NASUWT | |
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| Founded | 1976 (merger of NAS and UWT) |
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| Headquarters | Rednal, Birmingham |
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Members |  296,964 (2022) [1] |
Key people | Patrick Roach, General Secretary |
| Affiliations | TUC, ICTU, STUC, EI |
| Website | www |
The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) is a TUC and ICTU -affiliated trade union representing teachers, including headteachers, throughout the United Kingdom.
The origins of the NASUWT can be traced back to the formation of the National Association of Men Teachers (NAMT) in 1919, which formed as a group within the National Union of Teachers (NUT) to promote the interests of male teachers. The formation of the NAMT was in response to an NUT referendum the same year, approving the principle of equal pay for women. [2]
The NAMT continued its campaign to further the interests of male teachers, changing its name in 1920 to the National Association of Schoolmasters (NAS). In 1922 the NAS broke away from the NUT and established its own organisation. The secession came about indirectly following a decision at the NAS Conference that year, to prohibit NAS members from continuing to also be members of the NUT after the 31 December 1922. [3]
The NAS aimed to recruit every schoolmaster into the NAS, to safeguard and promote the interests of male teachers, to ensure recognition of the social and economic responsibilities of male teachers, and to ensure the representation of schoolmasters on matters concerned with education, with both the local education authorities (LEAs) and government. The NAS also maintained that all boys over the age of seven should be taught mainly by men and that schoolmasters should not serve under women heads. [4]
As the secondary education sector expanded, the NAS built its organisation among male secondary teachers, it adopted the methods of collective bargaining and militant industrial action in pursuing a narrow range of pay and conditions issues related to the interests of full-time male 'career teachers'.
By the 1960s, the union was still opposed to admitting women as members, but it was concerned that the unions open to women teachers were all hostile to its objectives. As a result, it encouraged the formation of the Union of Women Teachers (UWT). [5]
In 1976 the NAS merged with the Union of Women Teachers (UWT) and the Scottish Schoolmasters' Association (SSA). [6] The merger was largely a consequence of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, which made it unlawful to exclude from membership on grounds of gender. It then became the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NAS/UWT). [7] The 'slash' separating the two sections of the union was later dropped and the name usually appeared subtitled 'The Career Teachers Union' – a reference to the lifelong commitment of the 'career' classroom teacher.
Although from many years the union had officially registered its name with the Certification Office for Trade Unions and Employers Associations [8] as the NASUWT, it is only since 2015 that the union has adopted its name in the short form using only the initials NASUWT [9] and subtitled 'The Teachers' Union'. The change reflected that 84 per cent of its members were now women [9] and it was effectively able to remove from its name the now archaic term 'schoolmasters'.
The union as the National Association of Schoolmasters (NAS) with 21,000 members attempt to seek representation in national pay negotiations known as the Burnham Committee was rejected in 1960. [10] The Burnham Committees however were dominated by representatives of the much larger National Union of Teachers (NUT) with a membership of 201,000. [11]
However following a series of strikes and rallies the NAS achieved recognition for national pay bargaining on the Burnham Committees in 1962. Despite a successful campaign, the NUT continued to hold the majority of seats. In 1969 for instance, the NUT had 15 members on the Teachers’ Panel, with the NAS holding the 2 seats it achieved on joining the Committee in 1962. [12] The NUT general secretary also held the joint secretaryship of the main Burnham Committees and the leadership of their Teachers' Panels for most of their existence. [13]
By the mid-1980s, the pay rises for teachers of the previous decade had been considerably eroded by inflation [14] In February, 1985 the NASUWT along with other teaching unions withdrew 'goodwill' in pursuit of higher pay. Members refused to supervise at lunchtimes, attend meetings with parents outside school hours, or cover for absent colleagues. The dispute escalated and a series of strikes followed for a period of the next two years. [15]
By 1987 the divisions over strategy with other unions, notably the NUT, brought the dispute to an end. The result was the 1987 Teachers' Pay and Conditions Act, which abolished the national pay negotiations and replaced them with an Interim Advisory Committee on School Teachers' Pay and Conditions, on which the unions had no representation. [15] This was in turn replaced in 1991 by The School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB). An independent body to examine and report on such matters relating to the statutory conditions of employment of school teachers in England and Wales.
From 2003 to 2010 the NASUWT was involved in "social partnership" – a programme of meetings between union leaders, the Labour government and employers' organisations. The meetings were initially to discuss pay and workforce issues but developed into a forum for broader discussion on policy proposals. [16] The National Union of Teachers chose not to participate in social partnership. The NASUWT argues[ citation needed ] that social partnership brought about benefits to teachers' terms and conditions through the "National Agreement – Raising Standards, Tackling Workload", especially the introduction of defined planning and assessment time for all teachers.
