years campaigning to remove asbestos from schools. In 2013, the award went to Nobel Peace Prize nominee Malala Yousafzai in recognition of her continuing campaign for all girls to

have the right to an education, despite being subject to an assassination attempt by the Taliban in 2012.

Now NUT members are invited to consider nominating a non-NUT member for the 2015 award. Members submitting a nomination should provide their own names, the names and details of their associations/divisions and the name and contact details of the person nominated. They should also provide a brief resume (maximum of 500 words) of the reasons for the nomination.

For more information and to download a nomination form, please visit: teachers.org.uk/node/22403.

Nominations should be sent to Celia Dignan at c.dignan@nut.org.uk by 5pm, 2 February 2015.

November / December 14 I The Teacher

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Ξs^Kͬ ĞŶ >ĂŶŐĚŽŶ

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Kate Smurthwaite column

Comedian and activist, Kate Smurthwaite, tackles one of the thorniest issues in our schools today: sex and relationships education.

My chemical innocence I think some children are taught the periodic table too young. We need to let children be children, we need to treasure the days when stuff is just stuff, when there’s no need to categorise it into compounds and mixtures, liquids, solids, gases and plasmas.

ignorant adults. The latest updating of the sex education syllabus is a timid attempt to rearrange the deck chairs on a Titanic of wilful ignorance. Sex education is still little more than an afterthought on the unfashionable outer arm of the national curriculum. What we need is boldness.

While I’m on the subject: parents should be allowed to withdraw their children from French lessons. They can choose to tell their kids about the subjunctive clause when they feel they’re ready.

We need to tell children that the human body has a great capacity for pleasure. That sex is about choice and that they are not a bad person if they say yes. Or if they say no.

Ridiculous? Well replace ‘chemistry’ and ‘French’ with ‘sex and relationships education’ and it becomes something that would be perfectly normal to hear one of our politicians say.

How can we leave to chance one of the most important things that a young person needs to learn? If our children aren't being taught crucial information about topics such as consent, safe-sex or sexual orientation from properly qualified teachers – where are we expecting them to find it out? The internet, the advice section of a glossy mag… playground rumours?

Like most British people I’ve spent more time having sex since I left school than I have speaking French or practising chromatography. Failing to follow best practice in a lab, or insulting a gendarme in La Rochelle, can have dire consequences, but the consequences of ‘getting it wrong’ when it comes to sex are some of the most widespread problems in society. Unwanted pregnancy, communicable diseases, rape and abuse. Not to mention missing out on the joys of one of life’s most fulfilling experiences.

To put it another way, ‘innocent’ children become ignorant adults. And ignorant adults often go on to make more

Instead the Shadow Education Secretary is wasting his breath demanding teachers take a ‘Hippocratic’ oath pledging themselves to the ‘values of their profession’. Presumably he thinks this would root out all those teachers who are only in it for the megabucks salary and the golden Jacuzzis that Ofsted has noticed popping up in staff rooms. What planet is he on?

Not a year goes by without another politician being caught with his pants round his ankles in some compromising sexual situation…and I don’t care. What I care about is a good quality education policy.

But while young people are struggling to get quality information about an issue as important as sex, I’ve also got a new idea. I want politicians to take a pledge: to actually do what’s best for the education sector in this country. They could call it the Hypocritic Oath.

For details of Kate's upcoming shows and appearances – sign up to her mailing list at katesmurthwaite.co.uk

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Workload campaign paying off In late October the Government announced The Workload Challenge, a consultation exercise with all teachers in England, aimed at reducing unnecessary and unproductive workload.

The announcement follows an NUT survey that was sent to Union members, to help measure the true impact of workload on their lives. While it has long been known that teachers were working for more hours than are good for them, the results made for a shocking, sobering read. It is now clear that the teacher workload crisis is at breaking point.

It took less than a week for over 16,000 teachers to respond to the survey. Tasked with compiling the feedback and cataloguing individual accounts, Union officers were moved by the emotional and often traumatic tales being documented.

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One primary school teacher from Bexley told us: “I attended a friend’s retirement party where she apologised to her children for not being there for them growing up. That will not be me apologising to my child for putting others before him.”

While a secondary teacher from Hampshire simply wrote: “I love teaching, but it is breaking me.”

But while the individual accounts made for tough reading, it wasn’t until the survey responses were compiled that the full scope of the workload crisis became clear. Asked whether they had considered leaving the profession due to workload issues, some 90 per cent said they had. Similarly, 87 per cent also said that they know at least one teacher who has left their job in the last two years because of workload.

Primary teacher, Trafford

“I love teaching, but hate the system I teach in. I’m a good and well respected teacher, but I can’t keep living like this.

The moment I find the right opportunity, I will leave this uncaring, fear driven, life-drain that masquerades as a ‘profession’.”

‘I have three young boys who I barely spend time with anymore. Just writing that sentence upset me deeply.’

Workload campaign paying off

“I am fed up of seeing my colleagues near to breaking point, and there isn’t a week goes by where I don’t see someone crying.

This has to stop.”

Primary teacher, Bury

Secondary teacher, Suffolk

Over one third of respondents admitted to thinking about leaving teaching “fairly constantly”, with one in ten already actively seeking other jobs. The statistics show all too clearly that we cannot allow the workload crisis to continue if we want a schools system that is sufficiently staffed and which adequately serves our children.

Commenting on the NUT survey findings, General Secretary Christine Blower said: “The NUT survey made for utterly depressing reading and is a clear justification of the NUT’s continuing campaign on teacher workload. Anyone concerned about the education of our children will be alarmed at the low levels of morale and exhaustion within the profession.”

Worryingly, statistics from the survey would seem to support teacher supply expert John Howson’s claims that it is unlikely that any of the key subjects measured

by UCAS will meet their teacher training number targets for this year.

Turning her attention to the Government’s announcement of a workload consultation, Christine remarked: “The announcement of a consultation on teacher workload is welcome news and a testament to the NUT’s campaigning on this critical and central issue for teachers.

“Our own polling on workload shows that teachers are exhausted and have no time for a life outside of work or even enough time to prepare the exciting lessons they would like to teach. We are pleased that the Government is listening to us. We will need to see real and significant change. It is desperately needed.”

Workload is a critical issue for all teachers, and so we urge our members to use this opportunity to tell the Government how workload has affected you, and to demand change.

NUT workload survey findings: •

90% of teachers said they had considered giving up teaching during the last two years because of workload.

•

87% said they know one or more colleagues who had given up during the last two years because of workload.

•

96.5% said their workload had negative consequences for their family or personal life.

The consultation document can be found and completed at: surveymonkey.com/s/Workloadchallenge.

At its meeting on 23 October, the NUT Executive agreed to approach and press the Welsh Government to carry out a similar ‘Workload Challenge’ in relation to both Estyn and other accountability measures, including the Common Inspection Framework.

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International

l a n o i t a n r e Int

Supporting Gambian teachers The NUT has been working to support our counterpart, The Gambia Teachers’ Union (GTU), in developing its capacity to represent members.

At the request of Education International - the global teacher union federation – a number of areas for development were identified.

One such was the GTU’s need to form a robust collective bargaining structure with the Gambian Education Ministry. And who better to train them for the task ahead than the NUT. Despite some initial fears that the Ebola crisis might lead to postponement, the NUT ran a course for the GTU in early September, following its National Delegate Conference and election of a new Executive and President.

South West Regional Secretary Andy Woolley and International Relations Officer Samidha Garg delivered three days of training to officials and National Executive Members of the GTU, as well as holding informal discussions about their development of a regional structure and the Union’s highly successful credit union.

Initial work on grievance, disciplinary and dignity at work policies were also undertaken.

Andy Woolley explained: “Some of the issues facing our colleagues in The Gambia are different from ours, but many are the same including pay, class sizes and the need for more CPD. The Union is well led but lacked experience in some of these areas. On other issues like sexual harassment, a problem that has affected both women teachers and girl students, they have already done some excellent work with the Ministry to produce joint guidance.

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“We were encouraged by the number of women active at a senior level in the GTU and the way in which the different ethnic and religious groups work well together and cooperated to produce the outcomes we wanted.”

Participants appreciated the interactive style of the training and the fact that they were directly involved in developing their skills and planning for the future, an approach common to NUT courses in the UK but new to many of them. As one participant commented: “The activities were practically based, which gives everyone a chance of participation effectively.”

The GTU will now approach the Ministry of Education to set up a formal collective bargaining relationship and bring forward its items for discussion based on ideas developed at the course and in subsequent discussions at National Executive level.

Marie Antoinette Corr, General Secretary of the GTU said after the course: “I have acquired skills that support me and my team of staff, and tackle issues affecting the lives of our members in school collectively.”

