I am a committed trade unionist. I am still a member of the NUT despite having left the teaching profession last year. I like Steve Sinnott and I agree with what he says about seeing the child in the round. But there was a problem with the NUT conference this year. A problem that sees teachers pitted against students, parents, the government and the army. In the hyperbolic and easily caricatured atmosphere of a union conference, teachers have suddenly become the reactionary oppositionists of yesteryear, rather than a unifying force for social cohesion in an increasingly fractured society.
We have heard dissatisfaction with a derisory pay offer, we have witnessed a point-scoring, politically motivated assertion that the army are corrupting innocent minds and we have indulged the idea that children are out of control and permanent exclusion is the only answer. It makes it sound as though teaching is only marginally better than eternal damnation. This is not what I signed up for and not what I experienced.
The biggest problem in schools is not teacher pay, or army recruitment drives, or even poor behaviour, it is that children are increasingly disengaged from education; that a self-defeating cycle of poor attainment, lack of confidence and poverty of ambition re-enforces low expectations in a system where still over half of pupils don’t achieve five good GCSEs.
In short, poor behaviour is not a cause, it is a symptom and this is something we would do well to acknowledge. Better still, the NUT could take a lead on the issues of lack of motivation and disaffection – since these are the issues that affect teachers’ daily lives the most.
How can teachers better get kids on track? How can we use the curriculum to inspire? How can we give teachers the skills to be at the cutting edge of new techniques? These are the headlines; these are the things we need to focus on.
Now of course I am indulging in caricature too. The NUT is engaged in the issues that matter and they do support teacher training and have helped raise the profile of the teaching profession over the last ten years. It is also true that some conditions that teachers face are unacceptable. I witnessed extreme cases of cyber-bullying of staff that were very harrowing for the individuals involved. However, these are not the issues you use the unique opportunity of a conference platform for. The one chance the NUT has to get its message across and be front page on the BBC website should not be beset with cynicism. It should be filled with hope and ambition.
This is not a point about trade unionism or the value of collective action. It is a point about education. If we are to raise standards in schools high expectations should be passed onto to students through every means and media possible; union conferences, government speeches, period five on a Monday and year assemblies all have the capacity to inspire. So in future let’s make sure they do.
Oli de Botton is PPC for Hitchin and Harpenden and a former assistant headteacher.