Social partnership was confined to the Labour government, and did not continue after the establishment of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition in 2010. Instead, the union lodged a formal trade dispute with the government over workload, conditions of service, pensions, and jobs. In November 2011, members of the NASUWT voted by a 4-to-1 margin [17] (on a 39% turnout) [18] to take strike action, and begin working to the letter of their contracts. [19] The NASUWT set aside historical differences with the National Union of Teachers; a joint declaration in May 2012 [20] led to a co-ordinated work-to-rule and strike action in autumn 2013. [21]
The NASUWT has initiated a number of influential campaigns in recent years, including a campaign leading to the abolition of a code of conduct proposed by the General Teaching Council, [22] a campaign recognising the effects of cyberbullying, [23] a campaign to preserve the anonymity of teachers from malicious or false allegations,[ citation needed ] and a campaign to bar members of the British National Party from the teaching profession. [24]
After 2010, the union joined campaigns against the coalition government. It asserted that "the Education Act 2011 heralded the break-up of the entire state education service" [25] and subsequently lobbied under the slogan "Reclaim the promise", harking back to the Education Act 1944. [26] NASUWT encouraged its members to join marches sponsored by the TUC, [25] and participated in the Robin Hood tax campaign. [27]
The headquarters is situated by the Lickey Hills Country Park in North Worcestershire which borders the southern edge of the City of Birmingham (NASUWT Rose Hill, Rednal, Birmingham B45 8RS). [28] Built as a businessman's private house in 1897, Hillscourt was a preparatory school before the union bought it in 1971. [29] Its library was named the Terry Casey Library in 1983 to commemorate Casey's 20 years as general secretary. The union also has nine regional centres in England, and national centres each of Northern Ireland, Wales/Cymru and Scotland. [30]
The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is the national trade union centre in Scotland. With 40 affiliated unions as of 2020, the STUC represents over 540,000 trade unionists.
The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) was a trade union, teachers' union and professional association, affiliated to the Trades Union Congress, in the United Kingdom representing educators from nursery and primary education to further education. In March 2017, ATL members endorsed a proposed merger with the National Union of Teachers to form a new union known as the National Education Union, which came into existence on 1 September 2017. At that time, approximately 120,000 individuals belonged to the union, making it the third largest teaching and education union in the UK. ATL had members throughout England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, and British Service schools overseas.
King Edward VI Grammar School is a grammar school located in Louth, Lincolnshire, England.
The National Union of Teachers was a trade union for school teachers in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It was a member of the Trades Union Congress. In March 2017, NUT members endorsed a proposed merger with the Association of Teachers and Lecturers to form a new union known as the National Education Union, which came into existence on 1 September 2017. The union recruited only qualified teachers and those training to be qualified teachers into membership and on dissolution had almost 400,000 members, making it the largest teachers' union in the United Kingdom.
The Union of Women Teachers (UWT) was a trade union for female teachers in the United Kingdom.
The National Union of Women Teachers (NUWT) was a trade union representing women schoolteachers in Great Britain. It originated in 1904 as a campaign for equal pay for equal work, and dissolved in 1961, when this was achieved.
The National Association of Schoolmasters (NAS) was a trade union representing male schoolteachers in the United Kingdom.
Sir Frederick Mander FEIS was a headmaster and trade unionist and the General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) from 1931 to 1947.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, formed in 1959 by the merger of the Irish Trades Union Congress and the Congress of Irish Unions, is a national trade union centre, the umbrella organisation to which trade unions in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland affiliate.
Eamonn Rory O'Kane was a Northern Irish trade unionist.
Christine Mary Keates is a British trade unionist.
Frederick Albert Smithies was a British trade unionist.
The Burnham committee – properly the Burnham Primary and Secondary and Burnham Further Education Committees – was responsible for setting teachers' pay in the United Kingdom.
The National Education Union (NEU) is a trade union in the United Kingdom for school teachers, further education lecturers, education support staff and teaching assistants. It was formed by the amalgamation of the National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in 2017. With 445,601 members as of 2022, it is the largest education union in the UK and Europe.
Terence Anthony Casey was a British trade union leader.
William Bridgland Steer was a British trade unionist and politician.
British Conservative Party politician Michael Gove served as Secretary of State for Education from 2010 to 2014.
Patrick Roach is a British trade unionist.
Granville Charles Trelawney Giles, known as GCT Giles, was a leading British communist, most famous for playing a central role in the evacuation of three million children to the countryside during World War II, and for playing a prominent role in the formation of Britain's post-war educational reforms. Despite being educated at both Eton College and the University of Cambridge, he was a supporter of the comprehensive school system, fighting for the rights of working-class children and teachers. He was also the first communist to be appointed president of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), and headed a school which following his retirement became one of Britain's first comprehensive schools.
Since May–June 2022, a series of labour strikes and industrial disputes have occurred in various industries of the United Kingdom's economy as workers walked out over pay and conditions. The strikes took place with rising inflation, and demands for pay increases that would keep pace with this inflation.
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