Education & Equalities

The Education & Equalities Committee of the NUT met this afternoon.  It discussed:

• The changes to the new SEN Code of Practice and the need to ensure that there is clear guidance to members on the implementation of these.  Also, attention was drawn to the reference in the Code of Practice to the importance of children with Special Educational Needs receiving high-quality support from fully-trained teachers.
• The TUC Charter on Anti-Racist Education which the committee welcomed and agreed to endorse.
• The Select Committee Enquiry on Sex and Relationships Education and the Sex Education Forum campaign SRE - My Right.  A response was agreed to the former and it was also agreed to support the latter.
• The Union's National Education Conference and plans for next year's event and future timing.
• A report on Pearson Education Operations in the UK which the committee agreed to discuss further in the context of GERM and develop materials for members.

Reports from advisory committees were also received and discussions held about potential speakers for the next Stephen Lawrence Memorial Lecture.

The committee ended with a briefing from Roger King (Birmingham Executive member) on the 'Trojan Horse' debacle where schools in Birmingham have been targeted with spurious accusations on the basis of a hoax letter.  roger drew attention to problems in the schools which stemmed, not from Islamic fundamentalism but from a lack of oversight related to the government's 'free' schools and academies programme.  The Union has issued a formal response on this issue.