The NUT continues to liaise with her and her Deputy Essa Sowe, who has previously spent time at NUT Headquarters working with Samidha Garg and studying how our organisation works.

“This work is something our Gambian colleagues can build on and we hope to continue to be of use to them,” she said. “Members who wish to support this work and our other international work can do so as the International Solidarity Officer for their Association or Division.”

Union pressure wins Ofsted concessions Ofsted is a major cause of excessive workload, stress and ill health for teachers. Among respondents to the Union’s recent workload survey, 62 per cent cited preparation for an Ofsted inspection as a source of unsustainable workload demands. One comment in particular summed up the feelings of many teachers: “Ofsted is coming, everyone is terrified.”

However, last month the Union secured a significant breakthrough in its talks with the Government on workload when NUT pressure resulted in Ofsted publishing an important statement clarifying what it does not expect teachers and schools to provide during or before an inspection. It should help to end activities that do not support teaching or learning and which are damaging teachers’ health and wellbeing.

In an email to schools about the document, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan stated that: “Teachers are best placed to make decisions about how and what they should teach; we trust them to exercise their professional judgement, and we want to free them up to focus on what matters in their jobs.”

The NUT will send your school representative ideas on how to translate this, to reduce workload in your school.

In further welcome news following consistent Union campaigning, Ofsted has announced that it is not planning to introduce routine no-notice inspections.

From September 2015, Ofsted is bringing back in-house numerous inspection services that are currently provided by inspection service providers (ISPs) CfBT, Serco and Tribal. This should reduce the potential for conflicts of interest, such as inspectors being employed by an academy chain or by the DfE as an academy broker.

New National Curriculum and assessment Ofsted says that: “Inspectors will pay even greater attention to the curriculum and comment in more detail on its effectiveness in the leadership and management section of the inspection report.”

On assessment, Ofsted say that inspectors should continue to use a range of evidence about pupil attainment and progress, and this will include – but should not be restricted to – statutory national test and public examination outcomes where appropriate.

Behaviour and safety According to Ofsted, inspectors are now paying greater attention to “…how well school leaders tackle lowlevel disruption and make sure that pupils’ conduct and attitudes to learning are good”.

In September it published a report entitled Below the radar: low level disruption in the country’s classrooms, suggesting that there was “casual acceptance of low level behaviour in schools”.

The Union rejected these remarks, saying class size, inappropriate curriculum, pressure to meet targets and the need to keep up with new initiatives all have an impact on behaviour.

A number of significant changes came into play on 1 September when the new school inspection framework took effect, including these below:

A key change is that schools with early years or post-16 provision will now have separate gradings for that provision. These form part of, and may impact upon, the overall judgement on a school.

The NUT argues that inspectors must have appropriate experience and expertise in those areas and school representatives will want to satisfy themselves on this point. Pen portraits, mini CVs for all HMI inspectors, can be found on the Ofsted website along with links to those for the Additional Inspectors (AIs) who are employed or contracted by the ISPs.

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Janine Wiedel/photfusion.org

Early years and sixth form provision

Ofsted concessions

Ofsted mythbusters Further Ofsted reform No sooner had the ink dried on the latest inspection framework than Ofsted published a new consultation document, Better inspection for all, outlining proposals for further reform from September 2015.

This proposes: “shorter but more frequent and more focused” inspections for ‘good’ schools and a common inspection framework that will “standardise the approach” to Ofsted inspections and be “adapted to suit nurseries, schools and colleges.”

The NUT will be responding to the consultation, which has a deadline of 5 December. Members wishing to do so can find the consultation document on the Ofsted website.

The Union also believes that there needs to be radical change to school inspection. The NUT is using its manifesto to campaign for a model based on professional trust and respect, which is developmental rather than punitive and which has school self-evaluation at its heart.

Remember, you can use action short of strike action at school level to ensure that what Ofsted has deemed not required, is an expected part of your workload.

Read the NUT’s EduFact on School inspection – why school self-evaluation is more effective at www.teachers.org.uk/edufacts and get parents and friends talking about the NUT’s manifesto.

On 17 October, Ofsted published a statement called Ofsted inspections – clarifications for schools, which included the following advice: Ofsted does not: • Require teachers or pupils to undertake additional work specifically for an inspection.

• Require schools to provide individual lesson plans (or previous lesson plans) to inspectors.

• Specify how planning should be set out, how long it should take, or the amount of detail it should contain.

• Award a grade for quality of teaching for any individual lessons visited.

• Expect schools to use the Ofsted evaluation schedule to grade teaching or individual lessons.

• Require schools to undertake a specified amount of lesson observation.

• Expect schools to provide specific details of the pay grade of individual teachers observed during inspection.

• Expect to see a particular frequency or quantity of work in pupils’ books or folders – this will often depend on pupils’ age and ability.

• Expect to see unnecessary or extensive written dialogue between teachers and pupils in exercise books and folders.

• Expect performance and pupil-tracking data to be presented in a particular format.

If your school is expecting an Ofsted inspection, don’t panic! The Union has new resources available at www.teachers.org.uk/educationand-equalities/ofsted. These include information on the latest Ofsted framework which took effect on 1 September along with an NUT Survival Guide which sets out practical advice for reps and members to minimise inspection stress and workload.

• Require schools to provide evidence for each teacher for each of the bulleted sub-headings in the Teacher Standards.

The full document is available on the Union’s website at: https://www.teachers.org.uk/ education-and-equalities/ofsted.

Nicky Morgan’s email to schools is available at: http://email.education.gov.uk/ rsps/wlnk/c/642/r/336599/e/709.

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n o i n U Your 100 years ago The Schoolmaster Nov 17 1914 Teachers as Drill Instructors “The Army Council have discovered the value of teachers’ services as drill instructors. Not only does the Army Council promise the rank of Corporal to approved teacher-recruits, but they also desire the services of teachers who have reached the years beyond enlistment age, and in connection with both matters they heartily commend the action of those Local Education Authorities who pay their teachers on military service the difference between their salaries as teachers and their army pay.”

The search for a long lost teacher Matt Potter is a journalist, author and broadcaster. Set to hit Waterstones this November, he has dedicated his new book to a very special long lost primary school teacher: “I was one of the first intake at a school called Lowbrook Primary School, now Lowbrook Academy, in Cox Green, Maidenhead, Berkshire, back in 1977/8. There was one teacher called Susan Evans, née Susan George, who inspired me personally a great deal: she once told me, when I was seven, that she bet I'd be a writer, and from that moment on, instead of wanting to be a spaceman or palaeontologist or footballer, I said I’d be a writer.

“The fact is, an amazing teacher can keep changing and shaping your life decades on. And if it happens to you, you don't forget them.”

Help us find the Susan Evans/George in this story, email teacher@nut.org.uk.

Stoke Rochford Hall Seasonal greetings from Stoke Rochford Hall. As the autumn nights draw in and half term already seems like a distant memory, your thoughts are bound to wander towards Christmas.

At Stoke Rochford Hall we’re delighted to offer everything from a seasonal lunch to a wonderful two-day Christmas break where you can relax whilst we do all the hard work.

We also have our traditional black tie New Year’s eve ball which includes a gala dinner, live music and a late supper of ‘haggis, neeps and tatties’ – what more could you want! www.stokerochfordhall.co.uk

Hands off Hove Park NUT members and parents are celebrating a landmark victory after governors at Hove Park School in Brighton & Hove voted not to convert the 1,600-pupil school into an academy, following a major campaign which included a one-day strike by NUT members.

The campaign was significant given that only three of Brighton and Hove’s seventy schools are academies and only one of those converted under this government.

Significant resources from within the school and from outside, including the DfE, were used to promote the conversion proposal.

Yet despite the odds a determined NUT group, parents, UNISON and others organised a highly effective campaign including demonstrations, lobbies, petitions and strike action against conversion.

Commenting on the campaign, Brighton NUT Secretary, Paul Shellard said: “Governing bodies are in a powerful position. It is impossible for them to ignore local feeling and concede to government pressure. The victory at Hove Park should boost our confidence, in this pre-election period, that democratic arguments and collective strength can win: creating a barrier against privatisation in the future”.

NUT supports the Winchester University Teaching Society This year’s Freshers’ Fair at Winchester was once again a great opportunity for the Student Teaching Society to recruit new members for their third successive year. Over 190 students signed up and will have the opportunity to attend talks, workshops and visits during the year.

