Classroom Teacher

NUT Executive agrees to ballot next term

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:38:00 +0000

The NUT Executive HAVE voted to hold a ballot for discontinuous strike action on pay next term. The ballot is due to start on October 6th.

Come along to the Classroom Teacher meeting on September 27th and discuss how we build to win the ballot – and to discuss the best strategy for winning the campaign.

CLASSROOM TEACHER MEETING IN SEPTEMBER

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:58:00 +0000

CLASSROOM TEACHER NATIONAL MEETING

SEPTEMBER 27th 2008:

· How do we build national action on pay and workload ?
· Building support for Classroom Teacher

Exmouth Arms Pub near Euston station, 11 – 4.

The pub is on the junction of Starcross Street and Cobourg Street

A small victory in Lewisham

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:51:00 +0000

Last week, the Governing Body of Launcelot Primary School in Lewisham met to discuss a proposal that they consider becoming part of the nearby Knight's Academy - part of the expanding Haberdashers' Aske's empire. They are about to takeover another community primary school in the borough and are already looking for further schools to grab.

Governors heard first from Dr Liz Sidwell - Executive Head of the Aske's Academy Federation - and then from Martin Powell-Davies from the NUT. At the end of the meeting they voted NOT to continue talks with Aske's!

This small victory will encourage local campaigners - but there are major threats facing us. We have just found out that two secondary schools are in discussions with Goldsmiths College about setting up a Trust - despite the Education Department at Goldsmiths being kept in the dark (perhaps because many of the staff and UCU members are opposed to Trusts and Academies being used to break-up accountable community comprehensive education).

Martin Powell-Davies

Brighton Schools Not for Sale

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:42:00 +0000

People may remember how "Barrow Schools Not for Sale" launched a campaign against Academies which unseated the mayor and came within one vote of unseating his deputy.

Launched this week, the Brighton Schools Not for Sale campaign is fighting proposals to bring in an Academy at Falmer. They aim to alert teachers and the local community to the known dangers of academies and the loss of democratic control when religious sects or big businesses take over from elected local authorities.

They have a meeting on Wed 16th July at Moulsecoomb Leisure Centre at 4 pm. Any members who live in Brighton might like to go along, particularly those with experience of the anti-academy campaigns.

There is also an online petition
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/FalmerAcademy

Contact brightonschoolsnotforsale@live.co.uk if you can help in any way.

Workload and pay - Professor Galton's evidence

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:27:00 +0000

Have you ever felt that the introduction of PPA time has just seemed to be an opportunity for more of those “initiatives” which caused the workload crisis in the first place? “You must do this now, we've given you PPA time!”

Professor Maurice Galton's contribution to the National Education Conference was to explain his research on the effects of workforce reforms on schools. The most startling of which is that in fact teacher workload has increased rather than been reduced.

Time spent training and supporting Cover Supervisors has been one factor. While the government gets teaching on the cheap, valuable PPA time is eroded by this kind of activity.

The “Learning to Learn” and “Assessment for Learning” Framework is another. These changes require more time and different complex skills for teachers and are beyond the training of Cover Supervisors.

Teaching Assistants do a brilliant job but are often “glued” to a particular pupil and therefore cannot assist the teacher by lightening the workload.

And he quoted a statistic – concern about pupil behaviour in primary schools has increased; the number of classes being taken by Cover Supervisors or TAs in primary schools has increased. As one TA who was quitting the job put it, “The three days' training wasn’t quite enough!”

The whole of Galton's work is summarised in the Education Review.

During one of our strike meetings a teacher said that she had been ideologically opposed to striking when she started teaching but she was coming out this time because of the way teachers have been treated in the intervening thirty years. It is not just about pay.

Galton's findings are an indication that the union needs to take national action over workload as well as pay and he acknowledged this.

Academies excluding pupils

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:03:00 +0000

News today reports that Academies were 'responsible for 3% of permanent exclusions' in 2007.

"They were responsible for 2% of all temporary exclusions and 3% of permanent exclusions, despite making up only 0.3% of state schools in England. According to official figures, 240 pupils were excluded permanently and 9,360 had received fixed-term exclusions from the 46 academies and ten city technology colleges. Across England permanent exclusions fell by 7% to 8,680 in the academic year 2006-07". 'Education' June 27 2008.

