National Union of Teachers

The National Union of Teachers (NUT; /ˈnʌt/) was a trade union for school teachers in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.^[2] It was a member of the Trades Union Congress. In March 2017, NUT members endorsed a proposed merger with the Association of Teachers and Lecturers to form a new union known as the National Education Union, which came into existence on 1 September 2017.^[3] The union recruited only qualified teachers and those training to be qualified teachers into membership and on dissolution had almost 400,000 members, making it the largest teachers' union in the United Kingdom.

National Union of Teachers

National Union of Teachers
Merged into	National Education Union
Founded	1870
Dissolved	1 September 2017 (2017-09-01)
Headquarters	London, WC1 United Kingdom
Location	England Wales Channel Islands Isle of Man
Members	372,136 (2015)[1]
Key people	Kevin Courtney, General Secretary Philipa Harvey, President
Affiliations	TUC, EI
Website	www.teachers.org.uk

Campaigns

The NUT campaigned on educational issues and working conditions for its members. Among the NUT's policies in 2017 were:

• Fair pay for teachers
• Work-life balance for teachers
• Against academies
• Abolition of National Curriculum Tests (SATs)
• One union for all teachers

The NUT offered legal protection to its members. The NUT established two financial services companies for teachers, Teachers Assurance in 1877 and the Teachers Building Society in 1966.

History

Headquarters of the NUT at Hamilton House

The NUT was established at a meeting at King's College London on 25 June 1870 as the National Union of Elementary Teachers (NUET) to represent all school teachers in England and Wales combining a number of local teacher associations which had formed across the country following the Elementary Education Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 75).^[4] After toying with the idea of changing the name to the National Union of English Teachers, the name National Union of Teachers (NUT) was finally adopted at Annual Conference in April 1889.

In 1919, in response to an NUT referendum approving the principle of equal pay, a ginger group, the National Association of Men Teachers (NAMT), was formed within the NUT to further the interests of male teachers.^[5] The NAMT changed its name in 1920 to the National Association of Schoolmasters (NAS) and seceded finally from the NUT in 1922. The secession came about indirectly following a decision at the NAS Conference that year to prohibit NAS members from continuing to also be members of the NUT after the 31 December 1922.^[4] The NAS is now amalgamated into the NASUWT, the second-largest teaching union in the UK.

The NUT first established its offices at 7 Adam Street, Adelphi, London WC on the appointment of the first full-time Secretary in 1873. In 1889 it moved its headquarters to Bolton House, 67/71 Russell Square, London WC. In 1915, it moved its headquarters to Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD, where it has remained ever since,^[6] except during the Second World War, when the NUT rented Toddington Manor, Gloucestershire in order to avoid air raids.

Striking teachers and public sector workers march down the Kingsway, London, flanked by police on 30 June, as part of the 2011 United Kingdom anti-austerity protests.

Leadership

General Secretaries

The General Secretary was the leader of the NUT. From 1989, the General Secretary was elected by the union's membership, with each term lasting five years.^[7]

• William Lawson, 1870–1873^[8]
• Thomas Heller, 1873–1891^[9]
• James Yoxall, 1892–1924^[10]
• Frank Goldstone, 1924–1931^[11]
• Frederick Mander, 1931–1947^[12]
• Ronald Gould, 1947–1970^[13]
• Edward Britton, 1970–1975^[14]
• Fred Jarvis, 1975–1989^[15]
• Doug McAvoy, 1989–2004^[16]
• Steve Sinnott, 2004–2008 (died in office)^[17]
• Christine Blower, 2008–2016 (acting until May 2009)^[18]
• Kevin Courtney, 2016–2017^[19]

Deputy General Secretaries

1960s: Ernest Naisbitt

1970: Fred Jarvis

1974: Doug McAvoy

c.1989: Mary Hufford

1994: Steve Sinnott

2005: Christine Blower

2010: Kevin Courtney

2016: Post vacant

Presidents

1870: John James Graves

1871: J. Langton

1872: W. Osborn

1873: T. Smith

1874: H. J. Moore

1875: J. H. Devonshire

1876: G. Seldon

1877: W. Gardner

1878: T. N. Day

1879: J. W. Grove

1880: G. J. Rankilor

1881: J. R. Langler

1882: R. Sykes

1883: C. J. Dawson

1884: R. Greenwood

1885: R. Wild

1886: A. Trail

1887: G. Girling

1888: W. J. Pope

1889: R. Wild

1890: H. J. Walker

1891: G. Collins

1892: James Yoxall

1893: Charles Bowden

1894: Ernest Gray

1895: T. B. Ellery

1896: Thomas Macnamara

1897: C. J. Addiscott

1898: Richard Waddington

1899: Thomas Clancy

1900: Marshall Jackman

1901: James Blacker

1902: Allen Croft

1903: H. Coward

1904: George Sharples

1905: Tom John

1906: T. P. Sykes

1907: A. R. Pickles

1908: W. A. Nicholls

1909: C. W. Hole

1910: Marshall Jackman

1911: Isabel Cleghorn^[20]