The first meeting was addressed by NUT National Executive member Amanda Martin who explained the role the Union has in supporting education, international work and the active involvement of women and young members within the Union. @UoWTeachingSoci Facebook: Winchester University Teaching Society

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November / December 14 I The Teacher

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Clare being presented with her award by Stuart Williams

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NUT Wales Rep of the Year Clare Owen has been a teacher for 18 years and an NUT rep since 2009. This year she was awarded the NUT Wales Rep of The Year Award for her passion and dedication to achieving fair play for members.

A committed and vociferous rep, Clare worked tirelessly to support members through the traumatic and early closure of Llanrumney High School following an unprecedented decision by the former Minister for Education in Wales.

“We were put in special measures…but Leighton Andrews went above the LEA and said he was going to close the school completely. You can imagine the impact; people who were five years from the end of their careers were suddenly looking at no job prospects at all.

“We had children in Year 10 halfway through their exams…we had to move 80 odd kids in their GCSE year up to a brand new site with brand new kids.”

To make matters worse for Clare and her colleagues, not only were they given six months notice that the school was going to close and merge with Eastern High, but the decision itself was announced on Twitter before formal notification from Leighton Andrews or the LEA. “We had to ring the Welsh Office to have it confirmed. We couldn’t believe it.”

During both the long consultation process preceding the closure, and the redeployment itself, Clare was a central figure in consolidating staff issues and liaising with the division and LEA. “It was really scary at first...it was like a tidal wave of pressure…but I think it was such an exciting time to be part of the Union because the divisional secretary and all the people involved at the NUT Welsh office were so on board with how to sort this out and get the best for our members.”

In the space of the last year, Clare has managed to more than double the number of NUT members recruited. During the move to Eastern High in September 2013 every member of staff had to re-apply for their jobs and Clare asked the Union to provide interview training for those who were NUT members.

“Many people hadn’t had an interview in over a decade…it was so eye-opening and rewarding… everyone was like ‘where do I sign?’”

Teachers Assurance can help you save, invest, protect your home and family and plan for retirement. For details of their products, services and latest offers, visit www.teachersassurance.co.uk or freephone 0800 056 0563

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The GERM is spreading

M R E G e h T g n i d a e r p s is Since the early 1980s, the Global Education Reform Movement has spread throughout the world, manipulating the policy that governs our schools.

This month, Christine Blower of the NUT and Angelos Gavrielatos of the AEU discuss the problems of GERM. November / December 14 I The Teacher

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The rise of consumer education Christine Blower, NUT General Secretary What are the symptoms of the GERM? Finnish educationalist Pasi Sahlberg highlights the lurch towards standardised testing, test based accountability, performance related pay, competition between schools and – eventually – privatisation.

Looking around the world, education policy has been infected by this pernicious neo-liberal bug.

The post-war years witnessed many progressive advances within education and teaching: the introduction and expansion of comprehensive education, positive developments in teacher training and the flourishing of ‘child-centred’ pedagogy. Many of these advances were achieved in dialogue between the Government and teacher unions, in particular the NUT. However, by the late 1970s, under pressure from rightwing think tanks and politicians, the tide was beginning to turn. The dominant vision of education began to narrow in scope.

These moves culminated in the Education Reform Act (1988), introduced by the then Secretary of State Kenneth Baker. The ‘Baker Act’ opened the door to many of the changes that have affected teachers and children across the globe, and can be seen as the start of GERM.

When pupils become consumers The Education Reform Act had two apparently contradictory functions. It introduced, for the first time, a high degree of national centralisation over the curriculum and testing. Yet at the same time it devolved more decision-making powers to individual schools.

The logic that underpinned this move is a belief that market competition will improve educational outcomes and standards. This is perhaps the central tenet of GERM. To achieve the necessary market conditions, the monopoly of state school provision had to be broken.

Education policy began moving away from Local Authority maintained schools in England. So began the development of Grant Maintained Schools in the 1990s and, subsequently, academies and free schools in the 2000s. This was a global trend, as can be seen with the development of ‘Charter Schools’ in the US. As well as creating a multiplicity of competing providers, the logic of GERM demands that standardised measures are introduced so as to chart one school’s performance against another. These measures tend to focus upon quantitative outcomes, at various ‘key-stages’ in a child’s education – allowing schools to be ranked in league tables.

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In this system, schools that perform better, as measured by key standardised outcomes, will attract more ‘consumers’ – our children and parents. The lure of more consumers is designed to spur lower ranked schools to ‘improve’ their performance or risk punitive measures.

The impact of GERM One of the biggest worries for those who believe in a more expansive vision of education is that teachers will feel increasingly pressured to ‘teach to the test’ and focus upon areas that are measurable via key performance indicators, at the neglect of deeper learning outcomes.

This situation risks short-changing many children and de-professionalising teaching. Performance related pay compounds this, with teachers’ salaries hinging on ever narrowing targets. Teaching and learning should be collaborative efforts between teachers and children.

Yet PRP pits one teacher against another, just as the fragmentation of education service delivery has pit one school against another.

Perhaps the single biggest day-to-day impact felt by teachers under the yoke of GERM is increased workload, caused by the high stakes that testing and competition bring. Without the support of strong and proactive local authorities, many school leaders are now cast more as Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) than lead practitioners, having to deal with an increasing number of managerial issues, in an attempt to ensure that key performance indicators are satisfied.

In a system framed by high stakes test-based accountability, children are often drilled in how to get through examinations, at the expense of a wider educational experience. Children educated under the rubric of GERM are constantly measured and assessed, but not in a way that necessarily helps them develop as learners or people. Reading for pleasure out, literacy hour in, as it were. Recent research has shown that children in the UK are among the unhappiest in the developed world, often reporting high levels of stress.

Rhetoric, myth and reality GERM has an internal logic and provides a powerful narrative, but there is little evidence to support some of its key presuppositions. There is no evidence that the fragmentation of education service delivery improves education outcomes and even the OECD, which organises PISA, said in its latest report that ‘School choice and competition are not related to improved performance’. Indeed, there is an increasing body of research to suggest that competition and choice may actually lead to increased segregation in education.

TUC Education not for sale report, March 2014

Rather than standardised testing and punitive accountability regimes being seen as panaceas, the OECD says that: ‘School systems that grant more autonomy to schools to define and elaborate their curricula and assessments tend to perform better than systems that don’t grant such autonomy.’

GERM often portrays teachers as being self-interested and the biggest obstacle to education success; teachers are also seen as the single biggest factors in a child’s educational outcome. However, no matter how dedicated or skilled teachers are, there are some objective factors that impact on a child’s educational outcomes and life chances – for instance poverty and inequality.

Numerous studies show that the more equity there is in a society, the better the educational outcomes are for all children. However, many governments still fail to address the issue of social inequality head on. This has to be of concern, when 3.5m children in the UK live in poverty, and when we live in a more unequal society today than at any point in the past hundred years.

In whose interest?

If GERM is based more upon rhetoric and myth than research or evidence, then why has it taken such a hold over various governments and education systems?

Clearly, many proponents of the GERM are genuinely committed to it as a means of improving educational outcomes. An important factor, however, in understanding both the durability and spread of the GERM is the role of ‘edu-business’ in its promotion.

The link between big business and GERM is perhaps most clearly visible in the Global South, where organisations such as GEMS and Pearson make direct profit from providing ‘low cost, fee paying’ schooling. In many areas of the globe, private corporations have directly replaced the state in providing education.

In the Global North, the relationship between the GERM and edu-business may be subtler, but is no less pernicious.

Edu-business has been central in lobbying governments for greater competition between schools and the deepening of standardised testing. This is because there is money to be made in the development and assessment of testing, not to mention the development of curricula and books suited to passing these tests. Then there is the development of software to track test performances and a host of other related materials.

The GERM is spreading

Between May 2010 and December 2013, the DfE paid £76.7m to 14 private companies providing legal, accountancy, management consultancy and property service support for the academies and free schools schemes.

To give a sense of the scale we need only note that Pearson’s global education revenues in 2003 totalled $7.3b; or, we could repeat what Rupert Murdoch said in 2010: ‘When it comes to education, we see a $500b sector in the US alone.’

Stand Up For Education: countering the GERM As our election manifesto demonstrates, the NUT has an expansive and positive vision for education: a vision that values each and every child. We see teaching as helping students develop into ethically responsible members of society, providing them with the knowledge and skills needed for life.

We see child poverty as a scourge that blights and shames society, and which, unless addressed will limit the life chances of many.

We see the fragmentation of education delivery, the introduction of PRP, and other forms of competition, as standing against the collaboration we all know is at the heart of the education process.

We want to see a curriculum fit for the 21st century: a curriculum that flows from a serious and ongoing dialogue between the profession and government.

We also want to see new methods of accountability, which improve teaching and learning, in a constructive, not punitive manner.

In short, we are against the Global Education Reform Movement.

