National Union Of Teachers Research Articles

Constructing solidarity through social justice in education: from collaboration and conflict to amalgamation between Swedish teacher unions

ABSTRACT Trade union collaboration on issues of social justice connects workers to each other and to their wider communities and is therefore considered a strategy of union renewal. Prior to their amalgamation on 1 January 2023, Lärarförbundet (Swedish Teachers’ Union) and Lärarnas Riksförbund (National Union of Teachers in Sweden) collaborated intermittently to challenge educational injustices in the highly segregated Swedish school market. Through documentary research, with dialogue as method, this case study explores the policies and politics of this inter-union collaboration. Using ‘framing’ and ‘intermediation’ as conceptual lenses, we argue that the two unions collaborated predominantly, but to varying degrees, on bargaining, political, and professional issues. However, these joint actions were conducted in the context of declining union membership, competitive national recruitment agendas, and the rise of grassroots teacher-led ‘rebellion’ groups campaigning for public education. External solidarity in organising was therefore limited by inter-organisational and intra-professional differentiation and both unions’ orientation towards a service model of unionism. Future research might explore the complexity of intra-union collaboration in the newly amalgamated Sveriges Lärare and the extent to which regional branch activism and broader alliances with social movements could promote a more democratic organising agenda.

“George Orwell Invented Journalism Studies”

To inaugurate our series of conversations with scholars in journalism studies with a view to securing some useful insights into the history and practice of journalism education, Prof. Richard Lance Keeble appeared an obvious choice. Now an Honorary Professor at Liverpool Hope University, Prof. Keeble was first director of the International Journalism MA, then director of the Journalism and Social Science BA, at City University, London (1984-2003). He was then appointed Professor of Journalism (2003-present) at Lincoln University where he also became acting head of the Lincoln School of Journalism (2010-2013) and later a Visiting Professor at Liverpool Hope University (2015-2019). Prof. Keeble has been the recipient of prestigious and distinguished prizes, namely the National Teaching Fellowship Award (2011) and the Lifetime Achievement Award for services to journalism education (2014), the latter bestowed by the Association for Journalism Education in the UK. Parallel to his academic career, Prof. Keeble has always been a practising journalist. On completion of his studies in Modern History at Keble College, Oxford University (1967-70), he started a career in journalism, first as sub editor at the Nottingham Guardian Journal/Evening Post (1970-73) and then at the Cambridge Evening News (1973-77). He was deputy editor, then editor, of The Teacher, the weekly newspaper of the National Union of Teachers (1977-84). His dual pedigree in journalism, as a practitioner and a professor, led him to take on many editorial responsibilities. He is emeritus editor of Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication and Ethics and joint editor of George Orwell Studies and is also on the board of an impressive number of journals, among which are Journalism Studies, Digital Journalism, Journalism Education, International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, Media Ethics, Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism, to name just a few. Prof. Keeble was also Chair of the Orwell Society1 (2013-2020) and has authored or edited no less than 44 books. They include Ethics for Journalists and The Newspapers Handbook,2 respectively on their second and fifth editions, as well as several volumes on George Orwell, investigative journalism, and the British media. It was an honour and privilege to talk to Prof. Keeble in a phone interview on March 25, 2021. The conversation was transcribed while some passages were edited for clarity. I hereby express my immense gratitude for his time, generosity, expertise, and humour. It is such a thrill to start our series of interviews in a way that only makes us want more such conversations.

An Assessment of the Level of Awareness of Education Laws by Teachers and Principals in the Management of Secondary Education in Cross River State, Nigeria

The study was conducted to determine the level of awareness of education laws teachers and principals in the management of secondary education in cross river state Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The study used a population of 279 schools with 4,987 teachers and a sample of 1,496 teachers. Questionnaire was used as instrument to gather data. Two research questions were posed for the study The mean scores and standard deviation of the responses were used to determine the level or extent of findings indicated that indicating that the respondents were unaware of the education law of contract as applicable in the administration of staff and student personnel services and that the teachers are aware of the law of liability while administering students' personnel services in Cross River State secondary school system based on the findings the following recommendations were made Principals of secondary schools in addition to the acquired degrees in education should include a degree or diploma in administration in view of the level of ignorance exhibited by them on basic principles of management and constitutional matters. And that workshops, seminars and conferences should be organized at intervals by state ministry of education, National Union of teachers (NUT), and Association of National Council of Principals (ANCOPS) to acquaint and remind principals and teachers on education laws

Policy, contextual matters and unintended outcomes: the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) and its impact on physical education in English secondary schools

