Page 3 

Contents

Features July/August 2010

12 Save our schools – stand up for state education
The government’s plans for academies and free schools threaten our state education system. The NUT and other unions have united to oppose them.

15 Rethinking education
Young teachers debate the future for education at their annual conference.

21 Photo competition
Capture teaching in the 21st century and win prizes for you and your school.

25 Learning with the NUT
Our four-page pull-out sets out NUT CPD opportunities for 2010-11.

33 Beyond behaviour
Giles Barrow explains transactional analysis and how it can help teachers.

34 Annual financial statement
The NUT’s balance sheet for 2009.

40 Epilepsy and education
The National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy wants to train teachers about this little-understood condition.

43 Life changing
Jackie Barnes explains how the Steve Sinnott Fellowship helped her set up a project of ‘wrap-around’ support to help underachieving teenagers fulfill their potential.

50 Olympic opportunities
Olympic gold medallist and trained teacher James Cracknell believes all schoolchildren can be engaged by London 2012.

Cover image: Cisale/istockphoto

Regulars

4  Upfront

11 International

16 Your union

22 Ask the union

30 Teachnology

36 Reviews

39 Noticeboard

44 Staffroom confidential

46 Letters

You can print pages from The Teacher, email articles to friends and even add your own notes with The Teacher Online. Go to www.teachers.org.uk and click on the link.

The Teacher is the magazine of the National Union of Teachers, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD

Tel.020 7388 6191 www.teachers.org.uk

Moved, or changed job? Call the NUT on 0845 300 1666 or visit www.teachers.org.uk and click on ‘Update your membership’.

Welcome

Just weeks into the coalition government, the state education system is in jeopardy.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has invited all schools rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted to be fast- tracked to academy status from as early as this September. If they go ahead, teachers could lose their nationally negotiated pay and conditions, schools will no longer have access to services and support from their local authority, and publicly funded buildings and land will pass into private hands. Yet the government has decided there is no need for consultation with staff or parents before a school makes the irreversible move to academy status.

The NUT has joined forces with teaching unions ATL and NASUWT and support staff unions GMB, Unison and Unite to oppose these proposals, which constitute the biggest threat to state education we have seen in a generation.

Michael Gove is also urging groups of parents and volunteers to set up state-funded ‘free schools’ in old shops and offices, creating surplus places just when his colleagues at the Treasury say the education budget must be cut by up to 25 per cent.

Meanwhile, Chancellor George Osborne has announced a two-year pay freeze for teachers and other public sector workers from 2011 and has set up a review of “unsustainable” public sector pensions.

The NUT has long pressed for professional unity. Standing together now is more important than ever before. Please join our campaign to save our schools – see pages 4-5, 12-13 and 22.

Elyssa Campbell-Barr 
Editor

President: Gill Goodswen

General secretary: Christine Blower

Deputy general secretary: Kevin Courtney

Editor: Elyssa Campbell-Barr

Journalist: Janey Hulme

Administration: Maryam Hulme

Editorial support: Peta Lunberg

Design templates: Home

Newsdesk T: 020 7380 4708 F: 020 7387 8458 E: teacher@nut.org.uk

To advertise contact: Ollie Kirkman, Century One Publishing, Alban Row, 27-31 Verulam Road, St Albans AL3 4DG T: 01727 893894 E: ollie@centuryone publishing.ltd.uk

Except where the NUT has formally negotiated agreements with companies as part of its services to members, inclusion of an advertisement in The Teacher does not imply any form of recommendation. While every effort is made to ensure the reliability of advertisers, the NUT cannot accept any liability for the quality of goods or services offered. The Teacher is printed by TU Ink, London, on paper that is manufactured from sustainable forests and is elemental chlorine free.