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The NASUWT stands firm against classroom chaos

Britain’s teachers are gathering to tackle pupil indiscipline, education underfunding, the teacher supply crisis, age discrimination, poor pay, invasive assessment and pension reforms, writes CHRIS KEATES

TEACHERS from across Britain, the Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Gibraltar are gathering in Belfast for the annual conference of the NASUWT, the teachers’ union, over the Easter weekend.

This conference is a particularly special one for the NASUWT as we celebrate 100 years of the union being the voice of teachers. The conference will mark the start of its centenary celebrations.

The issues being debated at the conference have been selected by a ballot of all of the union’s teacher and head teacher members, ensuring that the motions are truly reflective of the issues that are important to teachers.

All the current concerns of teachers are reflected in the motions which have been balloted including teachers’ mental health, pupil indiscipline, education funding and the teacher supply crisis.

Age discrimination, pay, assessment, pension reforms and access to training are also high on the agenda.

The conference brings teachers together from eight countries in which the NASUWT organises, enabling them to share their experiences and debate the issues which are of concern to them in their working lives.

It is clear that although the education policies across the various nations and administrations may differ, teachers and head teachers are facing the same challenges — in particular low pay, pupil indiscipline, excessive workload and underfunding.

Excessive workload, the pressures of the accountability system and greater job insecurity are creating a toxic mix, leading to teachers experiencing increasing levels of stress, depression, anxiety and burnout.

Despite considerable hand-wringing and exhortation from ministers, governments and administrations throughout Britain have failed to take the necessary steps to deal with excessive workload in schools.

The NASUWT conference will be calling for radical action to tackle the workload crisis in schools and to ensure that teachers have the support and working conditions they need to enable them to get on with their job.

Pupil behaviour and indiscipline has always been an issue for teachers, but in recent years we have seen it rise up the list of concerns members tell us they have about their job.

Conference will debate a motion on pupil violence and abuse and will be sending a strong message that the union will continue to defend members through all means, including industrial action, where members’ safety and wellbeing is being put at risk due to pupil behaviour.

The NASUWT is clear that no teacher, whatever type of school they teach in, should have to face routinely, day after day, physical or verbal assault, threats and malicious allegations and go to work with the expectation they will be abused.

Sadly, for too many teachers physical and verbal abuse and violence is an all too common feature of many teachers’ working days and all too often when they raise these issues they are made to feel that they, not the perpetrators, are the problem. It is all too convenient for employers to blame the teachers rather than address the problem.

The NASUWT has experienced a significant increase last year in cases relating to unlawful discrimination by employers towards members.

This is reflected in the fact that age discrimination was voted as the top motion to be debated at conference.

All our evidence shows a catalogue of older teachers being disproportionately placed on capability procedures, denied access to professional development, subject to excessive observation and scrutiny, having pay awards and pay progression withheld and put under intense pressure to leave their job.

This reflects the wider inequality and discrimination which is rife across schools.

The NASUWT will be shining a spotlight on this unacceptable abuse over the conference weekend and highlighting the fact that too many employers believe they can act with impunity due to the government’s failure to take any action to secure compliance with employment law, allowing poor employment practices to flourish as a result of the excessive freedoms and flexibilities it has given to schools.

The NASUWT has a proud history of defending and protecting teachers in the face of turbulence and challenge and conference will reaffirm our commitment to continuing to do so.

Chris Keates is general secretary of the NASUWT.

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