TODAY, the National Education Union annual conference begins in Bournemouth.

Over four days, we will debate the burning issues facing our movement — pay, the cost-of-living crisis forced on us by this callous government, education and how to reform it for our students.

Over the past seven months, I have had the opportunity to visit many of our local branches and districts as your national president.

There, members have raised with me the issues that matter to them, in their workplace, their phase or their locality.

What has been most heartwarming to see is the solidarity that has been demonstrated by our members with the people of Ukraine.

In this union we oppose Vladimir Putin’s invasion, we stand with the people of Ukraine, we oppose war, and we oppose all escalations to war.

We are a union that stands as part of the international solidarity movement, we stand with oppressed people around the world, and we are a union that welcomes refugees.

I am amazed by the solidarity that humanity has demonstrated with the people of Ukraine.

But we do not forget the children of Afghanistan facing famine, those fleeing war in Syria, or those on the coast of Libya about to make the perilous crossing over the Mediterranean in the face of Frontex hostility. 

Last week I was in Calais, with NEU members assisting Care 4 Calais in their humanitarian efforts to support refugees trapped there by an inhumane borders system. I was shocked by the number of unaccompanied children, aged 13, 14, 15…

While there, I met a young boy of 15. He was from South Sudan, a nation torn apart by conflict resulting in the loss of life of 400,000 people and the displacement of over two million.

He supports Manchester United and wants to live in Manchester. He dreams of finding sanctuary in Britain and becoming a doctor. He is a child, with dreams like any other child in our classrooms.

But his dreams are being destroyed by a system that neither listens nor cares.

We have to say very clearly, as a union and as a profession, that refugee status should not be determined by skin colour. All refugees are welcome here.

My father and his family, when seeking sanctuary from the Mengistu regime in Ethiopia, were at least able to make it in.

Since then, the British state has become increasingly hostile to those seeking sanctuary. The hostile environment, first dreamed up by Labour in 2007 and built upon by successive Conservative governments, can only be brought to an end through our acts of solidarity. 

We stand with refugees and oppose war because we care about children.

Children are central to all the decisions we make. I became a teacher because I believed, and I still believe, in the power of education to change young minds and to change the world.  

Whether teaching compassion for those seeking refuge from war and destruction or challenging the racism they far too often face when they arrive, our role as educators is invaluable.

Some say that educators should talk about such things from a politically impartial standpoint. But I can’t. There is no balance here, we can’t teach “some people are fascists, some are not, both are legitimate.” 

Racism, fascism, Islamophobia, anti-semitism and all other forms of oppression are wrong and that is how they should be taught. 

So, as we gather in Bournemouth today, yes, we will stand strong for our members, for their right to decent pay and a fair contract.

But we make no apology for also standing for workers of every land in their fight for justice and equality.

Daniel Kebede is NEU president.