As research has consistently shown, where Academies do improve their league table 'scores', they do it by changing the pupils they teach - and at the expense of other neighbouring schools

Martin Powell-Davies

Classroom Teacher 6 out now

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:22:00 +0000

Click here for the latest copy of Classroom Teacher.

It includes articles on:

· The ‘National Challenge’ threat to 638 schools

· The upbeat mood at the Young Teachers’ Conference

· No more missed opportunities – let’s call the national ballot

· Workload Campaign - National Action needed

· Name the Day for a Joint Union Strike over Pay

As ever, we have no real funding for printing so we hope that you can download, copy and distribute Classroom Teacher in your area.

Do remember to send feedback, views, agreements and disagreements to classroom.teacher@yahoo.co.uk

Young Teachers Call For Action

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:27:00 +0000

The fantastic atmosphere throughout June’s NUT Young Teachers Conference was due in no small way to April’s national strike action which brought many young members into union activity for the first time.

The main themes of the conference were the union’s pay and workload campaigns. There was no shortage of teachers wanting to express their views on both!

Many were disappointed by the decision not to re-ballot as soon as possible and strike again before the summer but, despite this, the mood was to make sure the next action was as big as possible, and hopefully alongside other unions.

Speakers who discussed teachers’ excessive workload, and rightly stressed the need for collective solutions to a problem we all face, struck a chord with the audience .

I hope our leadership will display some of the determination shown by the young teachers present and sanction action on workload that will really make a difference on vital issues such as management time, teacher numbers and class sizes.

Phil Clarke, member of the Young Teachers Advisory Committee

Name the day for joint national action

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:26:00 +0000

The strength of our April strike has not gone unnoticed by nervous Ministers. It has also encouraged others - like UNISON and UNITE - to ballot over pay. Why should any of us put up with below-inflation pay awards ?

This September, the teachers’ pay award will be 2.45% when the Retail Prices Index stands at over 4%. That’s one more year with a real terms’ pay cut, one more year when Ministers break their promise to review our pay if prices rise higher than expected.

It ‘gives’ at 2.45% but when it comes to the interest on student loans, the Government ‘takes away’ at a rate of 4.8%. ‘The Observer’ calculated that the high interest rates and low pay mean many young teachers will still have about 90% of their original loan to pay off after 10 years!

Rising food and fuel prices are hitting people worldwide yet MPs still want to try to blame inflation on our pay rises! Even the Bank of England has said that’s rubbish!

But when the Government tries to cut the pay of every public sector worker, surely the best response is to organise a joint fightback. At the rally before the June 9 Lobby of Parliament, the best applause was given to General Secretaries who called for co-ordinated action on pay across the public sector.

Now it’s time to name the day!

Nicky Downes, Coventry NUT

638 "failing" schools or backdoor privatisation?

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:52:00 +0000

Submitted by AWatkins-Groves on Tue, 10/06/2008 - 16:26.

I have just checked the BBC's website and it seems that 26 of the so-called failing schools are already academies.
What is Ed Balls' remedy for that?
4% of failing schools are academies and, surprisingly, academies account for around 4% of all secondary schools. Could there be something else to account for this perceived failure?

Submitted by martin powell-davies on Tue, 10/06/2008 - 21:28.

The “improve or close” ultimatum is a thinly-disguised plan to accelerate the privatisation of secondary education.

It could mean that the control of hundreds of schools, including staffing and admissions, will be taken out of the hands of an elected Local Authority and handed over to private sponsors and trust appointees. The fragmentation of education into the control of many different employers is also an obvious threat to collective trade union organisation.

The policy is driven by political dogma, not educational concerns. As Alan points out, despite all the financial advantages offered to them, there is no evidence that Academies offer pupils a better education than community schools.

Consistent research demonstrates that the main factor influencing a school’s position in the league tables remains the social class of its pupil intake. That’s why it is so unfair to impose a common GCSE target on schools, without taking into account the particular circumstances each one faces. Without a major injection of funding, above all to reduce class sizes to a maximum of twenty, there is no chance that schools can overcome factors such as poor housing and diet which inevitably discriminate against children from working-class communities.

