Teachers set off to learn

REPRESENTATIVES from the two main teaching unions will be hoping to bring back information on best practice from their UK colleagues this week. National Union of Teachers secretary Eileen Baird and Negotiating Council for Teachers and Lecturers in Guernsey representative Sean McManus will attend the NUT Conference in Harrogate on Friday.

Caroline Bowker, local National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers secretary will be at her own union's conference in Llandudno the following week.

Issues up for discussion include changes to pension entitlements, management bullying and behavioural problems in schools. Balancing work and life for teachers will also be debated.

Ms Bowker said management bullying, whereby teachers are put under pressure from their superiors, has been seen in local schools.

'We are beginning to see it and it is becoming a concern here on the island,' she said.

'It means some members of management use their position in a way that is not appropriate for them.

'It is an issue that is referred to us, though the people involved may not use those terms.

'At the moment, it's a small problem and we want to learn how to deal with it before it becomes a large problem.'

She said tools such as performance management indicators, devised to help teachers, could be abused to make them feel inadequate.

'What we want to find out is how it's dealt with in the UK.'

Another item often seen on teachers' conference agendas is behavioural problems in the classroom.

'There are problems and more needs to be done,' she said.

'There are things decided at conference but that don't necessarily transfer. Teachers decide what they would like to happen and the union tries to get action from management.

'In Guernsey, we have been pressing for a long time for a referral unit, which is part of the plans for the new schools, but that is in 2008 or 2009. But we've been saying for more than 10 years that something is needed.'

The NUT will choose its next secretary general at the conference, following the retirement of Doug McAvoy.

'The theme of the NUT conference is broadly the same as the NAS/UWT conference,' said a NCTLG spokesman.

'The reason that Guernsey sends representatives to these conferences is so we are able to share in the developments that are happening in the UK.

'It also means that we can benefit from the better initiatives and warned off the less-good ones.

'We hope we can bring back examples of best practice that we wish to see adopted; workload is a classic one.

'We also seek to make our employers aware of poor practice so that it can be avoided.'