“Society should ensure that all children and young people receive the support they need in order to make a fulfilling transition to adulthood” [email protected] - +44(0)7793 370459 - @LKMco – www.lkmco.org.uk “The sharpest eyes in education” - “Outstanding support” - “A measurable improvement in teaching & learning” “Excellent grasp of the sector & beyond” – “Evidence based opinions” Loic Menzies Director: LKMco [email protected]// 07793 370459 // @lkmco Research funded by edapt (UK) www.edapt.org.uk Photo: Paul Davey/Demotix/Corbis, The Guardian Collectivists Functionalists and Critics: What do Teachers think of their Unions? #UnionBecause //@LKMco
“The sharpest eyes in education” - “Outstanding support” - “A measurable improvement in teaching & learning” “Excellent grasp of the sector & beyond” – “Evidence based opinions”. Collectivists Functionalists and Critics: What do Teachers think of their Unions? - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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“Society should ensure that all children and young people receive the support they need in order to make a fulfilling transition to adulthood”
“The sharpest eyes in education” - “Outstanding support” - “A measurable improvement in teaching & learning”
“Excellent grasp of the sector & beyond” – “Evidence based opinions”
Overall aim: To give teachers a voice in the debate over the role and legitimacy of unions
Research questions-Why do teachers join unions?-How do teachers chose their union?-What is it like not being in a union?-What support do teachers ask for from their unions?-How do teachers feel about the support they receive?-How do heads interact with unions?-How satisfied are teachers with their unions?-How do teachers feel about unions-How have recent events affected teachers’ views on their unions?
“Society should ensure that all children and young people receive the support they need in order to make a fulfilling transition to adulthood”
“The sharpest eyes in education” - “Outstanding support” - “A measurable improvement in teaching & learning”
“Excellent grasp of the sector & beyond” – “Evidence based opinions”
The Project
Medium scale survey-Aim: to identify broad trends amongst a range of teachers-22nd Jan to 22nd Feb-384 respondents, (self selecting)-Specific sections for heads, non union members, independent school teachers-Lots of open answers-Analysis by group and qualitative methods applied to open answers – (coded descriptively categorised)
Interviews-Aim: To probe trends, unpack ambiguity and explore determinants of variation-Sampled to include different groups-22, semi-structured phone interviews (10-30 mins each)-Coded to link responses to themes from survey
“Society should ensure that all children and young people receive the support they need in order to make a fulfilling transition to adulthood”
“The sharpest eyes in education” - “Outstanding support” - “A measurable improvement in teaching & learning”
“Excellent grasp of the sector & beyond” – “Evidence based opinions”
Survey respondents
Promoted in a range of ways to ensure broad range of respondents-Press (TES, Guardian, Times)-Blogs and social media-Co-operation from NAHT and ASCL-Teach First mailing list-Snow ball sampling
Sample characteristics-Secondary teachers over represented-Leadership unions over represented-Teach First teachers over represented-Heads and senior leaders over represented-Males over-represented-Conservatives under-represented-More than 50% had over 10 years teaching experience-30% were active union members and 46% had strong views on unions and only 11% of these were Conservatives
“Society should ensure that all children and young people receive the support they need in order to make a fulfilling transition to adulthood”
“The sharpest eyes in education” - “Outstanding support” - “A measurable improvement in teaching & learning”
“Excellent grasp of the sector & beyond” – “Evidence based opinions”
Key findings
- High levels of satisfaction with unions, the support they provide and the experience of interacting with them
- Ambiguity of ‘support’- Do unions improve education?- The impact of recent events- Substantial variation amongst teachers in terms of what they want from their unions:
Collectivists, Functionalists and Critics
“Society should ensure that all children and young people receive the support they need in order to make a fulfilling transition to adulthood”
“The sharpest eyes in education” - “Outstanding support” - “A measurable improvement in teaching & learning”
“Excellent grasp of the sector & beyond” – “Evidence based opinions”
Why do teachers join unions?
-Protection very important (more than 80% ‘very important’, less than 1% not important cf. all other areas less than 60%) -“Collective bargaining” and “collective voice” important (approximately half very important).-Info on developments in teaching practice and pedagogy, Right to industrial action and campaigning least important (around 1/3 ‘not important’)
“Society should ensure that all children and young people receive the support they need in order to make a fulfilling transition to adulthood”
“The sharpest eyes in education” - “Outstanding support” - “A measurable improvement in teaching & learning”
“Excellent grasp of the sector & beyond” – “Evidence based opinions”
Why are teachers so satisfied with union support?
- 80% who received support are satisfied with it, (60% of them are ‘very satisfied’)
“ It was very important to feel that someone was on my side” R: 1704679638 – Survey
“Life at school became more bearable” R: 1711487399 – Survey
“The NUT representative gave me moral as well as practical support. If it had not been for him I would probably have had a breakdown.” R: 1724668494 – Survey
Because…
“the bully was terrified of the union rep because she really 'knew her stuff” R: 1705207853 - Survey
“Well it’s having people there to know what’s going on because they’re local and that can come up with answers, know the way to go round to get things done but also then has the back-up of the region offices and the full-time officials
there” R: 1711448224 – Interview
Reservations-Inaction-Under-skilled reps
“Society should ensure that all children and young people receive the support they need in order to make a fulfilling transition to adulthood”
“The sharpest eyes in education” - “Outstanding support” - “A measurable improvement in teaching & learning”
“Excellent grasp of the sector & beyond” – “Evidence based opinions”
The political divide- Both Labour and Conservative teachers satisfied overall- 54% of Conservatives satisfied with collective bargaining cf. US: 81% of Republicans
satisfied in this area (Moe 2011 p.91).- 41% gap in agreement that “education in the UK is better as a result of the unions”
(17% of Conservatives cf. 58% of Labour)
“Society should ensure that all children and young people receive the support they need in order to make a fulfilling transition to adulthood”