But, while waving the big stick, I don't think that the Government is offering much in the way of real resources. As far as I can see, much of the £400 million ‘National Challenge’ funding is earmarked for Academies and Trusts – not at supporting schools staying as community comprehensives. (and I think the Union needs to be careful in being seen to be too grateful for the £400M!)

Unfortunately, the unjust labelling of schools as ‘failures’ will inevitably dissuade local parents from applying, compounding the difficulties they face. Demoralised staff, knowing the bullying inquisitions that these initiatives inevitably bring down on the heads of already overworked teachers, will also look to move to other schools as well.

We need to expose the real aims behind this divisive initiative and use our collective strength to defend staff in the targeted schools and to oppose the break-up of local authority schooling. The strike action taken by NUT members in Bolton to oppose their possible removal from council employment shows the way forward.

Martin Powell-Davies, Lewisham NUT (and a teacher in one of the 638 schools)

Like Martin I was - until Friday 6th June - a teacher in one of the schools on the hit list. Our school was suffering because we had a de facto grammar school in the town which took all the brightest kids at Year 7. What has been allowed is that the grammar school will be the lead in a three academy federation which will achieve National averages across the federation. Because it will be one huge all-ability comprehensive! Does nobody else see the irony?

The following article from the Independent sums it up "The cost of grammars: selective councils have most failing schools" paste the link to read the story.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/the-cost-of-grammars-selective-councils-have-most-failing-schools-844223.h

Submitted by robertwilkinson on Wed, 11/06/2008 - 09:35.

Martin quite correctly identifies many of the reasons behind the hypocritical and underhand motivation for the recent government pronouncement on failing schools.

There are some issues however that need to be raised in addition to the ones above.

What are the criteria for judging a school to be 'failing'? The obsession with a 5+ A* to C GCSE benchmark (including English and Maths these days) is tremendously demotivating to those pupils (and teachers) who are not going to reach this hurdle - despite their best efforts and praiseworthy success in raising their achievement to almost the required level, they are condemned as 'failures'. This on top of being identified since their Foundation stage test at entry and all the way through their SATs as being the bottom of the class. These youngsters have had to put up with 10 years or more of humiliation at school - is there any wonder that many are demotivated and disruptive or absent themelves from learning? Labelling and a self-fulfilling prophecy as Becker long ago identified.

There are other measures of success and we should continue to do what we can to celebrate those that can reward pupils for their contribution to the school and society through sport and work in the community in all sorts of ways.

The best opportunity that we had in a long time to change the 14-19 curriculum and assessment was lost through political cowardice on the part of the New Labour government in the face of opposition from Neanderthals such as Digby Jones and the Daily Mail.

The focus now on 'failing' schools is a political decision in the face of a damaging loss of support for the New Labour project.

'A Good Local School For Every Child' will not necessarily result in improvements to the League Tables as housing has become more and more segregated into income brackets. Only the abolition of League Tables and the replacement of the current benchmarks of success in assessments would help to overcome the socially divisive impact of every policy since the 1988 Education Reform Act.

Robert
Division Secretary
Wokingham & District

‘NATIONAL CHALLENGE’ = PRIVATISATION

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:57:00 +0000

Labour’s “improve or close” ultimatum to 638 English schools is a thinly-disguised plan to accelerate the privatisation of secondary education.

Under their “National Challenge Strategy”, schools that have failed to meet the imposed minimum target (of 30% of pupils gaining five A*-C GCSEs including English and Maths) have been put on the Government’s hit list. The price of continued ‘failure’ will be to become either a privately-sponsored Academy or a Trust school backed by a business or university.

Either way, the control of hundreds of schools, including staffing and admissions, will be taken out of the hands of an elected Local Authority and handed over to private sponsors and trust appointees. But, instead of planning for the interests of the community as a whole, individual sponsors will put their own interests first, at the expense of other local schools. The fragmentation of education into the control of many different employers is also an obvious threat to collective trade union organisation.

The policy is driven by political dogma, not educational concerns. Despite all the financial advantages offered to them, there is no evidence that Academies offer pupils a better education than community schools. After all, how does the Government explain why 26 of the schools on the hit list are already Academies ?!

