One objective of this blog, is to give an insight into a teacher at a Shropsire school, so here goes (I promise I have not made any of this up)

Monday & the week begins with a briefing by my school’s leadership team on the dangers of students being radicalized, caused in part by the three teenage girls from East London going to Syria, it should have been a warning as it was all downhill from there, & a sad sign of the additional areas teachers now have to be aware or on the look-out for. The full teaching day ended with a deot. meeting that wrapped the day up in a  nice bow, away from school by about 5pm

Tuesday – Followed in the steps of Monday with a full days teaching and the pace of week started to gather, the day wrapped up with a spot of extra curriculum Rugby Training for the Yr 9’s, away from the school by about 5pm again.

Wednesday – My first free lesson of the week & you would expect a chance to catch breath, not a chance as put on cover, then into teaching for the rest of the day, left school by 4pm, however didn’t walk into my house until after 8pm as my children had their extra school clubs & so was transferring them from one to another! Teachers on the other end of the extra school club demands for once, but either way I am still caught up in it!

Thursday – The finishing line is in sight, its been a long week and as I drive in I can’t believe I still have two days teaching to do,  as I look at my timetable I sigh with frustration another full day, as my school has a two week timetable & most of my frees & PPA’s are next week! Once more into the breech I charge and once again plough through the day. However an extra bonus for me this week is my formal observation with a KS5 class, so the natural stress levels are risen further.

Also I have a parents evening tonight so I am here meeting the folks & pressing the flesh until 7pm, by now I am shattered and I still have a day to go before the weekend.

Friday – Finally its Friday and the weekend looms, but not before three KS3 lessons throughout the day with my lower set classes, so no chance to coast into the weekend, classroom management is high on the agenda today to keep the lower ability classes on task.

Friday afternoon is here at last!

What a week, and over the weekend I have to mark at least two sets of class books & prepare materials/lessons for my lessons next week.

Equality Officers:

• promoting and supporting the equalities agenda within the Local Association
• working alongside the other officers of the Local Association to bring equalities into the mainstream;
• encouraging members form under-represented groups to become involved in Union activity;
• supporting recruitment and organising of members from under-represented groups;
• promoting equality issues in local campaigns and activities;
• advising on equalities issues affecting members

Is the official remit of a ‘EO’

When I read that I was ‘wow – that seems a challenge’ but now having spoken with various members at Division and speaking through the role with the training & events team at NASUWT I am starting to get an idea of the role  & its as much about getting the message out there of all the support networks, opportunities & events that support, Young Teachers, Women Teachers, BME, LGBT, Disabled Teachers etc…that our Union organize.

I am starting to see an area where I could contribute and help spread this message! Hopefully in part through this blog, through my reports being shared by Division with school rep’s in the area & by attending Equality Events and conferences.

Happy Day’s!

‘LGBT Conference’:

On the 7^th February I attended the national Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) conference in Birmingham. It was held at the Holiday Inn in Birmingham & around 100 delegates attended from around the United Kingdom. I was sat on a table of 8 and the majority on my table had flown in from Northern Ireland the night before, Their stories on how LGBT Teachers from this region were being treated was eye opening to the say the least!

Christine Keates the NASUWT General Secretary opened the conference with her keynote speech & spoke about her experiences in negotiations with the major political parties when addressing LGBT rights within the profession and  also when discussing changes to the educational system. Christine then talked with passion about the Union’s major strategies of 100 days until the election & the ‘Big Question survey.

Following this there were fringe events, training opportunities and one of the best Shepard’s Pie for lunch I have tasted in a long time!  A couple of delegates (the Northern Ireland lot again) even jumped on the piano & belted out Adele’s ‘Someone like You’.

I even had a brief chat over the amazing Shepard’s Pie with my General Secretary before checking out all the stalls and conference exhibitors such as Stonewall who gave me loads of free resources to use back in school!

A great Saturday was had & I was even home to see Final Score on the BBC!

Sadly Leyton Orient Lost!

‘A little about me’

I have been a teacher for 11 years and worked in secondary schools throughout the West Midlands. After working in various Shropshire schools over the last few years I found myself via various supply placements at my current school.

I found that the major staff voice was that of the NASUWT & observed how my school rep communicated with staff during last year’s industrial action and the major upheavals to the education system during this coalition Government.

Slowly I have become more involved and engaged with issues addressing my school, the regional & wider national issues affecting my profession, and having become involved I recently was elected at the Equalities officer for the Telford division and wanted to share my experiences with other members to promote what is happening in our union,

Equalities has always something I have been interested in and connected with as it has affected me directly, I have Dyslexia and the support I received through my union has proved invaluable.

I hope you enjoy the blogs, updates from division meetings, regional conferences, training events and my experiences at National conference, along the way I hope it might just convince you to get involved also.

Enjoy the journey!