Report to Birmingham NUT members

This was a united conference which brought together all shades of opinion in the Union on the key issues facing teachers in their day to day work and in education generally. Sound finances and rising membership place the Union on a good footing for the challenges ahead.

Probably the most important decision of the whole five days was on salaries. Delegates voted to reject the Government's attempt to hold down public sector pay. For teachers this will mean an effective 5 year pay settlement below the rate of inflation from 2005. Linked to pay by performance management to ration threshold progression, this is a threat to teachers' living standards. (see table below)

In a priority motion, Conference instructed the Union leadership to;

‘ballot the membership for a one day national strike in cooperation with other teacher's organisations and public sector workers as the first stage of any industrial action...required to protect the pay of teachers and other public sector workers.'

In a rousing speech at Friday's session Mark Serowtka, General Secretary of the civil service union, the PCS, warned of the threats facing all public sector workers from privatisation, pay freeze, outsourcing, micro mismanagement and redundancies. The Union is committed to supporting the PCS when it takes industrial action on these issues on May 1 st . BANUT will be planning to support these workers who staff benefits agencies and other government and local services.

Also worth noting was the decision for the Union to ballot members for a political fund to allow us to openly campaign against the racists and fascists of the BNP. It does not mean that the Union would affiliate to any political party.

There was intense and well informed debate on the threats facing teachers in Foundation Stage from new ‘Early Years Professionals' who will staff the children's centres currently being set up. These posts will be inferior in training and qualifications to teachers and will be paid at lower salary levels. Other early years education debates picked up on class size and curriculum.

At the other end of the spectrum, Conference was informed of the new 14-19 specialist diplomas to be introduced in 2008. These will introduce a separate curriculum for up to 40% of the cohort, to be delivered rather than taught in FE colleges. City academies are also likely places for their delivery. Conference voted unanimously to continue opposition to city academies in any form, as well as campaigning against using the ‘Building Schools For The Future' Programme as a privatisation vehicle. Birmingham is proposing to introduce both these programmes.

Conference has authorised that the Union issue guidance and also that members should seek advice from the Union on withdrawing from teaching areas if the temperature exceeds 26C this summer.

We are proud that the Union now has Baljeet Ghale as our first black president.

All sides of Conference expressed their support for the way she chaired Conference through 5 gruelling days. Remarks she made about ‘Britishness' in her presidential address on Saturday have sparked off a lively, if ill informed media debate.(the full text of her speech will be available on www.teachers.org.uk.

Baljeet Ghale (President) 2007

It's worth quoting some of that address here;

‘ To pupils, Britishness is not black and white. It is an ever shifting, sometimes confusing mix of colours, and not something... that can be taught. I want an education system that values diversity and accepts my right to;

Support Tottenham Hotspur; France in the European Cup; Brazil in the World Cup; India at cricket; Kenya in the Olympics & England in the Ashes...... Our Union must give a lead in developing a fairer society.'

To that end the Conference launched its charter for African Caribbean boys, setting out their rights and their responsibilities for a good education.

Dame Kelly Holmes, double Olympic champion addressed Conference on her work as an ambassador for sport in schools.

Conference 07 shows the NUT to be in good heart for the challenges ahead.

A full list of the issues discussed can be found below.

Conference 2007 decisions

Motion/Topic	Amended	Voting
Performance Pay	Yes	lost
Salaries /exclusion from direct pay negotiations	Yes	passed
Professional Unity/talks with the UCU	Yes	passed
Young Teachers & Pay	Yes	Passed unanimously
Lesson Observation & Teacher Monitoring	Yes	Passed unanimously
Building schools For the Future & Academies	Yes	Passed unanimously
Climate Change & sustainable development	Voted down	passed
Pupil Behaviour	yes	passed
14-19 Education	yes	Passed unanimously
False allegations against teachers	yes	passed
Workload	no	Passed unanimously
Teacher Mental Health	no	Passed unanimously
Supply Teachers	yes	Passed unanimously
Work/life balance	yes	Passed unanimously
Primary Curriculum	yes	Passed unanimously
Early Years/class size	yes	Passed unanimously
Early Years Professionals	no	Passed unanimously
SEN provision	yes	passed
Political Fund	yes	passed
Anti war/Iraq/Iran/Palestine	yes	passed
Anti racism	yes	passed
Memorandum on dates & venues for future conferences	no	passed
Support for Union reps& local Officers	Yes	passed

The full text of the amended motions will be on the national website at: teachers

Teachers Pay Notes;

Inflation running at 4.6%

Recent pay imposition via the School Teachers Review Body(STRB)

Sept 06-2.5% pay award

Sept 07- 2.5% pay award

000s of teachers to lose management allowances on 31 st December 2008

Government current suggestions to the ‘independent STRB'

Sept-08-2% award

Sept-09-2% award

Sept-10-2% award

And attempts to link pay progression more firmly to performance