Monday 30th March
The first day of conference opened as always with the “Adoption of standing orders” – the rules by which conference is run.
We then heard a report from the Conference Committee and agreed the minutes from last year’s conference.
There were votes on NEU rules changes – one rule change was passed, making clear that candidates for the top 2 jobs (General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary) must be either;
- a standard member of the union for the previous 5 years (continuous)
- be an official of the union
The other suggested rule changes were voted down.
The current NEU President – Ed Harlow – that gave a rousing speech, that particularly focused on the Arts (he is a music teacher), but covered other challenges and successes (such as the recent Together Alliance rally in London).
Following this, we moved on the conference business, debating motions in the “Assessment, curriculum and accountability” section.
Staffordshire NEU was well represented – Assistant Secretary, Deborah, proposed one of the amendments to Motion 11 – Against the introduction of a statutory year 8 reading assessment.
The most critical part of this motion is the survey over boycotting this test.
For years, we have debated boycotting SATs. None of the arguments against doing so are based on actual support for SATs—it is simply because, once they were in place, they became too engrained to get rid of.
We must not allow this additional Year 8 test to become another permanent fixture that we spend the next twenty years ‘learning to live with.’
We must do whatever we can to stop this now, using our knowledge of the costs to prevent it from ever becoming ‘too hard to remove.’
We heard from Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party (of England and Wales), who gave a speech to conference.
NEU Conference then debated motions that came from the Equalities conference, that had been held earlier in the year.
We ended the day in private session, discussing the NEU accounts and membership numbers – we remain a growing union (in a landscape of decline amongst other unions) and are in a healthy financial position.
Motions that have been passed by conference on Monday include;
- Opposing the new OFSTED framework
- Prioritising the pedagogy of play
- Trust teachers, end the culture of command and control
- Against the introduction of a statutory year 8 reading assessment
- Disabled members’ conference – Standing against welfare cuts – defending dignity, independence and education
- LGBT+ conference – LGBT+ educators against the far right
- Black educators’ conference – Supporting stronger accountability and sanctions for racist incidents in schools
Tuesday 31st March
Tuesday morning started with work on “Equalities & Social Justice” motions.
Staffordshire NEU District Secretary, Rebecca, seconded a strengthening amendment on Motion 20 – Combatting the rise of the far right.
We also passed an important motion on “Protecting trans and non-binary (TNB) students and educators” – it was particularly fitting for this motion to pass on International Trans Day of Visibility.
In the afternoon, we started to debate motions in the “Workforce, bargaining and negotiations” section of the agena. Being the largest section of the agenda, with 10 motions and 20 amendments, we will return to this section again tomorrow.
We also worked through motions put forward from the sector conferences.
Staffordshire NEU Retired Members’ officer, Anne, proposed an amendment to Motion 25 – Pensions. This was Anne’s first time speaking at NEU conference (which always gets a round of applause).
Imagine this: you’ve given thirty, maybe even forty years of your life to education — the early mornings, the late nights, the weekends marking, the emotional labour that no payslip can ever truly reflect.
You retire, expecting the pension you’ve earned. But instead of security, you find cuts, erosion, and broken promises. That’s not a dystopian fantasy — it’s the direction we’re heading unless we act now.Colleagues, our pension is not a gift from the government or our employers. It is a promise we have paid for, year after year, through our work, our dedication, and our sacrifice.
If we don’t defend it now, we will lose it — not just for ourselves, but for every teacher who comes after us.
The presentation of the Steve Sinnott International Solidarity and Blair Peach awards took place and we remembered “Those we have lost” this year.
The Blair Peach ward was first presented at the NUT conference on the 32nd anniversary of Blair Peach’s death, highlighting the ongoing relevance of his work in combating racism and fascism.
On Saturday 23 April 2011, the first Blair Peach award was presented to Jason Hill from Stoke-on-Trent, who played a key role in a campaign against the British National Party.
15 years later, Jason is still an active member of the NEU – he is currently Staffordshire NEU’s Assistant Treasurer and was a delegate to NEU Annual Conference in 2026.
He is also still actively involved in anti-racism work – particularly with North Staffordshire Campaign Against Racism and Fascism (NorSCARF).
In the evening the Staffordshire delegation hosted our annual meal, which many of us followed with dancing at Cuban Salsa Night.
Motions that have been passed by conference on Tuesday include;
- Combatting the rise of the far right
- Defend the right to protest
- The weaponisation of violence against women and girls
- Refugee solidarity
- Protecting trans and non-binary (TNB) students and educators
- Pensions
- Fighting on workload and PPA
- Government’s White Paper and proposed SEND reforms
Wednesday 1st April
So… April Fools at Conference… what could possibly happen?
Well – we opened the day with the “Education, policy and funding” section of the agenda – passing motions to “Protect and resource SEND provision” and the “Tackling the violence and behaviour crisis in schools“.
The Nikki Simpson, Annie Higdon, and Anne and Fred Jarvis awards were presented.
The we continued working through the motions in the biggest section of the agena – “Workforce, bargaining and negotiations“.
After lunch, we listened to a keynote speech from Dr Tia Mills – Executive Committee, National Education Association – our USA sister union.
This lead into debate of the motions in the “International” section of the agenda, along with the NEU Executive’s second “Priority motion“.
The Officer and Rep of the Year awards were presented – the Rep of the Year award was jointly won by the amazing team of workplace reps who took on the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership (MAT) and WON!!
Staffordshire NEU reps were represented by Sinéad, Lucy and Aaron.
We discussed an “Urgent motion” (a motion brought to the attention of conference after receiving signatures of 300+ delegates) on fighting censorship and the attacks on school librarians.
Motions that have been passed by conference on Wednesday include;
- Protect and resource SEND provision
- Tackling the violence and behaviour crisis in schools, a union-led campaign
- Stop school closures
- Asbestos – killing our members, killing our kids
- Reducing educator workload: protecting PPA and ending trapped time
- Automatic progression and a none-point teacher pay scale
- Welfare and waves, not weapons and warfare
- No to Trump and Netanyahu’s wars
Thursday 2nd April
On this final day of the NEU Annual Conference, we debated motions in the “Union strength” and “Member defence” sections of the agenda, before ending with “General purposes” motions and any “Unfinished business” (where – if time allows – any motions that were started in their agenda section, but ran out of time, are completed, followed by any remaining motions that had not yet been started).
The NEU General Secretary, Daniel Kebede, then gave his General Secretary’s speech (and a sing-a-long).
Conference then closed following with Motion 23 – a final vote of “Thanks to the chair” – Ed Harlow.
Motions that have been passed by conference on Thursday include;
- Fighting job creep for support staff
- Equality and sector conferences
- Online balloting now
- Inclusion of a supply members’ section within rule 11
- Towards a liberatory curriculum and transformative pedagogy
- End academisation, bring back local control
- Stop the agency rip off
- National body for supply teachers
Conference 2027
If you would be interested in coming to NEU Annual Conference (or any of the equalities/sector conferences) next year – keep an eye out for the emails with application/nomination details.
Steve Griffiths
Assistant District & Branch Secretary and Equalities: LGBT+ Officer
Photo sources
- Staffordshire NEU members
- NEU social media