Teacher union conference season is upon us and I’m sure there is much that teachers would like to say to their general secretaries.

This weekend the NUT is meeting for the very last time before its amalgamation with the ATL to create the National Education Union.

The combined membership will make a union of over 450,000 people and the fourth largest union in the country. Surely we can now expect an organisation that will have a measure of clout with the government.

Now is certainly a time when we need to show some unification, and other teaching unions need to bear this in mind, as we seem to have so many issues affecting our education system.

It is no exaggeration to say we were in a period of “crisis” demonstrated in many ways, but none better than the simple fact that the numbers wanting to join the profession are far lower than those leaving and intending to leave.

Is this any wonder when you review the last few years in education?

Pressing issue

There is so much for the unions to address, but let’s start with rubbish pay, insane workload, the epidemic in testing, drastic funding cuts, the shortage in decent academy chains and the awful curriculum.

Most pressing, however, is that for too many years ordinary teachers have felt as if they have no professional voice in this country.

The NEU has plenty to take on, but the over-riding task of Kevin Courtney and Mary Bousted is to ensure all dedicated and hardworking teachers, irrespective of age and experience, believe they have this voice.

They are fed up with being treated as bit-parts in the system. Education is in desperate need of change and for once this needs to be thought out and based on the views of teachers. It is they, after all, who know their pupils best.  

How to achieve that loud and distinct voice is what needs to be discussed this weekend more than anything else.

Colin Harris led a school in a deprived area of Portsmouth for more than two decades. His last two Ofsted reports were “outstanding” across all categories

To read more of Colin’s articles, visit his back catalogue

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