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the implications of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) for secondary school physical education (PE) departments and their teachers. The EBacc is a key performance measure that is published annually for each school, which privileges a particular set of traditional academic subjects, and in doing so, marginalises other subjects, including PE. At the same time as responding to this performance measure, secondary schools in England are required to respond to a wider set of policy reforms and innovations. This can sometimes result in overlap, collision and policy clash. For example, while PE is being sidelined and PE staffing reduced by the EBacc, there is national concern surrounding issues of fitness, health and well-being that schools are expected to address and which are often traditionally seen as the responsibility of PE departments. A reduction in their staffing will inevitably have consequences for their ability to respond in meaningful ways to such non-academic policy imperatives. Drawing on a study of the impact of recent curriculum and accountability reforms in English secondary schools (Neumann, E., Towers, E., Gewirtz, S., & Maguire, M. 2016. A curriculum for all? The effects of recent Key Stage 4 curriculum, assessment and accountability reforms on English secondary education. London: National Union of Teachers), this paper presents evidence of the marginalisation of PE and PE teachers’ ensuing concerns about their job security. It also explores changes that have been made to the PE curriculum in an attempt to make the subject more academically demanding and considers what this means for PE teachers and their students. The authors conclude that if PE is going to contribute to broader fitness, health and wellbeing agendas, then there is an urgent need for a renewed debate – that reaches beyond PE communities and constituencies – about what PE is for, why it is important and how it can be better supported.

The 'troublous question of the married women teachers': The Aberdare dismissals of 1908

In February 1908, the Aberdare Education Committee resolved to dismiss all married women teachers in its Council schools. This article analyses the protest campaign which followed and its impact on the National Union of Teachers, the local labour movement and the women teachers involved. It was a 'fight' which divided the local community, the socialist movement and the teachers themselves at a time of social and political change, and one which reverberated beyond Aberdare and beyond that summer of strife. It is argued that the tensions which came to the fore are significant in understanding teacher and gender politics in Wales and Britain in the early twentieth century.

The British National Union of Teachers (NUT) against the background of the Cold War: An International Peace Conference between teachers in Western and Eastern Europe

The aim of this article is to explain the political and trade union stance of the British National Union of Teachers (NUT) – representing the teachers of England and Wales – against the arms race and nuclear warheads set up in the European Continent during the Cold War (1947-1991). After adopting resolutions in support of «Education for Peace» at its Annual Conferences (Jersey, 1983 and Blackpool, 1984), the NUT held an International Peace Conference (1984) involving Western and Eastern European countries in which teachers’ unions from the following countries participated: the United States, Finland, the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic and Bulgaria. The international event was held in Stoke Rochford Hall (England) during the British miners’ national strike against the socioeconomic reforms instituted under the governments of Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990). The article started from the methodological presupposition based on the principle of political connection on an international scale within the scope of the trade union movement of teachers. Indeed, despite differences in nationalities, the educational processes institutionalized by schooling have acquired a universal character. Thus, teachers, irrespective of their nationality, are workers who are politically committed to the cultural values consecrated by the knowledge accumulated by humanity throughout history, especially when it comes to peace among peoples. It should be emphasized that the topic addressed has never before been analysed on an international level, and that primary sources that fall within the historical context of the facts studied were used in the production of the article.

Bridging the Divide: Examining Professional Unity and the Extended Teacher Union Role in Sweden

Sweden has experienced increasing educational inequity levels within its highly decentralized school system. With a reduced capacity to bargain collectively, the two Swedish teacher trade unions, the Swedish Teachers’ Union (Lärarförbundet) and the National Union of Teachers in Sweden (Lärarnas Riksförbund), have sought to extend their role in social unionism. This interpretive study explores the discourses of professionalism on which both unions draw to reframe the narrative around issues of social justice and democracy. Using sociological and institutional theories, policy documents were analyzed to understand processes of theorization in the legitimation of change.

Teacher Unionism in Changing Times: Is This the Real “New Unionism”?

This article provides a case study of union change in an environment in which radical school restructuring is taking place, and active strategies to weaken and marginalize organized teachers are being pursued by the state. The case study union is the National Union of Teachers in England. The article explores a number of different strategies open to teacher unions, utilizing a framework provided by Turner (2004). Drawing on data collected at a national level, and in three local authority areas, I argue that the National Union of Teachers’ response to the erosion of collective bargaining is best presented as an amalgam of strategies focused on workplace organizing, political campaigning, and coalition building. The data demonstrate considerable congruence between national and local strategies, although local data reveal considerable challenges in implementation and consequently considerable unevenness in local experiences.