We think that many parents and others with an interest in education agree with us. This is why the NUT launched its Stand Up for Education campaign. We think it is necessary to reach out and engage with allies to advance an alternative vision of education to that posited by Rupert Murdoch and other figures within edu-business.

An ongoing coalition of teachers, parents, education academics and others can be a powerful force in pressurising politicians to deliver the education service that our children deserve. We have already seen the Government begin to move on some key issues, notably teacher workload, but the change we want will necessitate a longer term strategy.

The NUT’s Stand Up for Education campaign gives us this opportunity.

For more information on GERM, its symptoms and the real affects it is having on schools across the world, please visit: http://www.teachers.org.uk/edufacts/germ

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Angelo Gavrielatos, Federal President, Australian Education Union As teacher unionists we are driven by the fundamental belief in the transformative power of education and what it means to each individual child and the global village in which we live.

A public school, free and universally accessible in every community, which would set the standard for high quality education as equity in the provision of education could only be achieved if public schools set that standard.

Of course that means that public schools would need to be adequately and appropriately resourced to deliver, with qualified and well supported teachers in every classroom, a rigorous, rich and rewarding curriculum to provide every child with the opportunity to achieve his/her full potential.

Unfortunately, this ideal is under greater threat today than it has ever been.

The greatest threat to high quality education for all, is the continuing push for the commodification, marketisation and ultimately the privatisation of education.

The market now seems to dominate all aspects of life with boundaries between public and private breaking down. Around the globe there is an accelerating use of market mechanisms to drive social policy.

Schooling, which once appeared to be one area that may have been immune from this, is now under considerable threat.

The Global Education Reform Movement is now largely controlled by the corporate world with deep connections to conservative politicians. We are now seeing across the world the growth in ‘edu-businesses’ that have enormous power and influence. We should all be deeply concerned by this agenda and the threat of privatisation.

We are already seeing the effects of this agenda with the breakup of traditional school systems such as the growth in Charter Schools in the US, Free Schools in Sweden, academies in the UK and more recently Partnership Schools in New Zealand. Worse still, we are seeing the emergence and spread of ‘for-profit’ schools.

Advocates of privatisation argue that applying the freemarket principles of choice and competition to the running of schools will drive standards up across the system. The argument goes something like this: removing schools from state control and transferring public funds to private organisations to run them, will see their results improve and compel state schools to work harder to keep up with them.

However, this is demonstrably not true. Even the OECD warns against applying market mechanisms to the provision of schooling arguing that it leads to a growing segregation of students and has a negative impact on educational outcomes.

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November / December 14 I The Teacher

Justin Tallis

The GERM is spreading

The global threat

We are at a pivotal time for the future of education. We must not let quality public education slip away as a top priority for governments. It is our job to keep pressing the core message that without properly resourced high quality education for all, society will be fundamentally damaged. We must create a new narrative articulating again why public education has such an important role in each of our societies and why it cannot be outsourced to the private sector. We must make it clear to our political leaders that the commercialisation and privatisation of education is not the answer.

It is truly alarming to hear people at the World Bank claiming that low fee, for profit education will help poor countries achieve their EFA targets. Are they really suggesting that charging fees will increase access and opportunity for all? Are they really suggesting that the poor must choose between feeding their children, giving them medication or sending them to school?

That is immoral. We are about removing barriers, not inventing new ones.

However, we can’t do it alone. The global political landscape requires us to engage in a new deeper strategic analysis of what needs to be done if we are to resist and more importantly reverse current trends. We are dealing with global players the size of which and reach of which we could not have predicted some years ago. And we, the teacher union movement, are in its sights. This is because we remain the last barrier, the last obstacle between global capital and its desired unfettered access to the limitless, sustainable resource of children and their education.

In recognition of this reality we need to commit to a new style of unionism. Social movement unionism of which Chrisine Blower spoke at the NUT conference 2014. We need to reach out and build community alliances in a way we have never done before. We need to build alliances with parents and the broader community.

There is no more natural alliance than the one that can and should exist between parents and teachers.

But of course we need to reach further and deeper than that. We need to build closer alliances with the broader union movement, given that all workers are feeling the negative impact of global capital and its desire to redefine and reduce employment standards and conditions.

We need a new style of ‘doing business’. More of the same will not deliver us success. We can continue to organise campaigns and protest or we can build a movement to protest and win!

Endorsed by the

Season’s Greetings from Teachers Assurance Our warmest wishes to all NUT members this winter A message from your General Secretary

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A big thank you from Teachers Assurance This winter, we’d like to take the opportunity to thank the NUT and all Union members for their custom and continued support.

As we enter our 138th year of working alongside the Union, we %,-" 1, -/,3&!" Ɯ + + & ) &+#,/* 1&,+Ǿ "!2 1&,+ +! 02--,/1 to many more NUT members.

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For now, we hope you have a wonderful festive season and look forward to helping you in the near future. *Our savings and investments are stock market linked so their value can go down as well as up. If cashed in early, any guarantee does not apply and you may not get back what you paid in. Tax rules may change and depend on individual &/ 2*01 + "0ǽ +Ɲ 1&,+ 4&)) /"!2 " 4% 1 6,2 + 26 4&1% 6,2/ *,+"6 &+ 1%" #212/"ǽ % /$"0 --)6ǽ Call

0800 056 0563 or visit teachersassurance.co.uk

We’re here 8.30am – 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am - 4pm Saturday The National Union of Teachers is an introducer appointed representative of Teachers Assurance. Teachers Assurance is a trading name of Teachers Provident Society Limited (TPS), an incorporated friendly society No. 372F. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation 21%,/&16Ǿ "+1"/"! ,+ 1%" &+ + & ) "/3& "0 /"$&01"/ +,ǽ ǖǖǕǕǕǞǽ "$&01"/"! &+ +$) +! +! )"0ǽ "$&01"/"! ƛ & "ǿ /&+$% * ,20"Ǿ " +0)"&$% , !Ǿ ,2/+"*,21%Ǿ ǜ ǜ ǽ

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Jess Hurd

Party conferences

During September and October the UK’s major political parties held their last conferences before the general election – and the NUT made sure it had a high-profile presence at them all.

NUT exhibition stands were a colourful showcase for the Stand Up for Education election manifesto.

Thousands of copies were handed out to Labour and Conservative conference delegates, thanks to the help of activists in Manchester and Birmingham respectively.

Elsewhere, Education Question Time events were held in association with

Standing Up for Education at the party conferences ATL at the three largest conferences.

Speakers included the Shadow Schools Minister, Kevin Brennan MP at the Labour Conference, Education Minister Sam Gyimah MP at the Conservative Conference and the Schools Minister David Laws MP at the Liberal Democrat Conference. Also on the panel were representatives from the NUS, Local Government Association and the CBI. Across the conferences, General Secretary Christine Blower praised NUT campaigning for putting teacher workload on the agenda and highlighted some of the useless and counterproductive tasks teachers are expected to do. While teaching was “still a wonderful job” some of the joy was being ‘leached out of it’.

Christine said Ofsted was a tarnished brand and it had to go. She also implored politicians to talk up the successes of our comprehensive school system.

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November / December 14 I The Teacher

Echoing the NUT’s stance, the ATL’s Mary Bousted described Ofsted as: “A busted flush that’s not fit for purpose.” She also said that politicians would do well to remember that: “No government will get the education system they want unless they take better care of the teaching profession.”

would continue to lose good and well-qualified teachers.

In some welcome remarks, the Deputy Director General of the CBI Katja Hall said: “Many teachers do well despite the system. They are rebels. Teachers require freedom, autonomy and trust.”

A well attended fringe meeting was organised by the Union at the Green Party conference in Birmingham, at which the Green Party leader Natalie Bennett spoke alongside Max Hyde.

Throughout conference season we welcomed hundreds of delegates and politicians to our fish and chip supper receptions. Music for Youth arranged for young musicians to perform at each event – providing the perfect atmosphere for interested parties to mingle and share ideas.

Speaking at the Liberal Democrat event, President Max Hyde said it was shocking to find our country towards the bottom of league tables when it comes to child happiness. She also referred to the response of NUT members to the recent workload survey and called on her fellow panellist David Laws to take action.

If ministers failed to act, the profession

Our presence at conferences has shown that politicians, party members and the public are willing to hear our suggestions for a better education system – and are often surprised by their impact. Now we must continue taking our message to all who’ll listen in order to put education high on the agenda in the lead up to the general election 2015.

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n o i n U e h t Ask Q

I’ve heard that the Government is thinking about introducing compulsory setting and streaming in secondary schools. Could this happen?

