I don’t usually follow the union conferences, given how irrelevant they are to what any serious educator does. But Tes flagged up that they were taking a pop at my last article on CEO pay, so I looked into them.
Take the NUT’s recent gathering. It is, of course, all too easy to knock the endless motions on subjects that have little to do with teaching: chess, Trump’s forthcoming visit or whether they should affiliate with Labour. But it was the headline “We will break primary assessment”, about the NUT, that made my blood boil.
That phrase sums it up perfectly: through bleating, striking or non-administration, they would rather use children as pawns in their politics than sit down and co-construct a system that works for all. Not prepared to put their professional credibility on the line by showing us what they really know, they instead seek to derail what has, at last, been a genuine attempt by the government to get it right.
When will the NUT and ATL realise that, in this case, size doesn’t matter? Just getting bigger does nothing if you can’t win the educational argument; if you shout louder, people listen less. Of course, just like a spoilt child, because no one is listening, they are now threatening to strike. Again.
The students will suffer
Striking is an embarrassment to the profession. It’s the students who suffer most - their education held hostage by rabble-rousers who enjoy the righteous indignation of waving a placard on the picket line.
Action also cuts no ice with parents who have to rearrange their working time. And if that weren’t enough, striking makes not one jot of difference to the issues at hand. Yes, funding is extremely difficult right now, but are those in government really going to change their minds because of a strike?
The truth is that on the issues that the profession cares most deeply about - funding cuts, grammar schools, testing and assessment - neither talking nor striking is going to change the government’s direction.
One therefore has to ask: what is the point of the unions? Union leaders are quick to name and shame multi-academy trust CEOs for their pay. We are rightly held accountable by Ofsted, regional schools commissioners, the Department for Education, the Public Accounts Committee and so on. Who is holding the lefty fat-cat general secretaries - and their £150,000 pay packages - to account? What are they delivering for their members? Absolutely zip.
What are they doing about the retention crisis? What are they doing to support young teachers to hone their skills or help experienced colleagues before they jack it all in?
Or are they in fact contributing to the retention crisis, sowing discord with their increasingly shrill attacks?
The reality is that union high command is so busy with cultivating their own celebrity that they have become completely disconnected from classroom life.
There’s one bit of my job that sticks in my craw. To my shame, I’ve done deals with each of the three major unions to pay to get rid of a teacher or headteacher who isn’t up to it. Rewarding years of mediocrity with garden leave and pay is bad enough, but what is worse is leaving the care of young people in these hands a minute longer than I have to.
The smug “I’ve done the best for my member” look on a union rep’s face is a betrayal of our profession.
Most teachers and headteachers are professionals with integrity who work tirelessly to give children the start they deserve. I wish they were represented by unions that did the same.
The author is the CEO of a multi-academy trust somewhere in England