Where Academies have succeeded in improving their exam scores, it has too often been down to simply changing the pupil population. For example, Academies tend to exclude significantly higher numbers of pupils than neighbouring community schools.

Secretary of State, Ed Balls, claims that the policy will help “break the link between poverty and attainment”. But a market-driven school system will make divisions greater, not less.

Consistent research demonstrates that the main factor influencing a school’s position in the league tables remains the social class of its pupil intake. That’s why it is so unfair to impose a common GCSE target on schools, without taking into account the particular circumstances each one faces. Without a major injection of funding, above all to reduce class sizes to a maximum of twenty, there is no chance that schools can overcome factors such as poor housing and diet which inevitably discriminate against children from working-class communities.

But, while waving the big stick, the Government is offering little in the way of real resources. Much of the £400 million ‘National Challenge’ funding is earmarked for Academies and Trusts – not at supporting schools staying as community comprehensives.

Unfortunately, the unjust labelling of schools as ‘failures’ will inevitably dissuade local parents from applying, compounding the diffiulties they face. Demoralised staff, knowing the bullying inquisitions that these initiatives inevitably bring down on the heads of already overworked teachers, will also look to move to other schools as well.

Trade unionists need to expose the real aims behind this divisive initiative and use their collective strength to defend staff in the targeted schools and to oppose the break-up of local authority schooling. The strike action taken by NUT members in Bolton to oppose their possible removal from council employment shows the way forward.

Martin Powell-Davies

Do teachers back school student action?

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:21:00 +0000

Over the last six weeks, thousands of school students have walked out in protest against the running down of the education system.

250 walked out in Neale-Wade Community College in Cambridgeshire over overcrowded school dinner facilities and short lunch times. A school student quoted in the local press said “they [teachers] decided to go on strike for what they want and we thought that if it is all right for them, then it is all right for us to do the same for what we want”.

Over 150 students in Pontllanfraith School in Blackwood, Wales walked out over the possibility of several teachers losing their jobs. This action resulted in management distancing themselves from this suggestion. It looks likely that the teachers’ jobs have been saved, which would mean a victory as a result of the students’ action.

800 protested in St Aelreds Catholic Technology College in St Helens, Merseyside over worries for the future of their education, connected to plans to close the school and replace it with an Academy.

There are other reports of smaller scale walkouts, and also of students angry and beginning to organise around petitions to the head, in schools and in colleges.

Internationally, school students are playing an important role in fighting back. 300,000 French school students marched in May against education cuts. 8,000 school students marched through Berlin in the last fortnight over similar issues. (see anticapitalism.org.uk for fuller reports).

School student strikes have won big victories in the past. In 1985, inspired by the miners strike and in revolt against the Conservative government’s Youth Training Schemes, hundreds of thousands of school students walked out in coordinated action. This led to the YTS being shelved.

School student action may be a sensitive issue for some teachers but ISR want to bring together all those school students who have been involved in walkouts and build a national campaign for better conditions in schools.

Ben Robinson, International Socialist Resistance national organiser

National Shop Stewards Network Conference

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Sun, 25 May 2008 10:01:00 +0000

The NSSN Conference on Saturday June 28th is certainly one place where NUT reps can meet up with trade unionists from across the public sector - and beyond - to discuss how we build joint union action

Saturday 28 June, 11.30am to 4.30 pm, South Camden Community School,
Charrington Street, London NW1
(Near King’s Cross/Euston stations)
Speakers include:
Bob Crow RMT, Mark Serwotka PCS, Brian Caton POA
Plus shop stewards from disputes around the country

For more information, have a look on: www.shopstewards.net

Let's plan where we go from here

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Sun, 25 May 2008 09:56:00 +0000

Bolton NUT also passed a similar motion to other Associations calling for action this term. It is indeed a wasted opportunity. What we need to do now is build strike action where we can - over workload, privatisation, any other issues - pressure the Executive to hold a ballot as soon as possible and hold meetings of Campaign Teacher/CDFU/ STA and Classroom Teacher - joint meetings perhaps under Education Activists title to plan where we go from here."

Jason Travis

What a missed opportunity !

