National Executive: Local Action

At today's NUT National Executive, Christine Blower reported on the wide range of local campaigning activities and action taking place across the country.

OFSTED: It's all about the kids!

I will admit to being a little suspicious when I first read that Policy Exchange, the right-wing think tank co-founded by Michael Gove, was surveying teachers' views on OFSTED. Suggestions had begun to surface in the press that maybe there was a rift developing between Michael Gove and Chief Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw, whom he once described as a hero. But I found that difficult to believe.

Solidarity with Palestine

The NUT International Relations, Peace and Disarmament met this afternoon and approved the recommendations from the Union delegation to Palestine last year.  This includes circulating the delegation report to conference delegates, Association Secretaries and International Solidarity Officers throughout the Union and publicising findings in The Teacher.  An initial report can be found here (p18).  The report highlights the impact of the occupation on children and teachers who struggle to get to school because of checkpoints and whose school buildings face demolition or closure.

Ticket Office Closures

One of the highlights of the South East Region TUC Council yesterday was guest speaker Manuel Cortes, General Secretary of TSSA.  Manuel spoke passionately about the campaign against ticket office closures on the London Underground.

School Places Crisis

Yesterday's South East Region TUC Council heard from teachers in NUT and NASUWT about the school places crisis that has been caused by the current government.  Speaking on a motion from the NUT about the crisis, which is affecting children across the country, teachers described how the government's obsession with developing 'free' schools has led it to ban local authorities from opening new schools in areas of need, transferring the money instead to 'free' school projects in areas with surplus places.

Update on the Action Campaign

In addition to Thursday's update from the NUT Special National Executive, I thought it would be useful to post the message from Christine Blower sent out to NUT members last night:

Update on the Action Campaign

At today's NUT Special Executive meeting, the General Secretary reported on the latest developments in the national action campaign:

Global Education 'Reform': Resistance & Solidarity

At its meeting on 11th December, the International Sub-Committee of the NUT National Executive agreed to organise a joint conference with the Teacher Solidarity Research Collaborative on the theme of teacher resistance to the Global Education 'Reform' Movement.

2nd Oxfordshire Reading Conference

The OECD report Reading for Change states that engaging children in reading for pleasure as "may be one of the most effective ways to leverage social change."  There is a significant amount of research to back up this assertion.

Update on the Action Campaign

At the beginning of the year, I thought it would be worth giving an update of where we are at with the NASUWT/NUT joint action campaign. The background to the campaign is set out here in an article I wrote for Education for Tomorrow.

Uniting for Education

A new year has begun and, for those involved in education, the outlook seems bleak.  Teacher morale is dangerously low, something actively welcomed by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools.  The government's 'free' school and academy programme has, as suggested by Gove's special adviser earlier this year, led to "disastrous teaching" and "financial fraud".  Possibly most worryingly, children's right to be taught by a qualified teacher has been removed, a move cynically announced on the opening day of the 2012 Olympics.