Executive NEUs March 25th

Joint General Secretaries’ Report

Wider return of schools/colleges

· Following the wider re-opening of schools, general feedback from members is that they were pleased to be back in school/college; holding out for the end of term;

· Swift return to pre-C19 concerns – workload, assessment and pupil behaviour;

· Monitoring all data; focussing on case numbers;

· Focus on our Education Recovery Plan with the remote education hub being repositioned as the ERP hub (safety in schools/colleges; building better; giving all pupils the best start in life);

· Kevan Collin’s (now remodelled as Education Recovery rather than Catch-up ‘Czar’) views clear – investment in CPD for education staff; money for interventions/tutoring should go directly to schools which are best placed to spend effectively; 1265 hours a ‘red line’; additional hours/activities wholly voluntary;

· Secondary members facing serious challenges re GCSE/A level assessment; disgraceful that DFE advice/guidance so late; members required to undertake serious professional work which requires additional time; Union producing animation on how grades to be awarded – criteria referencing to replace exams;

· Our members vulnerable to accusations of unfairness; Mary’s latest TES blog sets out arguments brilliantly;

Post Covid Campaign focus

· Consider Conference resolutions for democratic authority for campaign focus;

· Looking at national push on workload/professional hours/agency underpinned by guidance on working hours – similar to that produced for ASOS action (NUT/ATL legacy campaigns);

· Support for reps, including increase of 12% new reps (40% of all schools/colleges have a rep; 57% of members in primary now in school with rep; 75% figure for secondary members)

Demographics – activists/Executive

· Executive noted paper; for further discussion as part of the requirement by Rule to review the Executive;

· In line with OSG recommendation for an Executive Awayday, will put together plans for next OSG and update Executive on proposals. Dates for the Awayday would be circulated with plenty of advance notice and scheduled at times to ensure maximum participation given the many demands on Executive members’ time.

Sexism and Racism

· Proud to sign the TUC statement calling for urgent action on violence against women;

· Stats chilling and consistent over time – a woman is killed every 2/3 days at the hands of a man;

· The Union’s ‘It’s just about everywhere’ published in 2019 and associated toolkit – great resources for district discussions; key issue for our members;

· Guardian report on pupil exclusions (5x higher for black/Caribbean pupils; 9x higher for GRT; 4x for dual heritage); need to support our members to prevent exclusions and improve AP;

· Exciting project jointly with University of Newcastle in collaboration with Leeds Beckett on ITT and professional skills around anti-racism

The Executive agreed resolutions on TPS in the independent sector; Support Staff Redundancies; NHS staff; the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill and Pearson Textbooks. All to be taken forward by relevant SCs.

The Executive agreed the following recommendations via the five Strategy Committees:

o Winning At Work Project bargaining strategy – proposals for the Summer term focusing on directed time calendars and working time.

o Gender Pay Issues – to develop further campaign work on gender pay issues

o School Teachers – noted the position regarding the pay review bodies in England and Wales and the TUC campaign on public sector pay

o 6F college reps to be consulted on the strategy for the 2021 negotiations with SFCA.

o Financial report – noted variance to 28 February 2021 and Annual returns from local structures (slow improvement in the number of returns since last reported to GPC: 13 returns are missing from 2019, compared to 15 reported in February 2021; 21 returns are missing from 2020, compared to 26 reported in February 2021 – detailed report to the next meeting on proposed actions.

o Help a Child to Learn campaign – raised donations of £249k. Of this, £139k has come from NEU districts and regions, with the rest coming directly from the public and a donation from Unity Bank. 1,193 schools have accepted vouchers to the value of £1.194 million. So far, £144k worth of supplies have been ordered from Viking and £3k from Hope Education.

o Membership subscriptions with effect from 1 September 2021 – 1% increase to the union’s national in-service subscription

o Staff Pension Scheme project report – changes to the proposed benefit structure of the NEU Pension Scheme based on feedback received during the current consultation exercise;

o The Hamilton House refurbishment has been completed against the agreed revised timelines and within the budget set by Executive.

o to extend the lease to the Y&H region office while the search continues for a more suitable property

o noted the HR KSIs; the NEU gender pay gap and NEU ethnicity pay gap and action plans.

o Long Service Certificate – to signed by the Joint General Secretaries and the President and administered by the GS office, as officers stand down or retire.

o National Elections – commitment to reviewing current election processes, after the completion of this round of elections, and to producing guidance for members.

o Conference Cymru – agreed revision of the criteria for Conference Cymru to include an initial stage of National Officer scrutiny, in line with arrangements for annual conference.

o Donations – Trade Unions for Energy Democracy – £1000 Stand up to Racism – £50,000 with a request that the NEU is provided with a breakdown of how this donation will be used on planned activity.

o Social Media Working Group to produce a draft protocol for Unofficial Member Networks and Self-Organised groups and the use of the NEU logo; to be presented to a joint session of the Union Strength and Member Defence Strategy Committee

o noted the activity grants approved

o Debra Beale was elected unopposed to serve on the Wales Committee.

o Noted initial feedback from branch secretaries on Shared Mail Box proposals;

o the development of a model policy on sexual harassment in schools, further campaigning and training and working with the Womens Organising Forum on these issues.

o The Executive agreed the paper on Professional Unity for communication to all members

o Challenging Sexism and Violence Against Women and Girls noted the outline of the Union’s work has done in response to recent events that have exposed familiar patterns of men’s violence and everyday sexism and sexual harassment affecting women and girls’ lives.

The Executive welcomed Susan Kent to the Executive (following the by-election in D11) and noted the resignation from the Executive of Neil Foden and Corinne Lamoureux.