1912: Walter David Bentliff

1913: A. W. Dakers

1914: William Bridgland Steer

1915: William Bridgland Steer

1916: Charles Williamson Crook

1917: Thomas Underdown

1918: Essie Conway

1919: W. P. Folland

1920: J. F. Wood

1921: G. H. Powell

1922: William Cove

1923: E. J. Sainsbury

1924: M. Conway

1925: C. T. Wing

1926: Fred Barraclough

1927: Frederick Mander

1928: William Willis Hill

1929: C. W. Cowen

1930: Leah Manning

1931: Angus Roberts

1932: A. E. Henshall

1933: H. N. Penlington

1934: H. Humphrey

1935: J. W. H. Brown

1936: D. Edwards

1937: R. J. Patten

1938: Elsie Vera Parker

1939: George Chipperfield

1940: George Chipperfield

1941: George Chipperfield

1942: W. Griffith

1943: Ronald Gould

1944: GCT Giles

1945: Isabel Haswell

1946: Ralph Morley

1947: J. W. Lawton

1948: William J. Rodda

1949: Gwynne Rees

1950: Sophie Christie Bertie

1951: A. Granville Prior

1952: C. A. Roberts

1953: O. Barnett

1954: F. J. Evans

1955: Herbert J. Nursery

1956: Edward Britton

1957: John Archbold

1958: E. S. Owen

1959: A. F. Cooke

1960: S. W. Exworthy

1961: G. A. Chappell

1962: John England

1963: Harry Dawson

1964: Muriel Stewart

1965: Edward Homer

1966: Oliver Whitfield

1967: D. G. Gilbert

1968: W. E. Davies

1969: C. B. Johnson

1970: C. W. Elliot

1971: J. T. Jones

1972: H. Allison

1973: Max Morris

1974: J. Caulfield

1975: E. Clayton

1976: A. Wilshire

1977: J. Gray

1978: D. G. Bonner

1979: J. Murphy

1980: P. Kennedy

1981: J. Chambers

1982: A. Budd

1983: D. Winters

1984: Peter Griffin^[21]

1985: W. Green

1986: R. Richardson

1987: D. Morgan

1988: M. Horne

1989: June Fisher

1990: Barbara Lloyd

1991: Anne Moran

1992: Pat Hawkes

1993: Marian Darke

1994: Steve Sinnott

1995: J. Bills

1996: Carole Regan

1997: Christine Blower

1998: Maureen Skevington

1999: Judith Elderkin

2000: Tony Brockman

2001: John Illingworth

2002: Kathryn Stallard

2003: Lesley Auger

2004: Mary Compton

2005: Hilary Bills

2006: Judy Moorhouse

2007: Baljeet Ghale

2008: Bill Greenshields

2009: Martin Reed

2010: Gill Goodswen

2011: Nina Franklin

2012: Marilyn Harrop

2013: Beth Davies

2014: Max Hyde

2015: Philipa Harvey

2016: Anne Swift

Annual Conference

The NUT annual conference took place every spring. The timing always coincided with Easter weekend: starting on Good Friday and ending on Easter Tuesday and took place in various locations. The last NUT Conference was held in Cardiff in 2017. Following the NUT amalgamation with the Association of Teachers and Lecturers on 1 September 2017 there will be a National Education Union - NUT Section held in Brighton in 2018.

Fred and Anne Jarvis Award

Named after former General Secretary Fred Jarvis and his late wife, the Fred and Anne Jarvis Award was established in 2007 and was presented annually by the NUT to individuals other than NUT members who campaigned tirelessly for all children and young people.^[22] For a list of winners of the Fred and Anne Jarvis Award see List of Fred and Anne Jarvis Award winners.

See also

• Organised labour portal

• National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers
• Association of Teachers and Lecturers
• Education in the United Kingdom