Although Education Secretary Nicky Morgan denied this, it is believed that the Conservatives may pursue the policy if re-elected. Setting has a number of high profile supporters including the current head of Ofsted Sir Michael Wilshaw and Prime Minister David Cameron.

A

Elyssa Campbell-Barr

One might ask, does setting and streaming raise outcomes? Routine setting can undermine the confidence of pupils with lower attainment and discourage the belief that they can improve through effort.

Ability grouping can also have a negative effect on the attitudes and engagement of lower attaining pupils.

The Education Endowment Foundation’s (EEF’s) summary of research on the impact of ability setting states that it “does not appear to be an effective strategy for raising the attainment of disadvantaged pupils.”

UK schools already employ setting to a far greater extent than many other countries. Only six per cent of pupils in the UK were not “grouped by ability within their maths classes” according to the latest international PISA study on educational outcomes

34

November / December 14 I The Teacher

in OECD countries. In South Korea it is just 28 per cent and in Japan, it is 54 per cent. Both countries were ranked higher in the last PISA tests in maths than the UK. Poland has improved steadily in maths over the last decade but is

reducing the amount of setting by ability for secondary pupils.

The NUT’s Edufact has further information on setting and streaming: https://www.teachers.org.uk/ edufacts/setting-and-streaming.

Ask the Union I’m an elected staff governor at my school. At present, we have ten governors in total.

There are rumours circulating that we must reduce our number to seven by next September and that some of us will have to resign if we do not have ‘the right skills’.

Is this true?

Q

No, it isn’t. It is true that the Government has introduced legislation that requires governing bodies to be no smaller than seven, but there is no upper limit on their size.

Your governing body is not required to downsize by September 2015 if it does not wish to do so.

A

It is also untrue that governors without ‘the right skills’ must resign. Elected governors cannot be forced to resign.

Since coming into office, the Government has sought to promote the idea of ‘smaller’, ‘cohesive’ and ‘dynamic’ governing bodies, populated by professionals with ‘business skills’. However, this policy aim cannot be imposed through legislation. Despite the recent letter to every Director of Children’s Services by the Minister of Schools, Lord Nash, effectively urging them to pursue the Government’s agenda on this, it is for school communities to decide for themselves who is best able to serve the needs of their pupils.

The NUT is urging its members and, in particular, staff governors to raise the following points

whenever proposals are made to downsize their school governing body or to replace valued and respected governors on spurious grounds: • Smaller governing bodies are not necessarily more cohesive and dynamic • Smaller governing bodies may exclude important sections of the school community • Governing bodies should reflect, as much as possible, the socio-economic make-up of the communities they serve • Governing bodies that do not wish to downsize (and value all their present governors) are not required to do so.

For further guidance, please visit the NUT website at: www.teachers.org.uk/node/22222.

I am shortly due to hear about my pay progression from September – what support can NUT offer if I am turned down?

Q

As you know, pay decisions for September 2014 will be taken under the new system linking all progression to appraisal and to progression criteria set by the school.

A

You should hear at your appraisal review or shortly afterwards whether your reviewer is going to recommend progression. If there is any suggestion that you won’t progress, the first thing to do is to read the NUT guidance at www.teachers.org.uk/paytoolkit.

This gives advice on challenging most, if not all, of the most likely grounds for trying to deny progression. It also looks at the DfE’s advice, including the important ‘no surprises’ principle that says that any concerns should have been raised during the appraisal cycle and opportunities given to improve.

Then check, via your NUT representative if possible, whether the school is following the DfE’s advice that teachers facing denial of progression should be allowed to put their case to governors at the meeting where the decision is to be taken – not just afterwards at an appeal hearing. The NUT has called on all schools to adopt this.

Then, discuss with your NUT representative how you might challenge the decision.

Finally, however, don’t look at this as an individual issue facing you alone. The NUT is keen for school groups to act collectively in challenging unfair decisions and unfair criteria – things will get progressively worse over time if we don’t overcome unfair decisions in this first year of the new system.

The local NUT will be happy to get involved if you and your members want to act together to protect all teachers’ pay.

Send your questions to: Ask the Union, The Teacher, NUT, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD or email teacher@nut.org.uk.

Please note that any questions relating to personal problems or specific workplace situations should be directed to your NUT rep, or division/ association – find details at www.teachers.org.uk/contactus.

November / December 14 I The Teacher

35

Celebrating experience Over recent years, NUT members have noticed an increasing trend of experienced teachers being pushed towards early retirement.

At the 2014 annual conference, speaking on a motion to defend experienced teachers from being targeted, one member remarked: “There is a regular and systematic cull of older women teachers that has to stop.”

In this era of budget cuts, the Government’s recent changes to appraisal and capability procedures mean that schools now wield a double power that is being used to target experienced teachers, who are more likely to be unionised and paid on the upper pay scale.

In a 2013 survey, it was noted that some 76.2 per cent of NUT divisions’ capability casework was on behalf of women teachers over 50. With all this in mind, we at the Teacher decided to speak to senior and new teachers alike to find out why they think this is happening and to celebrate the advantages that experienced teachers bring to a school.

The Experienced Teacher Greg Jones has been teaching for 36 years.

During his time in education he has held many roles in the NUT and seen even more changes to the profession.

“As a young and inexperienced teacher, I learnt most of what I needed to teach from the knowledge and experience of the older teachers in the department.

“When I first taught ‘A’ Level Physics, my best resource was not the course book and teacher’s guide but the ex-Head of Physics, who taught a parallel group of students.

“In some schools older teachers are valued, not only by their fellow, younger, teachers but also by the Senior Leadership Team (SLT). But in many schools, I believe that they are thought of as expensive, as a thorn in the side of SLT or as not being adaptable enough. As a Division Casework Officer, most of my caseload is dealing with older, experienced teachers on improvement plans (usually as a result of an Ofsted inspection or a Performance Management Review Cycle), which in most cases leads to capability procedures being invoked. I believe these procedures are detrimental to teachers. They will often choose to leave the school rather than go down the capability route because it could result in the teacher facing the prospect of dismissal.

Roy Peters/reportdigital.co.uk

“Teaching is now so different from when I started back in 1978. Back then, the school curriculum was up to the school to choose. Although there was a syllabus, it was not prescriptive. Consequently, teachers had much more autonomy in terms of the delivery of their subject in their classroom (or, in my case, science lab). They could decide what was taught, how long for and in a way that they chose.

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November / December 14 I The Teacher

“To me, it is amazing how much teaching has changed in only a couple of decades. I worry that the rate of change will increase further over the next decade or so, and that many current teachers will leave the profession because of it. If we think we have a teacher shortage now, just imagine what it’ll be like then!”

Celebrating experience

The Younger Teachers It’s not just experienced teachers who are unhappy about the way they are being treated. We hear from a group of young teachers who have all come forward to tell us about the experienced teachers that have helped them.

Kristian Jones is in his fourth year of teaching at Shoeburyness High School and is NUT Young Teachers’ Officer for Southend.

“Unfortunately I know someone going through capability procedure and I’ve seen first hand how it’s affecting her, she’s in her 50s and I think it’s wholly unfair the way she’s been treated.

"She’s not incapable but the school seems to be treating her like that. It’s a very sad situation.

“I’ve even had a member of staff on capability literally walk up to me, hold on to me crying her eyes out saying ‘I don’t know what I’m doing wrong’. She’s bawling her eyes out and she doesn’t know what’s happening and the school is not really saying much to her. It’s horrible.

"It’s hard to put your finger on what the main issue is and it just seems that because they’re older it’s like ‘we’ll pick on them’. It’s a kind of ‘out with the old in with the new’ attitude.

It's weird.”

Laura Chisholm is a science teacher in her 6th year of teaching. She is the Young Teachers’ Officer for Portsmouth Division, and she also represents the south east at the Young Teachers’ Advisory Committee: “People say that your experiences shape the person you become, in teaching I would argue that your contact with experienced teachers shape your teaching.

“My current head of department is an inspirational leader…with her experience and expertise and understanding of pedagogy we always feel reassured that tasks are manageable and can be completed to the high quality that our students deserve.

Capability procedures are a terrible pressure for any teacher in any stage of their career. The pressure can destroy a teacher’s confidence and affects their health and home life.”

Laura Jane Fisher is Head of Drama at Horbury Academy in Wakefield. She is the Young Teachers’ officer for Yorkshire and Midlands.

“To put it simply, those who have done it longer have seen more and know more.

There is rarely a situation that arises that they have not experienced and that’s very comforting.

“The best thing I have learnt from an experienced teacher was as a very young teacher; I was talking about how I was struggling with my marking of papers.

He asked how long it was taking me and I said about an hour per paper. He sat down with one of them and asked me to time him. It took him nine minutes and it was better than mine. When I asked him ‘how?’ he said ‘experience’!