Juggling Roles: Women Teachers Responding to Policy Changes in Education through Trade Union Activitism

This PhD work-in-progress explores the impact of the use of unqualified staff on qualified women teachers who are also active in the National Union of Teachers (NUT) in England. The research proposes to investigate how these women conceptualise Teacher Professionalism, gender and trade unionism, whilst also identifying their main concerns. Changes in government and legislation have been rapid and the teaching profession is expected to respond quickly and effectively to a growing number of new initiatives. However, the challenges to teacher professionalism weigh heavy on the workforce, which is predominantly made up of women. Many women teachers in England are finding it increasingly difficult to secure paid work in primary (elementary) schools and settings due to the wide-spread use of unqualified staff to take whole classes. The use of supply agencies has also conspired to marginalize women teachers who work in schools on a casual basis, creating their businesses by taking a percentage of the supply teacher’s income and charging the school a fee for supplying the teacher. Whilst developing and using a feminist methodological framework, this work will also follow lines of enquiry into documentary research and policy analysis.

Close encounters of a congenial kind

This paper provides a co-director’s and co-author’s review of and commentary on research carried out with Maurice Galton over the past decade. Its principal focus is the burden that recent education policies and ascent of a deleterious culture of performativity have inflicted on teachers’ professional and domestic lives. It reports on four studies conducted for the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and two books: Teachers under pressure and Re-inventing schools, reforming teaching. The latter offers alarming, if not surprising, insights into the process of national policy-making. It goes on to relate mutual experiences of recent work in Hong Kong and draws attention to Maurice Galton’s contributions to education internationally. The keys to this paper, however, are the persistence, perspicacity and Maurice’s personal concern for teachers and children, that have enabled the insights and injustices uncovered in these studies to be published.

Merit Pay across the Pond

Like so many aspects of education policy in England over the past 20 years, performance-related pay has been an area of high-profile, frequently changing development. But has it been effective in improving what goes on in classrooms? Unsurprisingly, opinions tend to diverge on this subject, which seems to be debated around the world. But one thing appears clear: The Labour government, elected for the first time 13 years ago, has expended considerable political energy on this topic. In one sense, performance pay has a very long history in England. In 1862, a system of payment-by-results was introduced so that the government would reward elementary schools according to their pupils' performance in reading, writing, and arithmetic tests. This was abandoned in 1897 amid concerns about the narrowness of the that resulted. The experience then appears to have cast a shadow over any possibility of performance pay for most of the 20th century. However, this began to change in the 1990s. Almost as soon as they came to power in 1997, Labour ministers were keen to put forward the idea of merit pay. Then-Education Secretary David Blunkett told the House of Commons that merit pay would be part of a set of radical, modernizing reforms that would create a professionalism among teachers. The aim was clear. The government was unhappy with a system in which most teachers, unless they gained management responsibility, were simply paid according to their years in service. English schools control their own budgets and have some flexibility to reward teachers for excellent performance, but they still must abide by central government stipulations on teachers' employment conditions. The paper that proposed the new system said that fewer than 1% of teachers had actually received awards for excellent teaching. So Labour sought to introduce an alternative. Instead of a single pay scale for all classroom teachers, there would be two. Teachers in their first five years in the profession would typically earn pay increases annually until they reached the top of this scale. They would then have the chance to cross a to a higher pay scale if they could provide evidence of good performance to the school principal. The first rung on this new ladder, known as the Upper Pay Scale, was worth an extra [pounds sterling]2,000 ($3,128, at today's rates) to the teacher. There were four more rungs, with progression in each case dependent on demonstrating continued strong performance. Teachers had to present their principals with portfolios of evidence of their capabilities in eight categories laid down by the government. One of these related to the teacher's students making good progress in their test or in-class assessment scores, while the others were grouped under four headings covering the teacher's knowledge and understanding, teaching and assessment, wider effectiveness, and professional characteristics. The first proved the most contentious, with the largest union, the National Union of Teachers (NUT), warning that linking pay to exam scores could lead to to the test. NUT then launched a legal challenge on the ground that the government had not consulted properly on its plans. NUT won, forcing the scheme's delay in 2000. However, months later, following consultation, the pay plan was implemented. And opposition dwindled, largely because, remarkably, almost all teachers who applied for merit pay got it: 80% of eligible teachers applied, and well over 90% of those applying were successful with their threshold applications in the first round. …

Public sector trade unionism in the UK

This article explores the potential contribution of Habermas’s social theory to debates on union decline and renewal in the UK public sector. It employs data relating to 2004—5 research on the National Union of Teachers (NUT) to suggest that two of Habermas’s concepts are particularly valuable when considering strategies to increase membership activity. The concept of ‘communicative action’ is useful for highlighting the importance of spaces for collective discussion among members, while the concept of ‘colonization’ allows an appreciation of the ways in which these ‘communicative spaces’ are being increasingly eroded in the course of public sector restructuring. In this context, NUT strategies for renewing membership activity involve opening up alternative communicative spaces for members in schools, the union, and online.

