Teaching unions at loggerheads over the GTCs role

28 Apr 05
Two of the main teaching unions are locked in a head-to-head battle over the role of the General Teaching Council after its chair, Judy Moorhouse, was re-elected unopposed this week.

29 April 2005

Two of the main teaching unions are locked in a head-to-head battle over the role of the General Teaching Council after its chair, Judy Moorhouse, was re-elected unopposed this week.

Moorhouse, vice-president of the National Union of Teachers, has been chair of the GTC for the last year and her reappointment has been welcomed by NUT general secretary Steve Sinnott. He said she had 'chaired the council with distinction over the past year and will continue to do so in future'.

However, the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers, the largest union representing teachers and head teachers in the UK, boycotted the elections.

The NASUWT believes many activities carried out by the council 'constitute a misuse of public funds'.

The union's general secretary, Chris Keates, said the GTC could make a major contribution in raising the status of the teaching profession.

But she accused the organisation of 'engaging in a whole range of activities, most of which either duplicate the work of other bodies, including the Teacher Training Agency and the Department for Education and Skills, or are not its business'.

A review of the GTC by the Audit Commission, published in January, highlighted concerns about the size of its executive committee and the decision-making process.

Keates said the boycott of the nomination and election process was the first stage of an ongoing NASUWT campaign to seek a review of the council's remit.

She added: 'NASUWT members are at best indifferent to the GTC, and at worst completely hostile. In its present form it constitutes a monumental waste of public funds.'

The GTC reacted angrily to what it called an 'extraordinary and unprovoked outburst' from the union. Chief executive Carol Adams said that the NASUWT 'persists in wilfully misunderstanding the GTC's remit to register, regulate and advise, as set out in the 1998 Teaching and Higher Education Act'.

She added: 'The Audit Commission report commends the council's work and in fact noted that "public criticism by one union with a number of members on the GTC executive is harming the council's reputation".'

PFapr2005

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