Member News
2nd July 2009John Dixon, head of organising and membership at the National Union of Teachers, discusses the new joint partnership agreement between the NUT and University and Colleges Union.
Question: What is the history between the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the University and Colleges Union (UCU)? What is the background to this partnership?
John Dixon: The NUT has always had a very strong working relationship with NATFHE, before they actually became UCU a short while ago. We wanted to build on that relationship under the new merged union, which is the University and Colleges Union. We wanted to see how we could improve working relationships and ensure that by working together we have a greater impact than we could separately.
Question: What do you hope to achieve through this partnership?
John Dixon: Firstly, the NUT has long held a policy of not competing in various sectors. The NUT only recruits teachers in England and Wales and only those that are qualified teachers or training to teach.
However, some of our members do move out of the schools sectors to teach in further and higher education. As a result, we wanted to ensure that when our members moved out of the schools sector, we were clear that they would still be supported and, should they choose, they could remain within the NUT, even though we didn't organise in that other sector.
The first thing we wanted to achieve was avoiding any competition. Being clear which of our unions was the appropriate organising union for that sector and then providing a facility where by UCU members could remain UCU members, but take part in NUT affairs and vice versa. The second point is that nowadays there are huge overlaps in certain areas between schools and further education, the 14 to 19 curriculum is an example. We wanted to be clear that we could speak with one voice in those areas, because that is a much more coherent way of responding.
Question: So the partnership seeks to reduce problems caused by overlapping issues between schools and further education?
John Dixon: Very much so. This new partnership agreement makes it absolutely clear which of our two unions are the appropriate organising union in any sector, but allows for members to retain membership in a certain union if they cross sectors and take full part in the activities of the organising Union. Greater than that, we now have just short of half a million professionals- teachers, lecturers- working across these sectors. So we can speak with one voice across education on issues affecting both sectors.
Question: What will each partner do in this partnership?
John Dixon: It is a partnership of equals. The UCU have the strongest voice in the further and higher education sector, as they are the largest organisation representing lecturers and other educational staff in that sector. The NUT is the largest teaching union in schools.
By working together at a number of levels we will ensure that we have a more powerful voice so educational professionals are heard. We think that is a huge benefit. We have established National Liaison Committee meetings, joint representatives on one another's executive and very regular office-to-office discussions so that we can establish co-operation wherever appropriate and possible.
Question: How have educational professionals been affected in the economic downturn and how will a joint partnership help them to maximise their voice?
John Dixon: It is less about the current economic downturn and more about the pronouncements that are being made about what is going to happen to public sector finances. The messages we are receiving are very worrying.
They are worrying on the basis of pay and conditions, which we will clearly need to defend, obviously the strength of our partnership will assist that. More importantly we are concerned that cuts in education spending will be exactly the worst possible thing to do, if we want to see economic prosperity for the future.
We do need to ensure that we continue to improve standards and we continue to ensure that children and adults have access to high quality education provision, because that is the basis on which successful economies are founded. Through the partnership, we will speak out extremely strongly on any attempts to cut and undermine the educational funding which is so important for the future.
Question: What is the most important issue for NUT members today?
John Dixon: It is extremely difficult to tie it down to one issue. There are a number of concerns that teachers have and NUT members have. One is the continuing increase in workload as a result of initiative upon initiative, which continues to worry us and is a big issue.
There are other broader issues that concern our members such as over-testing and constant attacks which demonstrate a lack of trust in the professional work that teachers do. As well as the breaking up of public services - with academies and other proposals that concentrate on structures rather than standards and don't look at the co-operation between schools, which is so essential to a good public education system.
There are a number of issues and this is why we believe it is important that we see much more coming together of all of those who represent teachers and lecturers. The partnership we have with the UCU is one issue; we want to work closer with our sister unions who represent teachers because we believe that professional unity is the best way to make sure the professional voice is heard.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd
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