At a recent meeting of young teachers from West Yorkshire about half said that during the last six months they had personally suffered from bullying or had witnessed fellow teachers being bullied.
This is a staggering statistic and has led us to look again at how we can counter it.
The young teachers said that bullying, even of others, caused them a lot of distress and had led them to consider leaving the profession. They said that bullying was a significant factor in persuading some friends from college to leave teaching. With the teacher shortage in Bradford and the extra workload that temporarily filled vacancies often bring we need to do all we can to encourage these young colleagues to stay.
If you are in this position please contact us, completely in confidence, for support. Or, if you can add to our fact finding, also in confidence, please ring the office on 01274 414 664. Bullying may include:
BULLYING IS NOT ACCEPTABLE
You know how annoying it is when you have put something down and you just can’t find it? It’s not too bad if it’s a biro or a 5p coin, but what if it’s a credit card, a house key, or even hundreds of important forms relating to the health, safety and security of your employees?
For several years now Bradford has had a system for staff in schools to report acts of violence carried out against them. If we have suffered a physical or verbal assault from a pupil or parent we fill in a Violence at Work form (which should be freely available in all staff rooms) and hand it to the Head who signs it and passes it on to Education Bradford. They then pass on a copy to the NUT. In this way attacks on staff can be registered by our employer, and the NUT can contact and offer support to our members.
Up until last July the NUT office was receiving, on average, about 70 forms a month. Then they stopped. When asked why they had stopped Education Bradford said they were just not receiving any. But NUT officers are aware of many members who have completed and submitted forms since last July and we have no reason to believe that the number has dropped. So about four hundred Violence at Work forms are not reaching their intended destination - it seems they are being lost on the way.
This is serious. Our employer must have a system for recording acts of violence against staff. It seems that Education Bradford are failing to manage this system on our employer’s behalf.
Come on Education Bradford, concentrate. Where have you put them? Which rooms have you been in since last July? Re-trace your steps. . .
schoolkit@brc-net.org.uk
Are you interested in serving on the Local Authority’s Admissions Appeals Panel? There are at present several vacancies. The job of the panel is to consider appeals from parents who are dissatisfied with their child’s school placement. It meets regularly but is busiest at certain times of the year - one of those times is approaching.
Members of the panel have the right to time off school as necessary, and supply cover is paid for by the Authority.
Members also receive training - usually of half a day.
Please ring this office for further details.
All members will have received, or will receive shortly, some more information from the GTC about the thorny issue of the annual fee. We are asked to consider taking out a Direct Debit.
Probably the simplest thing to do, however, is nothing.
If you do nothing the money will be deducted from salary and there will be an addition to cover tax and National Insurance - so the net effect will be neutral. In other words, the same as last year.
The Government has agreed to add the cost of the fee to this year’s salary award.
Don't forget the NUT's bureaucracy ballot which established the right to attend no more that one meeting a week, on average over the year.
And there should be no more than two meetings in any one week.
The length of the meeting should be a maximum of one hour.
We are sometimes asked,"But what about the 1265 hours?" This is a different issue. The Union's ballot protects you from attending more than one meeting a week irrespective of the 1265 hours.