Founded 1870 Affiliation TUC, EI | Members 372,136 (2015) | |
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Full name National Union of Teachers Key people Kevin Courtney, General Secretary
Philipa Harvey, President Office location Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London | ||
The National Union of Teachers (NUT)/ˈnʌt/ is a trade union for school teachers in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It is a member of the Trades Union Congress. The Union recruits only qualified teachers and those training to be qualified teachers into membership and currently has almost 400,000 members, making it the largest teachers' union in the United Kingdom. In February 2017, the NUT began a process of balloting members on a proposed merger with the Association of Teachers and Lecturers to form a new union to be known as the National Education Union.
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Campaigns
The NUT campaigns on educational issues and working conditions for its members. Among the NUT's current policies are:
The NUT offers legal protection to its members. The NUT has established two financial services companies for teachers, Teachers Assurance in 1877 and the Teachers Building Society in 1966.
History
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 1870 Education Act. 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. 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. 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, except during the Second World War, when the NUT rented Toddington Manor, Gloucestershire in order to avoid air raids.
General Secretaries
The General Secretary is the leader of the NUT. Since 1989, the General Secretary has been elected by the union's membership, with each term lasting five years.
Annual Conference
The NUT annual conference takes place every spring. The timing always coincides with Easter weekend: starting on Good Friday and ending on Easter Monday and takes place in various locations.
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 is presented annually by the NUT to individuals other than NUT members who have campaigned tirelessly for all children and young people. For a list of winners of the Fred and Anne Jarvis Award see List of Fred and Anne Jarvis Award winners.