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:09:00 +0000

In Central Hall Westminster at the April 24th strike rally in front of two thousand teachers, with many more thousands locked outside, wild cheering and applause greeted any platform speaker even hinting at further joint action.

It seemed that the NUT was on a roll. After years of trying, the Left on the NUT National Executive apparently had won a small majority in the elections. Also by a quirk of fate a left general secretary took the helm, joining an already established left treasurer. We then got the news that UNISON were going to ballot, and others were lining up to join those that had already shown willing.

At the same time discontent is being fuelled by more rising prices. Our case is strengthened daily. And to cap it all the government has come under real pressure. With the massacre in the local elections, now Nantwich & Crewe, and Gordon Brown's poll ratings at absolute rock bottom what a chance to extract another u-turn on public sector pay to add to the 10p tax fiasco.

Trade unions rarely get a favourable combination of circumstances to pursue a strike. It is never the right moment. But given some other situations this was a golden opportunity. Incredibly some, or rather quite a few, including those calling themselves Left, have voted against calling action now. They have let teachers down. They have let the government off the hook. They have quite possibly caused a negative impact on the rank and file of other unions.

We recognise that there might be complicating factors, but the overriding factor here was a chance for the coordinated action that the whole of the trade union movement has been campaigning on for such a long time. Shame on those who have shown such a lack of judgment that they voted against a strike in July.

Leadership is all about judgment. Of course we all want the same thing in the end, but timing is everything in politics. Now it seems we have a situation where some 'on the left' have joined with others on the right with similar 'honestly held views' to effectively kick our pay battle into the long grass for now.

Experience in the Left Caucus on the National Executive has shown me that there are some whose views are barely 'Left' at all. There are others on the Left like myself, Martin Powell Davies and others especially in the Socialist Party, who faced a somewhat different, quite unsympathetic reaction to our 'honestly held views'. Martin stood for General Secretary because we reckoned that the views of the candidate backed by others on the Left would fall short. Were we right? As an Executive member I spoke out against some of the methods of many in the Left Caucus who believed that those in the then majority of the Executive really wanted the same thing as us and would see the error of their lackadaisical ways and be won over by our more energetic campaigning.

Unfortunately, the result of this vote could demobilise teachers. It certainly gives the government time to re-group. It may well be that the relentless pressure of events can bring action to the fore again. I certainly hope so. The Div. Secs on June 17th might have much to say. Hopefully Divisonal Secretaries who wanted to see united action in July will not go shy in taking up the arguments of those on the left as well as those on the right.

Linda Taaffe

NUT BALLOT POSTPONED UNTIL NEXT TERM

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:35:00 +0000

To the disappointment of many contributors to Classroom Teacher, the NUT Executive meeting on May 22nd voted by 28 to 9 NOT to go ahead with a ballot for national action THIS term - but may still agree a ballot for action NEXT term when it meets again on June 19th. However, if agreed, the ballot timetables mean further action would be delayed until November.

How much of a setback is this for building joint union action and maintaining the campaign?

What will be the response from UNISON and UNITE members in schools who are balloting for action in July? Can schools be closed if support staff do strike ?

Many on the NUT Executive said there wasn't a mood to go for action this term - do you agree?

What should classroom teachers do now to make sure that the Executive back a ballot for discontinuous national action when they meet in June - and to make sure that NUT members vote for action in a September ballot?

Some Executive members are talking about selective rolling strikes on pay rather than national strike action - could this be a useful tactic or a divisive one?

The motion agreed at the NEC also encourages groups of schools to take action over workload. Could this be taken up in your area? Over what issues ?

What about the NATIONAL action on workload and class sizes agreed by NUT Conference?

There will be a national meeting of NUT Divisional Secretaries on June 17th to discuss all these points and more - contribute your ideas to the discussion on the Classroom Teacher blog !

UNISON BALLOT CONFIRMED - NUT MUST BALLOT TOO!

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:05:00 +0000

Lewisham UNISON's secretary has just come into our NUT office to show us the news on UNISON's national website - that their ballot for action in July has been approved ! He had already assumed we would be balloting too !

