LEXIE SCOTT

President’s Web Comment

Let me begin by apologising for the lateness of last month’s comment.  I would like to be able to blame the cold weather but I’m afraid the problem was all mine.

I hope that you have enjoyed a terrific Christmas; I know that the return to school has been, in many cases, marred by the prolonged cold weather.  As term progresses I hope that everything settles down.

As my Presidential year enters its last few weeks I am struck by how quickly it has flown.  Sadly many of the issues which were present at the start of the year – the uncertainty about ESA, the problems of unregulated tests for admission to grammar schools and the worries about school budgets remain.

I have just come from a meeting of the NITC and while there remain differences among the Unions I have been pleased by the constructive way in which all have approached the many complicated issues which we have to deal with.  I am convinced that it is essential that the teacher unions need to work closely together if our members and the children in their care are to be well represented.

Our close working with the INTO continues to bear fruit – in January we jointly hosted a Leadership Seminar on such diverse topics as School Governance and the SEN Review and I am delighted that we had an excellent response for this.  Later this month we will also be launching our campaign which seeks to demand smaller classes.

As I write we continue to be faced with the uncertainties of our political process and irrespective of the rights and wrongs of particular sides to the argument I know that this is having an effect on how our schools are supported.  Savage budget cuts are planned for the Public Sector and Education will have to share these.  What we need to continue to stress is the need for schools to be protected from the cuts, we remain convinced that there is too much bureaucracy with some 40% of the education budget being used for this.   

I am sure that many of you will be starting to look forward to Half-Term and I hope that you enjoy the break.

UTU PRESIDENT

2009-2010