NUT Lobby of Parliament 10 June 2014 #lobby4edu

(Thanks to Tony Dabb from Charles Thorp school for this report)

Gateshead NUT joined teachers from all over England and ales today to take part
in a !obby of "arliament as part of the NUT#s $tand Up for Ed%cation campaign&
'ollo(ing a s%ccessf%l t(itter storm event the previo%s evening NUT members
converged on estminster to hear Christine )lo(er* the NUT#s General $ecretary
tell delegates to the !obby abo%t the need for NUT members to %se every means to
force the Government back to the negotiating table to listen to o%r concerns& $he
added that* together (ith others (ho have been victims of the Coalition
government#s policies* (e have a great opport%nity to make a difference (ith the
"eoples# +ssembly ,arch +gainst +%sterity on -. /%ne&
'or the lobby itself* Ne(castle Central ,"* Chi 0n(%rah (as good eno%gh to find
time to listen to o%r biggest (orries abo%t Gove#s disastro%s approach to ed%cation
policy& $he ackno(ledged that (orkload iss%es* (here teachers are often (orking
more than 12 ho%rs per (eek* are having an effect on teacher morale and retention
and she listened intently to (hat this meant for real teachers in real staff rooms& 3n
partic%lar* she (anted to kno( ho( the constant demands to prod%ce evidence of
progress (as having a negative effect on teaching and learning& There (as* (e
arg%ed* too m%ch assessment and too m%ch testing of the (rong sort* instead of real
learning&
$he (as also interested to learn abo%t the effects of c%ts in f%nding for post4.1
ed%cation* (hereby st%dents (ere increasingly being packed into overflo(ing
classrooms* often (itho%t being ta%ght by a specialist& This led on to a disc%ssion
abo%t the h%ge increase in the n%mber of %n5%alified staff being placed in front of
classes& ,s 0n(%rah said that she f%lly s%pported the statements (hich $hado(
Ed%cation $ecretary Tristram 6%nt has already made on this iss%e and she opposed
(holeheartedly the deprofessionalisation of teaching in this (ay&
7Teachers lobby "arliament abo%t pay and pensions7
http899(((&bbc&co&%k9ne(s9ed%cation4-::;1<1;