Imbar Tamari/ Stuart Richardson/ THIS year's National Union of Teachers' (NUT) Conference, which took place over Easter in Torquay, saw the continued decline of the formerly dominant Right/ Broad Left Bloc and a degree of convergence between the left groupings, including the Socialist Teacher's Alliance (STA) and the Campaign for a Fighting Democratic Union (CDFU).
This partly reflects the growing opposition to New Labour ase debates Pensions, the Education and Inspections Bill, Salaries, and City Academies showed. On a number of occasions, General Secretary Steve Sinnott. backed by the Broad Left, intervened to prevent debateon the Local Government Pensions Scheme, on a resolu tion calling for a boycott of Israel and on a salaries motion which proposed a flat rate increase.
Several themes ran through the conterence. The continuing attack on teachers' pay and conditions alongside the promotion of a deadening, regimentea and lest-aominated system whose main purJUSC Was LULLI OU L disciplined fodder for employers.
For example, the debate on early years education argued the crucial role of play in children's development and the attempt to replace qualified early years teachers with support staff.
Primary Head John Illingworth gave a moving account of how his efforts reconcile the deluge of instructions from Whitehall with running a school led to his decision to leave
The issues of "Managing Pupil Behaviour" and "Inclusion" divided the left. In particular the amendment from Birmingham to the pupil behaviour resolution, which advocated parenting classes, was controversial.
Parenting classes has been a classic New Labour response to pupils with behavioural problems but as several critical speakers emphasised without reference to low pay and the excessive hours many parents have to work as well as serious housing problems the danger of the amendment was to blame the victims of the social crisis rather than providing a way forward.
The arrest of a headteacher in connection with investigafunding of Academies and the fact that Ruth Kelly's departure means former union bureaucrat Alan Johnson will confront NUT The eventual deal on pensions
means that all current teachers can retire at 60 but all new entrants will have to work to 65. many Academy sponsors are also donors to New Labour gave a particularly sharp focus to the debate on Academies
The Education Inspections Bill.
Both explicitly promote the privatisation of education; both are an attack on compremensive concaron under me guise of 'parent choice' and the third amendment from Westminster, which opposed the Turner Commission proposal to increase the state pension age to 68. The weak position passed opens the way for further attacks by the government and details of the precise plan for new entrants appear to confirm this.
The statement on the local government pensions scheme ended with a comment from Brendan Barber praising this "sensible agreement".
This was the same Brendan Barber who came to last year's conference to tell us to talk to the government. Clearly the trade union leadership is not
practice opposed Blairism in spite of the threat unal poses to trade unlonists.
An important defeat was the failure of the challenge by