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Your Union
Wise up on workload
The NUT's new booklet Workload - Stronger Together gives guidance on workload issues, from leadership time to email overload. It outlines teachers' rights under the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document and other workplace regulations and legislation.
Download at
www.teachers.org.uk/workload.
My role in the Union
The Young Teachers' Officer
Laura-Jane Fisher is the School Rep at Horbury School in Wakefield and Young Teachers' Officer for Wakefield NUT.
When did you first become active in the Union?
I have been a member of the NUT ever since my PGCE. I always knew it was wise to be in a union and that they could help out in certain things - but I never thought they would save my career when I was thinking of leaving teaching.
What role do you currently hold?
In May last year our school rep resigned and it was suggested that I take over. I had never really thought about playing an active role in the Union before.
I'd thought I was struggling with my teaching, but all that changed the minute I became the rep and was sent on a reps' course. I learnt how to help other teachers and discovered there were many others having the same problems as myself.
What does the role involve?
I started going to my local meetings and became Young Teachers' Officer for our area. This meant I was in touch with young teachers who had experienced what I had and I was able to help. I went to meetings of newly qualified teachers and it was lovely to be able to help them with a range of problems, from managing money to managing lessons.
What are the best aspects of the role?
Going to the NUT's young teachers' conference, where I learnt more about young teachers and their problems. It's wonderful to know you can support someone - sometimes just by listening, other times by taking action.
The NUT has offered me opportunities I didn't get with just teaching. On weekends I go on marches with them, making stands about important issues. We have social events where I get to meet like-minded people and, best of all, I know there is someone to listen when things go wrong.
And what are the worst?
It is sometimes heartbreaking to hear bad experiences. I find it hard to hear about the dreadful things some people go through in teaching, such as bullying heads and students that say nasty things to them. It astonishes me what some teachers have to put up with.
What changes would you like to see?
If I could change anything I would ensure that everyone was active in the Union. The NUT is so much more than just another company that you pay a direct debit to every month.
If you are interested in becoming an NUT rep, or playing another active role in the Union, go to
www.teachers.org.uk/getinvolved.
100 years ago
The Schoolmaster, 11 February 1911
The Women's World
An alarming accident is reported to have taken place in a private school for young ladies in Edinburgh. A science teacher and her pupils were burned, and all suffered shock, through an explosion in the classroom. The mistress was demonstrating the properties of sodium, a metal which, as is well known, 'fizzes' on the surface owing to its energetic decomposition, and which explodes violently when put into tepid water. The class numbered about thirty and a good proportion of the young ladies had gathered round a basin of water to watch the experiment. A piece of sodium was dropped in and for a few moments darted spluttering from side to side. The teacher dropped another piece into the water and almost instantly there was a sharp explosion, and hot metal burst up into the faces of the teacher and class.
Panic seized the girls, who darted away shrieking. A number received painful burns and one young lady was seized with hysterics. The teacher, too, sustained a burn to her face and all struck by the metal had their injuries treated with oil.
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