“I fear that the current use of capability procedures shows that our schools and academies would rather have cheap staff than expensive experienced staff.

This is terrifying; if we lose experienced teachers who teaches the new ones… they are worth every penny.

“Teaching is a collaborative profession. Drama GCSE needs English. PE needs Biology. New teachers need experienced ones.“

The NUT believes that experienced teachers are an invaluable asset to schools, students and staff, and we will continue to bring to the forefront the injustices suffered at the hands of school management, government policy and budget cuts. If you are undergoing capability procedure, please make sure to contact your local rep and NUT division/association who can provide you with support and guidance at this difficult time.

November / December 14 I The Teacher

37

Reviews

s w e i Rev For pupils Jewelling the dragon In the sixth installment of this series, our heroine Tia is on her final quest to recover jewels stolen by the evil High Witches. Tia, kidnapped as a child and brought up by dragons, has made a vow to return the Dragon Queen’s jewel necklace. Tia must overcome challenges and dangers before realising that her enemy is the one person who can help her. When everything is satisfactorily tied up at the end we are left with a teaser: what’s become of Tia’s father?

Sian Collinson

Lumps and bumps Factual, with a nononsense style that does not avoid any aspect of sexuality for the developing young person. Many areas that might be seen as sensitive or embarrassing are covered in a language to appeal and aid understanding, including: periods, spots, masturbation, orgasms, pornography, contraception, abstinence, kissing, love, circumcision, penis size, tampons, and much more.

This is a quality book that deserves a place in the educational library and the developing PSHE curriculum.

Len Parkyn

Dragon Child – The Pearl Quest by Gill Vickery A&C Black. p/b. £4.99.

Does This Happen to Everyone? A Budding Adult’s Guide To Puberty by Jan von Holleben & Antje Helms. Little Gestalten. h/b. £16.95.

Lobster tales Subtitled ‘a socially awkward love story’ this book will touch readers’ hearts. The authors use the conceit of shifting between the characters of Sam and Hannah throughout each chapter.

This enables you to really empathise with their awkwardness as they wonder if the other is the one, whilst dealing with interfering friends, fears and misunderstandings.

Perfect read for students who’ve finished their exams and are about to head off to university. The story feels realistic, full of believable characters and situations, funny, touching and well worth a read.

Lee Ryder Lobsters by Tom Ellen & Lucy Ivison.

The Chicken House. p/b. £7.99.

s For teacher

Count on me Maths disabilities are demythologised in this informative, constructive and very funny publication.

Coping mechanisms, advice to parents and ‘symptoms’ are presented.

Of particular worth and use are sections on testing for dyscalculia and teaching dyscalculics.

Similar and related disabilities are explored and explained.

Written by an academic who benefits from this condition it provides an insight into those who do not fully understand the ‘numbers game’.

LP It Just Doesn’t Add Up: Explaining Dyscalculia and Overcoming Number Problems for Children and Adults by Paul Moorcraft. Filament Publishing Ltd. £9:64.

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November / December 14 I The Teacher

Roll with the trolls This scholarly book is full of intelligent perspectives that bring welcome re-assurance and real life insight into how schools can navigate the social challenges children face. Englander weighs up the effects of “every snicker” and “rolled eye” in the wider landscape of sexting and digital self-harm.

This is a systematic and lucid analysis of the psychology of fear and resilience in children and how new non-adult spaces generate genuine problems for schools.

The most pragmatic strand explores how leaders respond effectively to prevent bullying within the changing nature of parental relationships.

Nick Soar Bullying and Cyberbullying – what every educator needs to know by Elizabeth Kandel Englander.

Harvard Education Press. p/b. £17.73.

In a flash This Orwellian slice of fiction is exciting and thrilling.

Set in London in the near future this novel takes the contemporary fear of living with terrorism and places it at the heart of a fascinating story.

Charlie’s life is changed forever by a terrorist’s bomb but some time later she finds herself drawn to Nat. But he seems to know something about the attack and she finds herself having to make some difficult choices.

Fast paced and clever cutting between the protagonists mean that your loyalties and opinions are constantly being tested.

LR Split Second by Sophie McKenzie. Simon & Schuster. p/b. £6.99.

INSPIRING A LOVE OF READING IN SCHOOLS AND AT HOME

CREATIVITY IN THE NEW PRIMARY CURRICULUM Innovative, practical approaches to teaching reading and writing through the study of animals with Pie Corbett

Who is

What’s it

What

Pie Corbett?

all about?

will we do?

An outstanding educational writer and poet, he is renowned for his creative approaches in the classroom. He regularly lectures on education worldwide

These new creative training and conference events will look at ideas to help you to support pupils, drive up standards, support aspiration and raise attainment levels

The Pie Corbett at ZSL London Zoo event will focus on developing reading and writing through animal observation using a range of teaching strategies and genre

More details at Jubileebooks.co.uk Book now to avoid disappointment!

BOOKING FORM

PIE CORBETT AT ZSL LONDON ZOO – 5TH FEBRUARY 2015 £199.00 + VAT includes lunch & refreshments Group booking over 5 delegates receive a 10% discount.

Please return to: Events Coordinator, Jubilee Books, 31a Vanbrugh Park, Blackheath, London, SE3 7AE T. (020) 8293 6060 or (020) 8265 4645 F. (020) 8465 5111 Email: eddie.burnett@jubileebooks.co.uk A confirmation invoice will be sent to the email address submitted on this form.

Fees can only be reimbursed upon receipt of written/emailed cancellation notice at least four weeks before event.

Zoo booking deadline: 22nd January 2015

Image: ZSL London Zoo

ZSL London Zoo: Tues 5th Feb 2015

Cut her free from sexual exploitation

Help cut children free from sexual exploitation.

Be aware of the signs. www.barnardos.org.uk/ cutthemfree

Barnardo’s Registered Charity Nos. 216250 and SC037605

14148ka11

John Sturrock/reportdigital.co.uk

The enemy within Still The Enemy Within is a new, award-winning documentary that gives a unique insight into one of history’s most dramatic events: the 1984-85 British Miners’ Strike.

The film is being screened in over 50 venues between October and November, with the support of over 140 union branches and 9 national trade unions, including the NUT. • To book screenings in your area visit: http://the-enemy-within.org.uk/ events.

21st Century creative learning The Barbican and Guildhall school have collaborated to announce a new manifesto to help young people find their creative voice. The new programme will provide arts training for over 10,000 young people by 2020, over 50,000 affordable tickets for 16-25 year olds every year at the Barbican and inspirational arts experiences for every 8-16 year old in east London by 2020.

• For more information visit: www.barbican.org.uk/ education/home.

ies Opportunit Read all about it!

The Journalism Diversity Fund is looking for students from socially and ethnically diverse backgrounds, that need help funding their journalism training. Bursaries are on offer for those with the potential to succeed in one of the most exciting and rewarding careers around.

• For more information visit: www.journalismdiversityfund.com.

Show me Anra Museums and GEM (the Group for Education in Museums) have created a new website that aims to inspire children to discover museums and learn about history in a fun and engaging way.

• Join in at: www.show.me.uk.

ns Competitio Win solar panels for your school Friends of the Earth’s major new campaign, Run on Sun, aims to make it easier for schools to install solar panels. The charity has launched a competition for primary schools to win a set of solar panels, crowd-funded by Friends of the Earth supporters.

• To enter: https://www.foe.co.uk/page/ win-set-solar-panels-your-school.

Get creative Amnesty International encourages all young people across the UK to celebrate their creativity in human rights writing, photography, campaigning, fundraising, singing and song-writing by entering its 2015 Youth Awards.

• The deadline is 30 January. www.amnesty.org.uk/youthawards.

Resources ‘appy planning A school diary app, written by Chris Hall, allows children to check their timetable, record their homework, and plan for revision. It’s great for parental engagement and can also be used as an effective online planner for teachers.

• For more information visit: www.schooldiary.it.

Carols in a Box Hoping to put on a carol concert or carol service this Christmas? ‘Carols in a Box’ is the complete resource for putting on a carol concert or service.

Lyrics, teachers’ tips and beautiful piano accompaniments are included to support learning in the classroom and accompany carol singing in concerts.

• For more information visit: www.inaboxproductions.co.uk.

Uniting in song The General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) has released a new collection of songs that form a history of dissent, collaboration and the collective drive for social justice. ‘Voice & Vision’ is a double CD set of music and words that speak across generations and boundaries of the basic human right to dignity.

• Voice & Vision, Topic Records.

