Report from the NUT
Supply Teacher Conference - 27 June 2015
“We are all only a
term away from being a supply teacher” Kevin Courtney, Deputy General
Secretary, NUT speaking to NUT Supply Teachers’ Conference 2015
This was positive day in so many ways. First of all, it was full weeks ago, and
there was a great turn out on the day with around 150 supply teachers giving up
a Saturday to attend this important event which is now in its third year.
I was personally delighted to see that a number of the Executive
had also given up their time to attend. I’m not sure how many were there last year,
but I’m pretty sure the numbers had at least doubled this year. That’s great
because it shows supply teacher issues are starting to be taken seriously.
The date for the lobby of supply agencies was agreed as 28
October. This has been the subject of much debate, owing to the lack of
movement in promoting it before the onset of the summer holidays and there was
a suggestion that it should be moved back to February. However the clear view
of the conference was that we should stick to October. It is now up to the Executive
to work with the staff at Hamilton House, and associations and divisions around
the country, to ensure that this important lobby, which will highlight the poor
pay and insecure working conditions of supply teachers, is given the full
weight of union backing. This is an event for all teachers, not just supply
teachers. It’s time we all showed solidarity with our supply teacher
colleagues.
A highlight of the conference was hearing from Tony Carlin,
of INTO, the Northern Irish teaching union, who came to speak to conference
about the supply teacher register run in Northern Ireland. It is mandatory to
be on the register, and all supply teachers are paid to scale AND have access
to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme. The software used to run the register is so
effective that only two people are needed to organise supply teachers for the
whole of the region. This keeps running costs low which means that the savings
can be passed back to schools instead of lining the pockets of the supply
agency bosses. It’s a win-win, and is a model that we need to be using this
side of the Irish Sea too.
However, while there were many positives to take away from
the day, there were also concerns with the way the conference had been
organised and these need to be addressed.
It was strongly felt by the NUT Supply Teacher Network
(NUTSTN) that a supply teacher should chair the conference. I don’t think the
first session, where out of six people on the panel only one was a supply
teacher, lessened that feeling. While the Supply Teacher Network was grateful
for Alex Kenny of the Executive stepping in to chair the conference, I don’t
think anyone felt that “Kevin asked me if I’d do it” was a democratic way of
picking a chair.
There were also serious concerns that Kate Shoesmith of the
Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), the body who represent supply
agencies, was given 20 minutes of conference time to give an unimpeded sales
pitch for their services, and to defend the absolutely shoddy way supply
teachers are treated. The NUTSTN had asked that the REC representative appeared
as part of an Education Question Time-style event to close the conference. The
only forum Kate Shoesmith should have been allowed to appear in is one where
her assertions could be properly interrogated and examined.
While Tony Carlin speaking about the Northern Ireland Supply
Teacher Register was a highlight, ETeach, the company that provide the software
for the register, were not at the conference, despite the NUTSTN asking for them to be invited. This is another example of how an
opportunity to move things forward was missed and how the organising voice of
supply teachers is being ignored.
I personally felt that a conference which should have been
used to motivate and empower supply teachers to organise and take action was,
yet again, reduced to a very controlled talking shop. The presentation which
started the conference was highly technical and appeared to be setting a
context in which the NUT couldn’t be blamed for not taking action to support
supply teachers because, hey look, the way they’re employed is so darned
complicated. Supply teachers already know that they exist in the dark
netherworld of education privatisation where employment legislation doesn’t
seem to reach. This seemed to be a fairly demotivating way to start a
conference and it was really odd that, although absolutely massive amounts of
information was given about the way supply teachers are contracted, none of the
information was available as a hand out.
For the past year we have been told that the reason that the
Supply Teacher Conference can’t elect its own chair and be organised and
planned by supply teachers is because we don’t have an Advisory Committee
within the union structure. When we asked if we could have one we were told
that we couldn’t because they weren’t effective and a review of the whole
structure was taking place. However, at the conference, Kevin Courtney
announced that, by next year, there would be a Supply Teacher Advisory
Committee. We knew nothing about this and I have mixed feelings. If it means
that supply teachers have an input into the policy making and policy
implementation of their union, and are better able to organise, that’s great.
But if these committees are ineffective as we’ve been told repeatedly, how does
that take us forward?
So how can things be improved?
Well first and foremost, if the union is serious about
improving the working lives of supply teachers then it needs to work much
harder to empower them. If the structures in place are unable to support that,
then they need to change, and quickly.
No one in the NUTSTN is afraid of democracy. We welcome any developments
that enable as many supply teachers as possible to get their voices heard.
Next year the Supply Teachers’ Conference needs to have a)
seen real commitment from the Executive to improving their pay and conditions
b) be run bottom up, not top down to ensure that it’s the genuinely proactive,
empowering and developmental event it should be.
I will personally be doing all I can to ensure this happens.
Bridget Chapman