Surely, this decides the argument over whether the NUT waits until next term or ballots this term. It would be criminal not to ballot alongside UNISON for joint action - low-paid support staff would not understand why teachers were not joining in. On the other hand, news of joint action would encourage both teachers and support staff to return their ballot papers with a big "YES" !

The MAY 22nd meeting of the National Executive can give the go-ahead for a ballot - but there are still many NUT Executive members that remain to be convinced.

There are only a few days left to lobby NUT Executive members to convince them to agree a ballot to take action in July. In particular, it seems that some supporters of the ‘Campaign for a Democratic and Fighting Union’ (who you might expect to be supporting action) still want to postpone a new ballot, arguing that there was not enough support on April 24th. This when other trade unions –like UNISON – have been encouraged precisely because of the success of our action and the publicity it generated!

We must not miss this opportunity for joint school action!
· Speak to your local National Executive members – (You can find details in the NUT Diary) - ask them if they are going to support the call for action on May 22nd. If they are not, argue the case, get other teachers and NUT school groups to lobby them too!
· Approach other leading trade unionists – such as UNISON officers – who may be able to help convince NUT National Executive members as well.
· Send an e-mail to the National Executive calling for a ballot for joint strike action alongside UNISON in July from your school group. E-mail to c.blower@nut.org.uk.

Martin Powell-Davies

UNISON could be balloting for a July strike!

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:34:00 +0000

How about this for encouraging news!?! The UNISON NJC has approved a ballot for action in May/June with the planned first day of strike action being on July 8th. While this still has to be approved by their national action committee, this really raises the prospect of joint action by teaching and support staff in July.

The success of April 24th has clearly encouraged UNISON – and hopefully their decisions can encourage the NUT in turn.

This news went down very well at our quorate Lewisham NUT meeting tonight and confirmed members’ views that the timetable should include a ballot this term for action after the exams in July (and not the alternative of delaying a ballot to next term and, therefore, not taking further action until perhaps late October at the earliest).

We unanimously agreed a motion which concluded (slightly amended from the original version to take into account news from UNISON):

Lewisham NUT therefore calls on the National Executive meeting on May 22nd to:
· Agree to hold a ballot for discontinuous national action to seek to achieve our objectives on both pay and workload;
· Agree a timetable for balloting this term which allows the first day of further national action to take place in July 2008;
· Seek to build co-ordinated action on that date alongside other public sector unions such as UNISON who are considering taking action on July 8th 2008

Martin P-D

But why delay a new ballot until next term?

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Sat, 10 May 2008 09:10:00 +0000

It's good that the Executive confirmed their intention to pursue a campaign on pay and workload including working with other unions and, without yet agreeing a timetable, to carry out a new ballot for discontinuous action. But this is, after all, just confirming Annual Conference policy.

The National Executive's job should be to take things further - to look at the success of April 24th and to act to build on the enthusiasm and momentum generated on the day. Unfortunately, instead of making a firm decision on May 8th, the Executive postponed discussion on the exact timetable until their next meeting on May 22nd. Worse, reading between the lines, the ballot and action may be put off until next term.

The Executive's motion simply says that the next meeting "will give detailed consideration to possible forms of strike and non-strike action, and possible timetables for them". But National Treasurer, Ian Murch, in an article reporting on the Executive meeting in his local Bradford paper makes clear, "I don't think it is very likely that there will be another strike this term because we are committed to examinations"...Mr.Murch said that the union would "consider" action including rolling strikes and stop-work meetings from September". (this also raises a big debate on the kind of action the Executive is looking at, as well as the timetable).

All the emphasis from the National Union for now seems to be on petitioning and lobbying MPs - all very well for maintaining the campaign in the short-term but, as teachers realistically understand, a poor substitute for fiurther action. Frankly, I don't think it's good enough.

I have put a motion for discussion to the Lewisham NUT General Meeting meeting this Monday calling on the Executive on May 22nd to:

Agree to hold a ballot for discontinuous national action to seek to achieve our objectives on both pay and workload;
Agree a timetable for balloting this term which allows the first day of further national action to take place in July 2008;
Announce the day for the next planned national strike so that we can go out and approach other public sector unions and seek to build co-ordinated action on that date.

