ePolitix.com speaks to Philip Parkin, general secretary of Voice: the union for educational professionals, about its transformation from the Professional Association of Teachers (PAT)

Question: Why did you decide to become Voice?

Philip Parkin: In 1970, our founders set up an organisation for teachers. In those days, teachers were the bulk of the school workforce but in the last 38 years, the nature of the school workforce has evolved and PAT has evolved with it.

First we took nursery nurses into membership and then later on we took school support staff, and the whole wider educational workforce, into membership.

So we need to move on from a brand centred on teachers to one that is focused on the whole workforce.

Question: Will the change affect the way you represent your members? 

Philip Parkin: The service we provide our members will continue to focus on the individual. We provide a personal and dedicated service to each of our members. However, as we grow, our resources will grow and I hope that our service will even be better in the future.

Question: How will Voice be different from other teaching unions?

Philip Parkin: It is different because of its four core values, particularly, its commitment to dialogue and its commitment not to take industrial action.

It is also different because it represents the whole education and childcare workforce, with teachers remaining a very important component of our membership.

Question: The PAT represented members from education and childcare professions. How important is it to include the two sectors within the same framework?

Philip Parkin: It is important because education now comprises early-years and the childcare sector, as well as the statutory schooling age. Recent government policy has moved towards setting targets for younger year groups, as well as making assessments of the skills and abilities of young children.

Education begins with the early years of life and continues into adulthood. Voice is going to be here to serve all the professionals in education, whatever age group they work with.

Question: Why is it a cardinal rule for your organisation not to strike?

Philip Parkin: PAT was founded in 1970 as a reaction against industrial action that teachers were being asked to take by their unions in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The founders and those who joined PAT believed that it wasn't right, or a good example to young people to pursue personal goals at the expense of others.

They believed that dialogue and negotiation were the ways to resolve such issues, and that's continued to be our cardinal rule to the present day, and people who join us believe in these principles.

Question: Why have you been critical of government proposals to raise the minimum leaving age to 18?

Philip Parkin: We're the only teachers' association to have come out against it. We don't believe that compulsion will work. Young people should be in education and training because they want to be there.

Increasing the numbers is a very laudable aim but it should be done through high-quality provision, through relevant training that is attractive to young people, and evidence of the clear benefits of that training to the young people themselves.

Forcing disenfranchised young people into courses or placements which they don't want to be in is going to make life very difficult for those who want to be there and for those who teach them.

Professor Alison Wolf, in her pamphlet 'Diminished Returns', puts forward a very compelling case against the current policy of compulsion.

Question: Do you believe that the new diploma system, set to be introduced to some schools in September, will encourage more young people to stay on in education and training?

Philip Parkin: We're not sure about this at the moment. We support the principle but we very much want to see how it develops. I have noticed that the take-up amongst schools for this September has been quite mixed, and about 20 to 25 per cent of schools have not registered to start taking new diplomas. There is a lot of work involved for the staff bringing these changes in.
 
I think there's still some confusion in the minds of the public and of students about the plethora of qualifications they can now take, and about which qualifications will have the validity, and which won't. There is confusion about whether A-levels will still continue to be the prime qualification or whether diplomas will take over.

I think the picture is very unclear. I think it is a case of wait and see in order to decide whether or not we support it.

Question: Do league tables place too much pressure on schools and teachers?

Philip Parkin: League tables give a very powerful picture of how a school works, and about its performance, but they don't really reflect the breadth of curriculum a school offers, or its place in the community.

The target-driven culture we have causes distortion and narrowing of the curriculum, accompanied by the oppressive and judgemental Ofsted regime, and this puts undue pressure on pupils, teachers and head teachers.

If we look at the primary head teachers market, for example, we can see that many of them are leaving their post, confirming that league tables are a very unpopular regime.

Question: What can be done to attract more people into the teaching profession?

Philip Parkin: I don't think we need to attract more people into the teaching profession because at the moment we have more than enough for the most part. In primary education in particular, there are people who aren't able to get a teaching job even though they are qualified, especially if they’re not prepared to move to large metropolitan areas.

Admittedly, there are still shortages in specific specialist subjects in secondary education such as maths and science. However, I think what we have to do now, is to look at making teaching a higher status profession.

I think we can go down the route of more rigorous selection for those that we bring into the profession. One of our problems is the large number of people who qualify to be teachers but drop out of the profession after two or three years.

Therefore, with a more rigorous selection procedure we can support people into the profession through a better induction and ensure we keep them in the profession rather than suffering the great losses we have now.

Question: Do you have any final comments for ePolitix.com readers?

Philip Parkin: Voice looks forward to continuing to work with the government through the social partnership as we have done in the last five years. We are also continuously looking to help develop education policies in this country by working with whichever government is in power at the time.