Cecilia Costello

Events

Noticeboard

d r a o b e c i t o N

November / December 14 I The Teacher

41

DO WE NEED TO SPELL IT OUT? Saving a life can be as easy as ABC. You can make sure your pupils know what to do in a crisis.

Sign up now to keep first aid on the national curriculum at redcross.org.uk/pupilcitizenlifesaver

Learning with the NUT

Learning with the NUT in 2015 CPD Principles

Our new course guide outlining the Union’s learning programme for 2015 will be available soon and be sent to your NUT representative.

Details of all our courses can be found at www.teachers.org.uk/courses.

• Focused on pupil’s learning • Collaborative • Led by teachers • Sustained • Involves external expert input

CPD

Our programme for 2015 features courses for teachers, local NUT officers and representatives.

Organising Principles

Our courses for teachers are designed to combine practical support in the classroom with NUT principles and the latest evidence from research. Our new to teaching programme features courses for students to prepare you for your career, a summer workshop for newly qualified teachers and our Start Right programme – both designed to get you ready for your first term, and our innovative Positive Classroom Strategies programme which helps new teachers focus on behaviour management and classroom strategies.

• Collective voice • Member led • Issue based • Democratic

As one of the largest trade unions for heads and deputies, we have a full programme for school leaders including our annual Leadership Convention, our annual SEND Conference, as well as our Leading for Behaviour and Aspiring to Leadership, and Equal Access to Promotion courses – both aimed at black teachers wanting to move into leadership.

We believe that creativity is vital for teachers and children and we have developed a full programme for teachers including Ways into Shakespeare (working with colleagues from Shakespeare’s Globe across the country – see our Out and About page for more details), Using Film in the Classroom (working in partnership with INTOFilm), Reading for Pleasure with children’s author Alan Gibbons and our long standing partnership with Music for Youth.

Our NUT representatives are the heart of the Union.

To reflect the changing demands on NUT reps we have completely redesigned our training programme.

All NUT reps will be able to access a full ten day entitlement during 2015 – this could be completed within a year or reps could take longer as their circumstances allow.

NUT Principles • Equality • Inclusion • Social justice • Internationalism • High-quality education for all

Starting with a three day foundation course, NUT reps will focus on understanding their role in the workplace, building the presence of the NUT, representing members individually and collectively, understanding the nature of the current attack on education and teachers, and identifying where to find support.

All NUT reps’ courses are delivered locally by our regional offices and NUT Cymru so they are close to where you live and work. For more information, go to www.teachers.org.uk/nutreps.

We also have specialised courses for NUT officers in such areas as treasury, equality and health and safety.

For more information on any of our Union Learning programmes, go to www.teachers.org.uk/courses or talk to your NUT rep or NUT learning rep.

If you don’t have a rep in your workplace why not consider volunteering? www.teachers.org.uk/getinvolved

November / December 14 I The Teacher

43

m o o r f f l a i t n e d Sta i f con Reader’s Rant:

s p i t ’ s r e h c Tea As the end of the first term of our Year of the Curriculum Campaign draws to a close, we asked teachers for tips on designing their own curriculum.

How did I learn?

Think back to your most memorable learning experiences as a child and then try to recreate them for your students. I remember a game my primary school teacher used to play with us to learn about morals and ethics, I now play it with my kids and they love it.

Aims and values At our school we had a large A3 piece of blank paper up in our staff room where staff could write down what they thought our students needed to be equipped for life. By the end of a fortnight the page was full and we had a great base of aims and values from which to work.

Include the stakeholders Hold consultations events for school stakeholders. In our school, parents, governors, teachers and employers came to an evening event where we were organised into mixed groups to discuss different aspects of the curriculum and what we wanted/needed from the school. It was a great fun and a great way for everyone to get involved.

We are looking for teachers’ tips for how to manage the use of mobile phones in your classroom.

Send your advice by 1 December 2014 to teacher@nut.org.uk.

44

November / December 14 I The Teacher

Supply but no demand A fairer deal for supply teachers is essential, but first the famine needs to end. After all it doesn’t matter, if after campaigning, how wonderful the rates and conditions are if the work is non-existent.

Term has started. Some teachers will be excited, other staff may be groaning at the thought of planning, marking and adjusting to a new curriculum. Tiredness will be beginning to creep in, due to the heavy workload and day-to-day dramas in the classroom setting. In the midst of chaos, spare a thought for the humble supply teacher waiting in the wings for the fun to start.

There was a time when being a supply teacher was considered a valuable job, providing much needed cover in schools requiring a qualified professional to deliver lessons. Times have changed with a vengeance.

Sadly, the famine has begun. I am lucky enough to still belong to a council run supply agency so I have a fairer deal than people who rely purely on agency work without pension rights or being paid according to their experience, but without work the rights are futile.

The wait is crushing me. I am proactive, ringing up the agency, knowing I am one of many asking about work, but not being offered anything.

When I telephone, I can sense the agent’s anxiety.

“Sorry, nothing’s come in.” There is regret in her voice, “Keep ringing and we’ll contact you should something arise.”

Budget cuts, council cuts – people are running scared for their jobs. There’s the threat that the town’s agency might not survive, especially competing with cut throat private agencies who don’t offer the same customer care for those on their books who are a commodity.

I am left wondering how long this will last. Do I search for alternative work or remain hopeful? I’m supply, but there’s no demand.

Name and email supplied.

We also suggest that you consult with the NUT if facing these issues. Go to www.teachers.org.uk for more information.

Look out for our report on the supply teacher lobby in out next edition.

Staffroom Michael confidential Rosen

Education ping pong A poem by Michael Rosen. Illustrated by Dan Berry.

Welcome to the new season of education ping-pong played by politicians who are never wrong.

They come to the table with speeches and plans whipping up support from their avid fans, hoping that voters are simple-minded creatures who think it’s good to have a go at teachers.

In the blue corner we have Cameron and the Tories who can’t stop themselves telling the usual stories about standards and failure – it’s always the same forever saying that it’s teachers to blame... even though teachers do what politicians command they teach the curricula the politicians demand working in the schools that the politicians create whether it’s a system teachers love or hate.

In time for the election, Cameron (such a creative bloke), is going to play ping-pong with a brand new stroke: It’s “Advisory Teachers”, a Conservative invention – though I have to say, I feel bound to mention it was a system much used throughout the ILEA a local authority which, as was their way, the Tories abolished, because it got nothing right, apart from this system, nicked for the election fight.

Yes, ‘tis the season of education ping-pong played by politicians who are never wrong.

But if you’re thinking this is just a political stunt then surely we’ll do better with Tristram Hunt, a man of learning who’s studied the radical tradition – after who came before, he’s a welcome addition...

He’ll know his job description is far too autocratic he’ll know running education must be democratic From everything we’ve read in the papers about him he’ll say education can’t be his personal whim.

So we waited with excitement for Hunt to serve in the face of the Mail, he would hold his nerve he would say education was too important a matter to be left to politicians and Westminster chatter he would say that teachers need to have a role in shaping schools and education as a whole he would know that it’s not his job to preach he’d know that his job is to help teachers teach.

Surely it would be one of his firm intentions to talk of salary and teachers’ pensions?

And come on, surely our Tristram Hunt would say he was ending Performance Related Pay? He raised his bat, would he spin, smash or both?

To everyone’s amazement he uttered an oath.

Not an imprecation, obscenity or curse.

If anything, it was something worse.

Tristram told us he’d been on a tour ‘I’ve been,’ he said, ‘to Singapore, what they do is something we should imitate if we want to put Britain back into the Great...

In Singapore’, he said, ‘teachers solemnly swear to do their best, they promise they’ll prepare nice notes for their lessons, and I say today that because Singapore is so like the UK My policy’ll be: ‘What Singapore teachers do The teachers I rule over will do too.’

Then, far and wide across the nation all who work in education found that they were of one mind and uttered oaths of another kind.

Yes, ‘tis the season of education ping-pong played by politicians who are never wrong.

November / December 14 I The Teacher

45

Taking a risk A culture of fear I can only add my voice to the chorus of discontent about the way experienced staff are treated. I had served 34 years and was respected throughout the ‘outstanding’ secondary school, when a new head was appointed and began ‘investigating’ becoming an academy. When I organised a staff meeting to discuss our views, he turned up and began to monopolise it. I addressed the staff and proposed a vote to be sent directly to the governors. Soon after I was informed about an observation to be conducted by the head.

The lesson was a very good one, but he informed me that I had “not shown progress made by the two boys in the corner”. I was therefore going to be observed three times by his deputy to “keep this in house”.

I completed these with some effort but the threat was still there that at any time he could return. Eventually I decided that, even though I was in the best of health, I would retire. On telling him, he had my job advertised for an NQT before I got back to the base!