I think we urgently need to send these demands to the Executive from schools and Associations if we want to see the momentum from April 24th sustained.

Martin Powell-Davies

Ballot for discontinuous action. The campaign steps up a notch.

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:07:00 +0000

We said that the first-time strikers and the re-invigorated activist base of the NUT could revolutionise the union. Here is the evidence of the pressure being exerted on the National Executive.

The National Executive today unanimously agreed:

1. to reaffirm its committment to the decision of annual conference to ballot members for discontinous action

2. to discuss timescales for a ballot and also of forms of strike and non strike action at its next meeting in 2 weeks time.

3. to seek a meeting with Govt to put forward our demands on pay and on workload.

4. to congratulate div and assoc secs for the work done so far and encourage them to work for the petition ( deadline May 23rd) and the lobby of Parliament on June 9th.

Discontinuous action means that the NUT will be able to act in UNISON with other unions in the public sector. The government has said it want to "listen" and "feel our pain" so feel this Gordon!

Hold a meeting in your school. send a message to the National Executive supporting discontinuous strike action. E-mail to c.blower@nut.org.uk.

Anti-academy campaign success

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Sun, 04 May 2008 05:45:00 +0000

A strange way to celebrate Mayday by electing a load of Tory councillors. I have taken to going for a walk every time Boris appears on the box. However there was one small bit of good news from a friend in Cumbria:

THE anti-academy campaign has sensationally ousted veteran Barrow Borough Council leader Bill Joughin in the local elections.

And his deputy, Jack Richardson, only managed to hold on to his town hall seat by one vote after three recounts.

The Tories were shaken by this result. They had ignored local feeling against the academy and they have paid the price.

Support from the Shop Stewards' Network

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:18:00 +0000

http://www.shopstewards.net

It is good to see the NUT is respectable enough for the shop stewards network now we have been on strike :)

Have a look at the "Disputes and Campaigns" section on the National shop Stewards' Network. We have pictures and reports of various events during last Thursday's actions, and material on Workers Memorial Day, Monday 28 April, with details of the events in London on this day dedicated to health and safety at work.

And we have information on a new pamphlet: "What's Happening? The Truth About Work ... & The Myth of 'Work - Life Balance'" based on interviews with trade unionists in a wide variety of jobs.

It is for shop stewards (reps) but they won't turn away members in other roles who want to come I expect. This grassroots network could prove very important in the next few months if we are to build unity across the public sector.

Classroom Teacher 5

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:25:00 +0000

Click here to download and print out

How was it for you?

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:54:00 +0000

We have changed the colours from blackboard to whiteboard to make the blog more readable.

Read about action in your area
Email in about action in your area to classroomteacher@yahoo.co.uk

Hull

Bristol

Coventry and Birmingham

Huddersfield

London

Brighton and Eastbourne

St Helens

Worthing

Ipswich

Bolton and Manchester

and the new Classroom Teacher 5

Action changing teachers' outlook in Hull

noreply@blogger.com (classroom teacher) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:44:00 +0000

The strike and rally was mostly very successful in Hull and the East Riding. We think about half the schools were closed or partially closed in the region. The response was a real mixture of full support in some schools to one school deciding as a group that they did not want to take action.

I have taken a patient and sympathetic approach with those who did not want to strike or did not strike and believe that the success of the 24th will bolster some of the waverers for future battles. Most members I spoke to were supportive of the aims of the strike, even those that did not vote for it.

For me the most interesting response was from the younger teachers. At one school I went to, a young teacher (late 20s) said she supported the strike but had seen Billy Elliott and was worried about clashes with the police and being spat at! Whilst this is amusing at one level it encapsulates the level of awareness of a wide layer of younger teachers. We should not underestimate the personal battles with themselves that some of our members have gone through to take action.

However those that came to the rally that we held jointly with the east riding were transformed. One young teacher who had not been to any school based meetings said the day after "it was fantastic to see everyone together all united!" You could see the expressions of delight on the faces of some of the older teachers in their fifties. Many of whom thought they would never see a day like we had again after the battles of the eighties.

At the rally we had speakers from PCS, UCU and Unison - all were well received and the sense we were not alone in our battle with the government raised the sights of teachers.

Mike Whale