Yesterday our annual conference began. It's the most exciting moment of the year for many education activists, as it is when teachers from across England come together to set the union's policies and priorities for the year ahead.
This year's conference is extra special, as it is the last NUT conference ever! Next year will be the first where we meet united as the National Education Union.. The decisions delegates make this weekend will have a big impact on the kind of union the NEU will be!
It's great then that we have an agenda that demonstrates our commitment to public education; international solidarity with oppressed groups whose lives often truncate any opportunity for education from the Rohingya to the Palestinians; the workload and pay of teachers that is seeing so many brilliant educators leave the profession and not enough joining it; the mental health pressures facing staff and students; defending our Muslim students who choose to wear the hijab from the Islamophobic attacks from the press and the very top of Ofsted, and much much more.
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| Sirazul and Nijam U Mohamed , Rohingya refugee students now living in Bradford addressed conference on their experiences in Myanmar and the opportunities they have had since coming to the UK. |
As well as the important debates on the conference floor, the teachers who have volunteered their time and energy to come to Brighton will be engaged in passionate debates at the various fringe meetings and events happening around the conference.
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| The 'Resistance is Fertile' fringe meeting on Friday night. |
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| Labour MP Laura Pidcock told the fringe meeting 'there is no point just waiting for a Labour government. Our communities need help now.' |
We hope to bring you updates and reports from our delegation throughout conference, on our blog here and on our Facebook page and Twitter account.
We have two new delegates, first timers to conference, and I hope that you will hear from all of us by the end of conference!
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