Recognising Local Activists at Regional Council

Today, I was very privileged to present the awards for South East Regional Officer and Rep of the Year at our regional council meeting. These awards, which I presented alongside my executive colleague Jackie Baker, recognise best practice across the union, in terms of engaging, organising and supporting members.

The two winners of the awards, David Stalley (Rep of the Year) and Marcia DeCruz (Officer of the Year) both demonstrated the extent to which local activists really are the bedrock of the union. They make the difference as to whether members feel supported, are well organised and develop the collective confidence to improve their working lives.

Activist Meetings in District 18

OK. So the first two meetings (in Windsor & Maidenhead and West Berkshire) have now taken place but they have already been replaced by two additional meetings in Banbury and Thame (both Oxfordshire). This brings the current list up to ten again:

• 4th May - Bracknell Forest - 4.30pm - Peacock Farm RG12 8SS
• 9th May - Slough - 4.30pm - Chalvey Community Centre SL1 2SL
• 10th May - Buckinghamshire - 5pm - Beaconsfield School HP9 1SJ
• 10th May - Milton Keynes - 5.30pm - St Paul's Catholic School MK6 5EN
• 11th May - Reading / Wokingham - 4.30pm - Maiden Erlegh School RG6 7HS
• 12th May - Oxfordshire (Didcot) 5.30pm - St Birinus School OX11 8AZ
• 13th May - Oxfordshire (Witney) - 4pm - The Fleece OX28 4AZ
• 18th May - Slough / Windsor & Maidenhead - 5pm - SportsAble SL6 1BN
• 20th May - Oxfordshire (Banbury) - 4pm - Banbury Town Hall OX16 5JS
• 23rd May - Oxfordshire (Thame) - 7pm - Thame Town Hall OX9 3DP

Reaching Out to Members

Week #1 Meeting #2

Today, I was in Thatcham to meet with West Berkshire activists about the ballot campaign. The meeting was divided into two parts. There was a training on academy conversion in the afternoon with Regional Officer Nick Childs, during which we also discussed how to reach out to schools across the authority, and I led a briefing after school on the white paper, in which we discussed how to engage members at school level.

Engaging the Community: The Campaign Kicks Off!

Week #1 Meeting #1

Today, it felt like our white paper campaign had kicked off in earnest locally with the first of 10 meetings for Reps & activists  in District 18 (or so I thought). The first meeting was in Windsor & Maidenhead, where a new committee has recently been elected after several years of no activity in the area. Much of the discussion focused on how to engage the wider community in opposition to the white paper.

National Executive: White Paper Campaign and National Action Campaign

Kevin Courtney opened this afternoon's National Executive meeting by describing the White Paper as an existential threat to state education and an existential threat to our terms and conditions. He set out the NUT's aims in our campaign, not just to defeat the white paper but also to slow down and stop voluntary conversion of academies. While the white paper is still in play, voluntary conversion is essentially doing the Tory's work for them. Additionally, there can be no genuine voluntary conversion when the policy context is pressuring schools down this route.

Organising & Membership

This morning's meeting of the Organising and Membership Committee discussed three main areas:

• The Union's response to recruitment challenges brought about by the growth of Schools Direct and 'free' schools. These have the potential to affect the traditional recruitment routes via student recruitment at universities and school-based recruitment in schools with existing union groups and a history of union activity. This emphasises the importance of our organising work and of building a union presence and recruiting workplace reps in every school, including new schools.

Training and Professional Development

Today's meeting of the NUT Training & Professional Development Subcommittee started by welcoming the success of the recent one-day Division Secretaries' Briefing.  The use of a larger venue at Congress House enabled a greater attendance, meaning that a wider layer of activists (beyond just Division Secretaries) could attend.  This was welcomed by the committee.

Recruiting and Supporting Reps

There was an interesting discussion at yesterday's NUT Eastern Region Executive about Rep recruitment and support.  Workplace Representatives are absolutely essential to the NUT in the current situation.  Firstly, because of the increasing fragmentation of the system we need to respond effectively to issues at workplace level.  It is the workplace Rep who is best placed to do this in the first instance.  Secondly, mounting an effective resistance to fragmentation, marketisation and privatisation rests on our ability to organise and mobilise our membership.  This necessitates a strong level of workplace organisation and the workplace Rep is crucial to this.

Training Our Activists for the Future

Over recent years, the NUT has begun the process of rebuilding itself as an organising union which draws strength from its membership and prioritises workplace organisation.  This has necessitated a complete shift in our approach to Rep training.  NUT Reps form the bedrock of the Union and, in response to the current fragmentation of the education system, have a key and increasing responsibility for organising teachers in their workplace.

More for NUT Reps

The National Executive on Thursday received a report of a new tool for NUT Representatives which allows them to view and update their school membership records.  NUT Reps can register scurely and access the service at https://www.teachers.org.uk/yourmembers.