My wife, a special needs teacher in the same school, was highly experienced, universally respected, but three or four times more expensive than a TA. Upon the head’s arrival, he started a ‘reorganisation’ so that she would be offered a full timetable of citizenship lessons – a subject she had no experience of – and a TA would do her job. The effect was devastating. She collapsed and ended up in hospital with a suspected stroke. Like me, she had never had a day off sick in 35 years. Fortunately, due to the excellent support from the staff and her area Union rep, she successfully fought it and was offered her old job back after six weeks.

The culture of fear became rife at my school. I urge you, do not wait, organise and fight through your union. If you don’t support each other, there will be no one left to support you when you are in that position.

Name witheld

Please write The editor welcomes your letters but reserves the right to edit them.

Write to: Your letters, The Teacher, NUT, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD or email teacher@nut.org.uk.

Letters for the January/February issue should reach us no later than 20 November 2014.

Please note we cannot print letters sent in without name and postal address (or NUT membership number), though we can withhold details from publication if you wish.

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November / December 14 I The Teacher

I am writing to suggest that it’s worth taking a risk at times. I was teaching current events in a grammar school during the miners’ strike when Heath was PM. I decided to give the girls a first-hand view of the case and brought in a striking miner to talk to them. We had a very lively session, but afterwards I wondered if I would get complaints from parents.

That evening I had a phone call from the mother of one of my pupils. I thought ‘here we go’, but to my delight she thanked me for providing such a stimulating experience for her daughter.

Apparently the girl had always said: “Politics are boring – I’m not interested.”

That day she had come home and said: “Now I see why you find politics so gripping – I’ve changed my mind completely.”

Name supplied

Capability procedures I was in the same position as the teacher in last month’s ‘Reader’s rant’. I was put on capability procedure having been in the same school for over 20 years and with four periods of acting headship. I fought it for six months, but the goalposts kept changing and in the end I gave up as my confidence had been completely chipped away. The weight loss was the only plus!

I had the support of colleagues, my GP and parents and the NUT negotiated my way out. That was in 2006 after 30 years of teaching. I feel so sorry for all the people this is happening to. Although comforting to know I am not alone, I would not wish it on anyone.

Name supplied

What next?

No NUT rep in your workplace?

The thoughts expressed in ‘Male Teachers of a certain age’ and the letter ‘Re: August’s star letter: ‘Ousted from the job’ – are spot on. This is exactly what is happening – usually just within the legal boundaries.

I wish ‘Ousted from the job’ all the luck and best wishes in the world as she pursues the case through the courts.

Please elect one!

There was a time, not that long ago, when schools were caring, inclusive and joyous centres of community. No longer. I hear heads talk about my school as though it were his/her fiefdom over which they rule. What next? It is a tragedy unfolding before my eyes.

Annie Reyburn

A free supply I recently took an unpaid day from work to attend an agency-arranged interview at a school in a different LEA. No lesson plans were given in advance and there were two skeleton lesson plans for me to teach on my arrival. I had to be at the school at 8am, where I was promptly left with three classes of Year 5 students from registration until break at 11.15. I was told that someone would come in to observe me, but was not told what lesson that would be for. Someone did come in for some of lesson two, though I had no idea who the person was.

I taught three lessons until lunchtime, no lunch was provided and there were no shops nearby to purchase food. I thought that perhaps after lunch I would actually be interviewed for the job for which I had applied, but no. I was used as a supply teacher for a double art lesson with Year 3, lasting two hours, with no lesson plan provided. I was told to get the children to draw a flag on a photocopied hand…with one copy of world flags to use as a resource. There was uproar.

This was not my finest teaching hour by a long shot.

When retrieving my bags from the Year 3 classroom at the end of a long day, a member of SMT popped his head around the door and asked me if I had completed a feedback form and had done all the marking. I then told him that I was at school for an interview and that I was not a supply teacher.

Once a rep has been elected, notify your division/association secretary, whose details are on your membership credential and at www.teachers.org.uk/contactus.

Find out what reps do at www.teachers.org.uk/getinvolved

A change in your circumstances?

Please let us know if you: • change your home or school address • change your employment contract (to part-time, fixed-term or supply), where a range of reduced subscriptions apply • are about to retire, take maternity leave, or leave the profession, where differing subscription rates apply • are appointed to a new post such as deputy or head teacher or Senco.

Ring 0845 300 1666, visit www.teachers.org.uk/update, or write to Records and Subscription Services, NUT, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD. By providing your email address and mobile number you help the Union to keep you informed of important campaigns and to contact you about professional development courses and events.

Need help or advice?

If you’ve got a problem at work, or want to know more about NUT services, you can contact: • your school representative • the NUT AdviceLine • NUT Cymru.

For advice and guidance in England contact:

NUT AdviceLine Tel: 020 3006 6266 Email: nutadviceline@nut.org.uk

At 3.45 I finally found my Year 5 leader, who told me that I needed to provide lesson observation feedback for the Deputy Head. Still no interview. So let’s just check… this school got six lessons from a fully qualified teacher for free, one of which was partially observed, and the feedback was: “We are not sure and need you to come back for two more days.” I don’t think so.

In Wales contact:

This experience was then followed by a one-on-one with the Head until 4:30, who proceeded to gloat about the fact that she is recruiting graduate TAs because they need a reference for their PGCE courses and so work hard. This school is in special measures, cannot get supply teachers to stay and they used me for unpaid PPA while on ‘an interview’. I came home hungry and dispirited, is this what teaching has become?

www.teachers.org.uk/contactus

NUT Cymru Tel: 029 2049 1818 Email: cymru.wales@nut.org.uk Find full contact details at

Name withheld November / December 14 I The Teacher

47

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49

Backbeat

Testing times for young children Emeritus Professor of Education Colin Richards, puts primary school testing to the test.

Michael Gove, the former minister in charge of English state schools, planned to introduce the testing of children soon after they enter primary school at the age of four or five. This does not seem set to change under Nicky Morgan’s tenure.

English children are already tested far more than children in most other countries and if our four/five year olds are tested, they will be amongst the very youngest children in the world to undergo a formal assessment of their abilities and achievements. Some people think this testing is long overdue; many others think that it is not only a waste of time but it is very damaging to young children’s confidence at a time when they are having to adjust to new surroundings and new ways of learning. Is the testing then a welcome development or a harmful activity?

The Government believes that testing is necessary to find out where children are at the beginning of their formal education so that their progress can then be mapped out and eventually assessed at age eleven and later at age sixteen. The tests are supposed to measure not only the children’s progress but also how good the schools are that they attend. It all sounds very sensible and straightforward but is it?

Do we have the know-how to devise tests for children at such a young age? Many of us in education don’t think we do. It has taken a long time to develop tests for eleven-yearolds and yet these are far from perfect, as many parents will know from the experience of their own children. If tests for very young children can be devised, and it’s a big ‘if’, they will take years to develop, yet the proposed tests are supposed to start in 2016.

Part of the problem lies with the children themselves.

They learn in very different ways and at different rates so developing tests that are fair to all is difficult, perhaps impossible. Also at that age children are particularly volatile;

50

November / December 14 I The Teacher

not only do they find it difficult to sit still (!) but they change from day to day, almost minute to minute at times. How can a test capture that changeability?

Children come to school with a wide range of achievements but the proposed tests only look at a fraction of these.

Many of the most important such as self-confidence, wanting to learn, willingness to cooperate with others and a degree of personal independence cannot be measured or tested at all. Early literacy and numeracy are important, of course, but not all-important and not as important as emotional security which is the foundation of all school learning.

Which brings us to the effects of the tests on the children themselves. They may not fully realise the importance of the tests but they will soon pick up signals if their parents or teachers are anxious about them, as many will be. The result will be many worried children whose worry will get in the way of their early learning and will threaten their enjoyment of the challenge of a new school. Some of the most anxious children are likely to be the youngest who could be almost a year younger than their classmates taking the same tests.

Would you like to take a series of tests just weeks into a new job and tests that could well label you ‘good’,’OK’ or ‘poor’? Presumably not, but that’s how many children will feel just weeks into school.

Lastly the Government assumes that children’s performance at five can be compared meaningfully with their performance six years later. But how reasonable is that?

Not only are the children taking the test now different people but the tests themselves are different and their results are not comparable.

All this leads me, and many other teachers, to believe that the tests are likely to be harmful. Of course, we do believe that children’s achievements on entry to school need to be recognised and built upon but not through tests conducted so early in their school lives. We think that class teachers are best placed to find out where young children are and what they need to learn next on the basis of observing and working closely with them during their first few months in school. Such assessments are likely to be much more sensitive to individual children’s needs than any tests provided by the Government.

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