Answering back to policy? Headteachers’ stress and the logic of the sympathetic interview

Headteacher workloads are often in the news. Long hours, punitive audit regimes and excessive amounts of paperwork take their toll on many, including John Illingworth, former National Union of Teachers (UK) President, and ex primary headteacher. In this paper, I investigate a UK BBC Radio 4 human interest interview conducted with Illingworth by the usually acerbic John Humphrys. Mobilising Bourdieu’s notion of field, I examine the interview and argue that the analysis suggests that the media game of market share and the doxa of the fourth estate might work to delimit the capacity of such interviews to speak truth to policy power.

In Memory of Steve Sinnott (1951-2008) – General Secretary, National Union of Teachers

In Memory of Steve Sinnott (1951-2008) – General Secretary, National Union of Teachers

Reflections on the recent strike

I WAS THE NUT (National Union of Teachers) rep in my school. The majority of the staff were NUT members and had agonised long and hard over the action that the union was asking them to take. First, they all decided not to support the action; then some decided to support it. Splits appeared in what had been a harmonious team and relationships disintegrated.

The `Lifeworld' as a Resource for Social Movement Participation and the Consequences of its Colonization

Habermas may be best known for a `structural strain' approach to movement mobilization, but he also offers an untapped `resource' focused appproach which this article seeks to unearth. Social networks, collective identities, and cultural formations have been seen as key resources shaping participation in social movements. These three types of resources map on to what Habermas calls `the lifeworld': society, personality, and culture. Combining theoretical and empirical observations, I look at how the lifeworld can be viewed as a resource for social movement participation, and the consequences of its colonization. I draw upon a case study of the UK National Union of Teachers (NUT) and use interview data (N = 45), and Labour Research Department survey data (N = 1252), to argue that the colonization of schools results in an erosion of `lifeworld resources' necessary for the mobilization of trade unionists in the current UK context.

Habermas, Activism, and Acquiescence: Reactions to ‘Colonization’ in UK Trade Unions

Habermas's idea of a conflict shift from ‘old’ to ‘new’ social movements has been a point of ongoing contention in the field of sociology. The criticisms aimed at his idea of ‘newness’ are numerous and persuasive. Rather than reiterating these debates, this paper argues that the next logical step is to apply Habermas to an analysis of the contemporary labour movement. In order to do this, I develop the notion of the ‘colonization of the lifeworld at work’, and explore the relationship between colonization and union activism in two cases drawn from the current UK context: the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and the National Union of Teachers (NUT). In exploring colonization empirically, I suggest that it is met by a range of responses, from activism to acquiescence.

THE NATIONAL UNION OF TEACHERS (NUT) ON EDUCATION

Economic AffairsVolume 26, Issue 2 p. 80-80 THE NATIONAL UNION OF TEACHERS (NUT) ON EDUCATION James Stanfield, James StanfieldSearch for more papers by this author James Stanfield, James StanfieldSearch for more papers by this author First published: 01 June 2006 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0270.2006.00638.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume26, Issue2June 2006Pages 80-80 RelatedInformation

How many children are in your class this year?

The National Union of Teachers wants class sizes in primary schools to be limited to just 26. How close is this to reality?

Ethnicity and the experience of work: Job stress and satisfaction of minority ethnic teachers in the UK

This paper presents the findings of a nationwide investigation into the mental well-being and job satisfaction of minority ethnic teachers in the UK. Data were collected via a questionnaire containing both open and closed questions. The sample, totalling 208 participants was derived from the National Union of Teachers (NUT) database of minority ethnic teachers and an advertisement in the NUT's Teacher magazine. Univariate analysis of the results revealed that this group of teachers, as compared with other groups were experiencing poorer mental health and lower job satisfaction. Multivariate analysis revealed four reliable factors regarding the ‘sources of stress’ these minority ethnic teachers perceived they were experiencing. They are the ‘hierarchy and culture of the school’, workload’, ‘cultural barriers’, and the ‘lack of status and promotion’. Some minority ethnic teachers reported that ethnic discrimination on a daily basis or at least several times per week was a contributory factor in their experience of stress. Many of the teachers believed they worked within an institutionally racist environment. Multiple regression analysis discovered that ‘total stress’, ‘total self-esteem’, ‘working conditions job satisfaction’ and ‘total discrimination’ were the major predictors of mental ill-health in the minority ethnic teachers. Job dissatisfaction was predicted by ‘total discrimination’, ‘workload’, ‘total general health’, ‘resolution strategy’, and the ‘lack of status and promotion’.