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By now you should have received your voting paper. Mid Essex
nominated Agnes Bishop to this review body. She served previously on the working
party on Union Democracy and is currently on Conference Business Committee
As an Essex teacher we will have a chance to pass on our views to her directly.
REMEMBER VOTING PAPERS MUST BE RETURNED BY 14TH SEPTEMBER.
All school Representatives should have received a yellow document re Guidelines on Cover for the new academic year and a poster number 21 of NUT News which gives the main details..If you are not sure of your position check with them and if necessary contact Regional Office for further advice.
A new leaflet is available with information for PGCE and Final
Year BEd students explaining what to do if you have not passed both tests.
Until you do and gain qualified teacher status you cannot be registered by
the GTC and you cannot begin your induction period.You will still be able
to work as an unqualified teacher or as a supply teacher and are still a member
of the NUT. Contact Regional Office if you need further help or guidance.
The TTA has organised workshops on the numeracy skills test. Contact 020 7925
3700 for more information.
This is the title of a conference being organised by the Chelmsford
and District Trades Union Council on 10th November from 10.30 to 4.30 at Christ
Church New London Rd. Chelmsford.
Speakers include:-
Gareth Thomas MP for Harrow West; Mick Rix, General Secretary of ASLEF and
Andy Love, MP for Edmonton.
For more details contact Malcolm Wallace, Secretary of the Chelmsford TUC;
email, maljan@blueyonder.co.uk
The National Pensioners Convention are organising a rally and
lobby of Parliament on 6th November to draw attention to the the issues which
affect the care of older people, including making long term care free, improving
care in the community, properly resourcing the NHS and providing better training
for care home staff.
Anyone who would like more details of the rally and lobby please contact the
secretary asap at marion.wilson@connect2nut.co.uk
Retired teachers will be receiving a petition form in their next mailing re
free nursing and personal care.
Access to the Essex Sressline has been improved.
You should already have a poster in your school showing the new freeline number
0800 5870014. You should also have been given your own personnal stressline
card which is credit card size.Please let me know if this is not the case.
Don't forget that you can phone up at any time if you need help, which is
strictly confidential.
Attended by one of our members, she writes:
" I found the house and grounds amazing. The catering facilities were
excellent, we didn't wanrt for anything.
Michael Fullan, Professor of Education from Toronto spoke on Leading a Culture
of change and drew parallells between our system and his own
In the Secondary Group session the Green Paper-Priorities for the Union was
discussed.Some members saw salaries as the main issue. There was a fear that
with sponsorship by big firms teachers would become the trainers for the future
workforce rather than educators.
Other speakers included Peter Wilby of the New Statesman and Tamsyn Imison
on Raising Achievement in Schools
An uplifting weekend and good to talk about education rather than the day
to day problems of teaching.
This important subject is still very much a live issue. Whereas there may be some'slack' in the timetable at the moment, come the autumn term teacher vacancies have to be dealt with in one way or another. Jerry Glazier advised delegates to the Division meeting this week that the right to be balloted re action on teacher shortages is still available. He advised teachers not to accept increased class sizes or workload because of unfulfilled vacancies.
On the workload front now is the time to check out the school calendar for next year to prevent overloading of staff through meetings or school acticvites. Staff should be consulted on this. Don't forget, just one meeting a week on average lasting no more than 60 minutes.
Welfare helpline 0207554 5222, for those coping
with serious illness, disability or a family crisis.
Teacherline 08000 562 561 for counselling and advice for working
teachers, related to personal or work problems
Retired Teachers 0207554 5208 for help with residential accommodation
etc.
The Unuion is seeking to defer the payment of the £23 registration fee for teachers in England following the announcement that teachers in Wales will have to pay nothing until 2002. Members are reminded that they should not authorise payment by direct debit. If you work in a maintained school you must register by 15th June. If you have not received your pack, contact the GTC on 0870 001 0308 or www.gtce.org.uk
The Union has published guidelines on Stress Audits and Risk
Assessments Any member wishing to receive a copy should contact the secretary
at
marion.wilson@connect2nut.co.uk
Are you and your colleagues suffering from having to cover
for absent colleagues? And what will it be like next term?
Don't forget that it is possible for any school with sufficient support
from its members to ask to be ballotted and take part in the current action.
Contact Regional Office for advice on what to do.
The NUT is to set up a working party to look at the way in
which Annual Conference is run, including the number of outside speakers
and the way in which motions are submitted and amended. Mid Essex nominated
Agnes Bishop, Secretary of Braintree Association for this body at its meeting
on 18th June
This is a magazine published twice yearly by the Union. The current edition is on Inspection and Accountability. At the meeting held on 18th June it was decided to purchase sufficient copies for each school in Essex with NUT members. With the first edition will come a pro-forma asking if the school wishes to receive further copies in the future. This is so the committee can see whether or not it is a worthwhile exercise. Surplus copies of the second edition (due to negative or no reponses) will be re-distributed to other schools.The Spring and Autumn editions will be sent out to schools in the Autumn term.
Are the number of staff meetings creeping up again? Your school
representative should have received the document "Beating Back Bureaucracy"
This sets out clearly that meetings should be no more than 60 minutes and
no more than one a week on average during the term, with a maximum of
2 evenings in any one week.
Teachers cannot be obliged to attend meetings during the midday break,
which is not part of directed time.
The NUT has welcomed the BBC initiative to provide on-line curriculum material
which will be free and be easily adapted to individual pupils needs.
There will be discrete lessons which can be utilised and interactive
worksheets.
To take full advantage of this (due to start in September 2001 ) it is vital
that all schools are fully resourced .
The NUT has set up link with Thompson's which will provide a 'No Win - No
Fee' service for for NUT members and their families to cover things
such as :-
personal injury cover away from work
representation in UK based claims for accidents abroad
legal representation in claims for medical negligence
low fixed price home buying and selling.
For more information call 0800 169 6660
IF YOUR SCHOOL HAS A WEBSITE PLEASE LET US HAVE THE RELEVANT DETAILS SO THAT WE CAN ADD IT TO OUR LINKS PAGE.
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