National Education Union confirmed

In an historic decision today, members of the NUT and ATL have voted overwhelmingly to unite in the creation of a new National Education Union.

This is a significant step forward for teacher trades unionism, which has been divided for far too long, exposing significant weakness in the face of a government assault on our conditions of service and our education system. The new union would bring together teachers and other education professionals in a single organisation of half a million members.

You Can't Test This - Day 3 maths

So today's puzzle looked like this:

It's the first of a series of fraction codes to finish the week. I have to say, the discussion I have had with the children while they work on these problems has given me the most accurate assessment data I have ever had and not a 'test' in sight!

Can you solve it?

Putting Children First

I am sick to the back teeth of the reductionist, box-ticking, curriculum-narrowing, enthusiasm-crushing, soul-destroying, high-stakes Exam Factory culture that hangs, like a dark oppressive cloud of broken dreams, over our schools and our children’s education.

OK. That may seem a little strong but, if like me, you are a primary school teacher, or have a child in primary school, I suspect you know where I am coming from.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not opposed to assessment. How could I be? It is at the very heart of what I do as a teacher. I assess children’s learning from the moment they enter my classroom at 8.40am until I finish my marking at 11pm. I assess through targeted questioning during whole class teaching, through in depth discussion during independent and group work. I assess through marking written work, and taking notes of oral work and contributions to discussion. I probe children’s understanding, looking for misconceptions through which to take learning forward. And yes, I assess through setting and marking tests when that is the most effective way of gathering the information I need.

You Can't Test This - Day 2 maths

So here's today's problem. Y5 have cracked the code and are part way through transcribing the message...

You Can't Test This - Day 1 maths

My Y5s solved the code. Can you?

Teaching by Numbers vs Professionalism in Education

There was a lot of discussion at this year's NUT Conference about the impact that the increasing obsession with data has on education - the pressure towards teaching by numbers - and of teacher professionalism as the alternative to this.

Most teachers would describe themselves as education professionals but what does this actually mean?

Bacc for the Future?

Nicky Morgan is attempting to breath new life into Michael Gove's plan to further narrow the secondary curriculum through the introduction of an English Baccalaureate. The Incorporated Society of Musicians has begun a campaign to prevent the exclusion of arts subjects from the new qualification and this has already drawn wide support.

This links with the broad Bacc for the Future campaign which defeated earlier proposals and has been revived. Members are encouraged to sign up to support this campaign here.

False 'Solutions' to Teacher Workload

Following the General Secretary's report to the Executive, a discussion developed on the danger of false 'solutions' to the issue of teacher workload.

Whilst Nicky Morgan has not yet released the outcome of the government's 'Workload Challenge' and discussions with Unions are continuing, recent comments made by the Secretary of State are deeply disturbing. Speaking at the BETT conference on education in technology Nicky Morgan made the following comments (full text here):

Organising and Campaigning in Reading

This weekend was Reading NUT's annual Rep Training Weekend.  School Reps and activists from across Reading come together on Friday evening for a keynote speech and dinner, then a day's training on the Saturday.  There were a number of sessions throughout the weekend but the key themes of the event were campaigning and organising.

This started on the Friday with the Education Manifesto.

What it Means to be a Teacher

Yesterday, I had an experience that reminded me what it means to be a teacher.

In the current world of deep marking, data analysis, work scrutiny, learning walks and lesson observation, it is sometimes difficult to remember why we came into teaching and what it is we are here to do.  From the current set of priorities forced on most schools, you could be forgiven for thinking that we were employed to create an immaculate set of 30 books that would go out into the world and... or to hone our skills to prepare the perfect performance for an external set of teaching 'experts', using children as props to show off our skills... or that the key to education was to produce comprehensive evidence of 3 steps progress (whatever that actually means) for every child every year...

National Executive: Standing Up for Education

When we launched our national Stand Up for Education campaign in March 2014, it would have been impossible to predict quite where we would be only 8 months later.  The campaign was a response to two things:

• The end of our joint strike action with the NASUWT and the first national strike action taken by the NUT alone since we began action on pensions 3 years earlier - this presented us with both dangers, in particular of being isolated, and opportunities, namely the opportunity to broaden our campaign and to deepen parental and wider community involvement.
• A developing feeling that the NUT, and the Trade Union movement more widely, had to build broader alliances in order to campaign effectively against policies which are not just limited to teachers' terms and conditions but which affect education in the broadest sense.

Some thoughts on #M26

Below are some thoughts on #M26, written the day after the strike.  They have been published on the Education for the People blog and in the Morning Star but I thought it might be useful to put them here for NUT members in my executive area to consider and respond to.  If you have any thoughts, email me at g.little@executive.nut.org.uk.

Expert View

Far too much education policy is not based on research or evidence but instead on political fads. For example, the current drive to deregulate teaching with the introduction of unqualified teachers, pay with the removal of the national framework and schools with the development of 'free' schools and academies has no basis in evidence at all. Indeed, all the available evidence suggests these things are more likely to damage children's education than to improve it.

Extending the School Day?

This half term has given me a real opportunity to reflect on what education is and what it could be.  Over the past three days, I have taken part in three very different activities with my daughters Rosa (3 years) and Clara (10 months).