One major aspect that came from the Supply Teacher Seminar in Sept & one that I spoke on at both this Seminar & at my local division level was the lack of training events for supply teachers at weekends & during holidays.

It is a basic point, but one that needs saying again & again, if supply teachers take up the Union training opportunities it means they will have to lose money and possible future work, by not being available for work at this time with their agencies. I raised this point and used the most recent NASUWT training booklet as a prime example at the Supply Teachers Seminar, for example out of 43 dates for one course in this booklet only one was run at a weekend. The argument for this was that we do not want to give up our hard fought battle for time off for union training, which is a valid argument, but does not help the ‘Special Interest’ groups like supply teachers who have more diverse needs.

The simple fact is supply teachers are being discriminated against  by the lack of weekend/holiday training events.

From the Supply Seminar in Sept, our union has reacted & put on a number of safeguarding training opportunities for supply teachers which are run at weekends.

I attended one last weekend at Rednal

It covered all the major aspects supply teachers require for Safeguarding & was an excellent course, which was accredited & certificates issued to provide evidence were major plus points.

Whilst the course was very condensed & could have been at least a full day, it is good news the Union are reacting and offering training opportunities such as these.

More please, on more diverse areas & lets have more weekend/holiday dates for all the courses in the current training booklet, but in the first instance – well done to the training dept,

If we can moan, we can also say thanks when they respond to specific requests such as these.

Billy Bragg released this song in 1987 whereby he sung about Government (Thatcher’s) attempting to cripple the Trade Union movement, the lyrics start with:

‘This government had an idea
And parliament made it law
It seems like it’s illegal
To fight for the union any more’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbddqXib814

Nearly 30 years on & another Government (the same political party) are still attacking the unions.

Question:
What has changed in 30 years?

Billy also sung about the Power in the union, in the song of the same title singing:
‘There is power in a factory, power in the land
Power in the hands of a worker
But it all amounts to nothing if together we don’t stand there is power in a union’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwbzxemJZIc

In my humble opinion there is not enough social commentary in music these days, but Billy’s message 30 years on still resonate!

I hope you enjoy a blast from the past, and if you have not heard the songs for a while or haven’t heard them before Enjoy!

One thing the summer was dominated by was the Leadership campaign for the Labour party.

The election result in May was very clear, whist the general public do not trust the Conservative party (they only rec’d 24% of the vote) the general public had even less faith in Labour.

In general all three major political parties took a kicking one way or another!

The general mood in my opinion was that Labour had moved to far towards the  ‘centre ground’ & there was little to separate the two major parties & into this vacuum floated UKIP.

As such the Labour party had to decide where it went from this this 2nd bruising election defeat, were they to become ‘New – New Labour’ or even ‘Old Labour’.

The summer was dominated with hustings where one or another candidate blamed each other, or each others policies I/e the Blairites & Brownities went to war with each other.

Until another voice began to be heard, one that had a different message and one that spoke of open, honest politics, removed from spin & offering a move to the left and different choices to hardline austerity.

The Labour membership under new voting regulations voted by an amazing level (nearly 60%) to give this new voice a chance, and there is one thing that is certain, no longer can voters say their is not a choice, there is no difference between the two major parties, that austerity is our only option, that the poorest have to take the hardest burdens.

Time will tell if this voice will be heard & accepted by those outside of the Labour party, but one thing is certain there are now choices for the first time in a very long while to this Tory ideological manifesto and no longer can it be said that there is nothing between the two major parties.

Lets be having you Mr Corbyn & welcome!

Many apologies for the break in blogging, as teachers we are working flat out & then mid July comes & everything stops!

So here is my first blog of the new 2015/16 term which to begin with will review where we left off last term!

Mid June I attended the Disabled Teachers Conference in Birmingham & as seems to be the case the first point of order was catching up with friends from previous events/conferences/national conference.

Now whist it may not of been ‘Central Perk’ having attended a number of these events it is good that there is a chance to catch up, socialize and chat with friends before the event began, in yet another excellent location.

The Disabled teachers conference is one of many ‘special interest’ groups that the union represent, if you would like to check these out they are located on the website, hyperlink below:

http://www.nasuwt.org.uk/ ‘Get Support’

The conference is a forum/platform for members to discuss topical issues facing Disabled Teachers, it was chaired by Dr. Patrick Roach & Jenifer Moses, and gave members the opportunity to debate a range of issues, discuss the needs of disabled teachers both from our employers and also the support we are given by the union.

The guest speaker was Peter Purton of the TUC

who discussed the issues disabled people are facing under this Government, it was a very concerning, thought provoking talk on the harm & inequality the current G’vmnt policies are causing.

Lunch was superb,

before afternoon workshops on a range of maters, which allowed delegates the chance to network, get come CPD opportunity or simply enjoy a discussion/debate on educational matters.

Hand on heart on of the best things our union does is events like these, forums/platforms for like minded people to come together, if you have yet to sample an event like this, do yourself a favor & attend one this year!

Next weekend is the Disabled Teachers Conference, which for me is the BIG ONE!

When I considered teaching as a profession and when I entered teaching many moons ago I felt underwhelmed with the lack of support there was for disabled teachers through the teaching providers, teaching unions and employers, yet in the last 10 years equality & equality issues have become more & more relevant in society & perceptions & the support given have changed/improved.

Alongside this we now have mainstream disabled role models who young people can connect with and appreciate, & lets not forget forget to mention the sucessfull 2014 Paralympic Games.

NASUWT (alongside the other unions) now have support networks for Disabled Teachers, LGBT, Black & Minority/Ethnic Teachers, Women, Young Teachers etc..

Over the last 10 years as a Disabled Teacher I have been an Ambassador for the Teaching Development Agency (TDA) &   now the Dept of Education & also Skill The National Bureau for Students with Disabilities to highlight and support people with disabilities choosing teaching as a profession.

• So why are there still so few Disabled teachers?
• Whats happening with funding?
• Why are the Government support networks disappearing?
• What are the issues facing Disabled Teachers?

Next week I hope to explore these questions  many other topics with the DTC….

Check in to find out how it went.