Page 15

Young teachers' conference

Rethinking education

‘Inspiring’, ‘enjoyable’ and ‘a brilliant experience’ were delegates’ views of the 2010 NUT young teachers’ conference at Stoke Rochford in May. Janey Hulme reports.

A record 140 members – nearly half of them first-timers – attended the NUT’s annual young teachers’ conference. This year’s theme was ‘rethinking education’ and NUT president Gill Goodswen welcomed delegates, saying: “We need you and we need your ideas – you are the face and the future of this union.”

John Bangs, NUT head of education, stressed the need for schools, not the government, to be responsible for developing the curriculum. School accountability was in “a hopeless muddle”, he said, caused by the reforms of the 1990s as well as the last Labour government.

“We’ve muddled up pupil evaluation with teacher evaluation with school evaluation with system-wide evaluation,” John said, explaining that these should be distinct. “For pupils, we have to know how well they are doing and what is the next step in their learning. For teachers, we need to ask how better can I do my job and what support do I need? For schools, we need to ask how do we strengthen and develop the school for its pupils and relationship to the community, and how can we improve the system?”

Popular children’s author Alan Gibbons gave a sparkling talk peppered with humour and with his sharp take on the vagaries of government imposition in the education system. He said two visions of education co-existed – the business model, driven by targets, tests and league tables, where pupils are products on a conveyor belt, and true pedagogy.

“We have to re-invigorate the idea that a child is not a product. The way the SATs regime works is that a child is seen more and more as the old fashioned idea of an empty receptacle to be filled with educational liquid – one size fits all.”

There were workshops and task groups, on subjects from pensions to management bullying. Delegates also enjoyed the excellent food and time for swimming, gym, film, disco or just chilling out.

On Sunday, NUT deputy general secretary Kevin Courtney said it seemed there were two worlds in schools – teacher world and data world. He recounted a story from one of the weekend’s workshops. A head teacher stranded abroad by volcanic ash had inspired the teachers to think creatively. “They built a volcano in the classroom and plotted where the head was on a wall map.” Kevin said this contrasted with the “data world” with its endless form-filling and targets.

Summing up, NUT assistant secretary John Dixon thanked the young teachers for their ideas and engagement. He told them: “I hope this weekend has given you a deeper insight into the union and I hope we have looked at ways we can shape the union in the future, working together.”

• Saahid Hussain, Alicia Henry and Nial Pickering have been elected to the 2011 NUT young teachers’ conference steering group. In reserve are Claire Mills and Matthew Fazey.

If you would like to get more involved in the NUT, go to www.teachers.org.uk/getinvolved.

Weekend workshops

• Kiri Tunks from East London teachers’ association ran a workshop on teaching about conflict. She spoke of visiting Palestine last year with a trade union delegation. Her NUT association has produced A Little Piece of Ground – Ideas for teachers by Elizabeth Laird, set in Ramallah, Palestine, to encourage discussion. Download it from www.towerhamlets-sls.org.uk (under ‘Resources’).

• NUT London region ran a workshop chaired by young teachers’ advisory committee member and Westminster Teacher Association president Matt Bradley. Over 40 delegates discussed how to take forward the ‘We Want to Stay’ campaign, which is calling for measures to help young teachers in schools in London afford to live in the capital.

• Tracy Isaacs of Teachers Assurance shrewdly decided to hold her workshop in Stoke Rochford’s beautiful gardens. The combination of sunshine and expert advice attracted lots of young teachers to hear about pension planning.

“It was thoroughly enjoyable to discuss the issues affecting us all!”

“Useful but fun! I feel encouraged to become more involved.”

 “Useful advice on performance management and great discussion on SATs.”