The Supply Teachers Conference March 2016

My 2nd Supply Teachers Conference soon followed the LGBT Conference in February & it helps, I feel, that the Special Interest Conferences all fall on the same time (roughly)every year, it gives a certain structure to the Union calendar knowing:

• LGBTi Conference – is in February
• Supply Conference – is in March
• Disabled Conference – is in June

As such on the Friday after work I headed over to the NEC & the Hilton Metropole, where once again, like last year  I was met with a range of dogs in various costumes and state of pampering due to Crufts being on that weekend and many Crufts delegates were using this hotel.

It is quite something, to see pets, pooch’s and hounds dressed in matching outfits with their owners!

I arrived quite late in the evening, so I missed the evening meal, but was able to catch something to eat at the hotel.

However I was disappointed that unlike other special interest conference such as BME & more recently LGBTi there was no Guest Speaker, so it was simply a chance to catch up with colleagues which is always enjoyable aspect of any event.

The main topic of conversation was who was/wasn’t  going to National Conference later in the month, there was a lot of discussion on the new process for getting to Conference & how this had impacted on many divisions going only with Observer status, meaning they couldn’t contribute to debates/votes etc.

The following morning after a hearty breakfast that soaked up any residual alcohol in my system I made my way to the Main hall for the Conference, if you have read previous blogs the Conferences follow a similar theme,  this being:

• Key Note Speech – (On this occasion given by Patrick Roache)
• Q&A following this speech.
• interactive voting session.
• Morning workshops.
• Afternoon workshops.

Patrick Roaches’ key note speech was a discussion and reflection of the never ending deregulation of the Teaching profession and worsening standards of workers (including educational professionals) within the UK. It was very well received by the audience, who have been at the sharp end of this privatization of the education system.

Following this was the interactive session, whereby a range of questions are asked of any Special Interest Group to allow the Union to access current issues affecting that cohort.

Sadly I had to raise a question that the questions being polled were too generic and not relevant to Supply Teachers, for example the first question was:

‘How easy is it for you to get work?’

You had to answer the question on a rating system being 1 through 5 and from this the Union could assess the access to work for the delegates.

The problem with this question & others was that it did not understand the concept of Supply Teaching.

Supply differs from one person to the next I/e day to day supply, part time, weekly, monthly through to term bookings and does not consider the seasonal nature of Supply Work. This being  for all types of Supply there are differing rates of work available from Oct – May, but during the months of July, August & parts of September, this is no work available!

In fairness Paul Watkins who was organizing this event, took my comments/feedback in the manner it was intended, as constructive feedback for future events.

Following this session the morning workshops began, these included once again some dedicated training Supply Teachers might need including:

• Updates on the DBS Service
• First Aid Awareness Training
• Interactive whiteboard Training
• Supply Advisor
• The role of the supply teacher as an ambassador in school

I intended to visit the First Aid Awareness Training event, however this was heavily over subscribed, with only 25 places for the 150-200 delegates, as such it was somewhat of a scrum as it was a ‘first come – first served basis’

As such I visited first the Supply Advisor training session & then after a lovely lunch the Role of the Supply Teacher. Both were useful  sessions & updated my knowledge of the topics, but I did come away from the event feeling somewhat deflated, having felt that the same attention to detail reflected in other events/conferences was not quite there for the Supply Conference.

Overall if this conference was a lesson in school & I was on a ‘learning walk’ I would offer this feedback:

One unforeseen benefit of the weekend conference was meeting a colleague from previous Supply Conferences, Katherine Rohn who is involved with ‘Anti Knife UK’ & we had a chat over a coffee on what this organization has been doing over the last year.

Check out their amazing & invaluable work at:

http://antiknifeuk.org/

And on that note I will finish this blog with a ‘up beat’ song to celebrate another event! Let me take you back to 1986