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Upfront
Helping women get active in the NUT
A day to encourage women to play an active part in the NUT takes place on Saturday 2 February at NUT HQ in London. ‘Women United: A round-table on Women in the NUT’ will encourage women’s participation in the Union at all levels.
To register, email
j.rampling@nut.org.uk no later than 14 January. A crèche will be available and travel costs reimbursed.
Send My Friend 2013
This year’s Send My Friend to School campaign, supported by the NUT, focuses on the global teacher shortage and invites UK teachers and pupils to call on world leaders to rectify this. United Nations estimates put the shortage of teachers at 1.7 million worldwide.
In 2000, world leaders promised that every child would receive a quality primary education by 2015, but over 60 million are still missing out and millions more struggle to learn in oversized classes.
Zione attends Chikowa Primary School in Malawi. “In our class there are 154 of us,” she explains. “When we write we have to write on our laps.”
Vyapbong Dorkat, Head Teacher of Yangoji Primary School, Nigeria, adds: “Another problem is the poor pay… all the teachers here have some form of other job to make ends meet.“
Cross-curricular resources for the campaign will be available from February. Lesson activities will help pupils understand the situation in schools overseas. They will be asked to take part in creative action to engage their MP on the issue.
Sign up for free campaign resources at
www.sendmyfriend.org
GCSE grading case in court
The judicial review of the decisions that led to a shift in the grade boundaries for last summer’s GCSE English exams began on 11 December. The NUT, the only classroom teachers’ union involved, and head teachers and councils were outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London for the review, which involved exam boards AQA and Edexcel and the exam regulator Ofqual.
A total of 167 pupils, 150 schools and 42 English councils, and six professional bodies are taking the action. An estimated 10,000 students who took the exam in June 2012 missed out on a C grade as a result of the shift in grade boundaries.
Christine Blower, General Secretary of the NUT, said: “The lead from the Welsh Government should have been followed… Michael Gove missed the opportunity to correct this unfairness to students in England. I sincerely hope the High Court takes a different view and rectifies this injustice.”
As we went to press, a judgment was expected early in 2013. Check
www.teachers.org.uk for updates.
Upfront Got a story? Email our newsdesk at
j.hulme@
nut.org.uk.
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