Bradford Council once more has a system for recording assaults on teachers.
Why "Once more?" you may well ask. Hasn’t it always had such a system?
The truth is that it did have an efficient system by which victims of violence in schools completed a form which was signed by the Head and sent off to the Authority. The Authority then recorded the incident and sent a copy of the form to the NUT office so we could contact our members and offer them support.
Then along came privatisation and we stopped receiving any forms. Either assaults on teachers had suddenly ceased or the system had broken down. The latter seemed more likely.
We spent months trying to find out what had happened. At one stage a box full of forms was found at Future House about which no one would admit any knowledge. Then the supply dried up once more, despite the fact that we knew our members were filling them in and that Headteachers were sending them off.
But at last, after a lot of union pressure, our employers have agreed to take their responsibilities seriously in this area and reintroduce a proper system.
Violence at Work forms should be freely available in the staff room. If you are a victim of verbal or physical violence or sexual or racial abuse please fill one in and give it to your Head (and keep a photocopy). Your Head signs the form, indicating what actions have been taken, and sends it on to Future House. There the incident is recorded and the victim is sent a letter offering support.
The form is passed on to the Unions so that we can contact our members.
Doug McAvoy, the present General Secretary, is retiring.
Ian Murch, Secretary of Bradford NUT, will be a candidate for General Secretary of The National Union of Teachers in the election later this year.
Ian's nomination was unanimously endorsed by a General Meeting of the Bradford Association in December. A large number of NUT members in Bradford will know Ian through his work over many years for Bradford teachers, and will be
confident that he has the skill, experience and dedication to make an excellent General Secretary.
Local officers have visited several schools recently where members have been facing problems relating to workload and pupil behaviour. Do not struggle on alone. If your school is facing these or other problems, contact the Office and get the help and support of your Union.
A massive majority of teachers who voted in the SATs ballot were in favour of a boycott. Unfortunately the percentage of the total eligible electorate voting “YES” was not great enough to allow the Union to call a boycott under its own rules.
This was a disappointing result but will not stop the campaign to get the SATs abolished.
Bradford NUT would like to thank all those who helped with the stalls and balloons, everyone who signed the petition, and all members who attended school meetings or General Meetings to discuss the issue.