We thought it would be a good way to keep you informed about what was going on at conference if we did a quick daily blog giving you the highlights and the lowdown of #NUT17.
For more immediate updates, follow us on Twitter @cityofderbynut!
Day One
The first session is very much an introductory session: last year's president, Anne Swift (left), was thanked for her service, and this year's, Louise Regan (right) was installed. The highlight of the session is the guest speakers and we had three who were absolutely fantastic to start conference off.
Leanne Mohammed is a Year 11 British Palestinian student who gave a fantastic speech about her determination to see justice done for the Palestinian people in the face of Islamophobic and misogynistic abuse. She was confident, eloquent and passionate, and conference gave her a well-deserved standing ovation.
Our second speaker was also Palestinian - the winner of last year's Global Teacher of the Year award, Hanan Al-Hroub. She spoke passionately about the need for good education to provide a future for the Palestinian people and conference was on its collective feet again.
The third guest to speak was the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell. You may know that for many years the NUT has not invited politicians to address conference, so apart from Jeremy Corbyn's address last year this was something of a break from that tradition. But then, since Corbyn became leader of the Labour Party there has been something of a break from what we have heard from Labour for a while! This speech was amazing - promising to reintroduce democratic control of education, a return to comprehensive education, free school meals for every primary school child, an end to the privatisation and fragmentation of the education system and an end to the cuts that are crippling our ability to offer our students the broad and supportive education they deserve. Needless to say, conference was on its feet for a third time!
The other notable guest was of course Mary Bousted, secretary of the ATL. She gave a good speech and was as passionate as any of the other guests about taking on the funding cuts and this government. We gave her our fourth standing ovation of the day!
Conference business then followed. A priority motion was moved to address the devastating funding cuts that the government is trying to push through; and former secretary Christine Blower, with one of her now-legendary pieces of headgear divested during her speech, was given honorary membership of the union.
On day two the serious business of conference will begin, as we make policy for the coming year - this being the last NUT conference before the merger with ATL to create the NEU, there is a lot to decide, especially with the ongoing crises in education into which this government has plunged us all.
On a side note, the conference hall in Cardiff is a bit packed - here's what it was like at the end of the first session!
Finally, it wouldn't be conference without fringe meetings! The Socialist Teachers Alliance (STA) held a meeting on Campaigning on pay, cuts and workload. We were incredibly pleased that two Derby Teaching Assistants were speaking on the panel alongside a Durham Teaching Assistant and teachers who have led successful campaigns against attacks on pay and working conditions over the last year. Derby NUT has stood fully behind the TAs during their dispute and we will stand with them again if the dispute reignites in the coming weeks and months.
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