The National Union of Teachers (NUT; ) was a trade union for school teachers in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. 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. 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.

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 Teachers Assurance (officially Teachers Provident Society Limited and previously known as the Teachers Group and simply Teachers) is a friendly society in the United Kingdom. The company offers a range of savings, investment home insurance, health a ...

in 1877 and the

Teachers Building Society Teachers Building Society is a mutual British financial institution founded in 1966 by the National Union of Teachers (now the National Education Union). It is a member of the Building Societies Association. The Society offers mortgages which ...

in 1966.

History

The NUT was established at a meeting at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

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. 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 Ginger Group was not a formal political party in Canada, but a faction of radical Progressive and Labour Members of Parliament who advocated socialism. The term ginger group also refers to a small group with new, radical ideas trying to act ...

, 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 Toddington Manor is a 19th-century country house in the English county of Gloucestershire, near the village of Toddington. It is in the gothic style and was designed by Charles Hanbury-Tracy, 1st Baron Sudeley for himself and built be ...

, Gloucestershire in order to avoid air raids. The march

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. * William Lawson, 1870–1873 *

Thomas Heller Thomas C. Heller (born February 27, 1944) is a climate policy lawyer and academic. He currently serves as the chairman of the board for Climate Policy Initiative, an organization he founded in 2009 that works to improve energy and land use polic ...

, 1873–1891 *

James Yoxall Sir James Henry Yoxall (15 July 1857 – 2 February 1925) was a British Liberal Party politician and trade unionist. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nottingham West from 1895 to 1918. He was General Secretary of the National Union of ...

, 1892–1924 * Frank Goldstone, 1924–1931 *

Frederick Mander Sir Frederick Mander FEIS (12 July 1883 – 27 February 1964) was a headmaster and trade unionist and the General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) from 1931 to 1947. Mander was born in Luton in Bedfordshire, the son of Arthur ...

, 1931–1947 * Ronald Gould, 1947–1970 *

Edward Britton Sir Edward Louis Britton Order of the British Empire, CBE (4 December 1909 – 3 January 2005) was a British people, British trade union leader. Britton studied at Bromley Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he edited the ''Cam ...

, 1970–1975 * Fred Jarvis, 1975–1989 *

Doug McAvoy Doug McAvoy (2 January 1939 – 12 May 2019) was a British trade union leader. He was General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers from 1989 to 2004. A teacher, McAvoy was secretary of Newcastle-upon-Tyne NUT and became a member of the ...

, 1989–2004 *

Steve Sinnott Steve Sinnott (24 June 1951 – 5 April 2008) was the General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers from 2004 until his death in 2008. Born in Liverpool, Sinnott became deputy General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers in 1994 in ...

, 2004–2008 (died in office) *

Christine Blower Christine Blower, Baroness Blower (born 20 April 1951) was the eleventh General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, a trade union representing qualified teachers across England and Wales. In March 2018, she stood for election and was sh ...

, 2008–2016 (acting until May 2009) * Kevin Courtney, 2016–2017

Deputy General Secretaries

:1960s: Ernest Naisbitt :1970: Fred Jarvis :1974:

:c.1989: Mary Hufford :1994:

:2005:

:2010: Kevin Courtney :2016: ''Post vacant''

Presidents

Annual Conference

The NUT annual conference took place every spring. The timing always coincided with Easter weekend: starting on

Good Friday Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...

and ending on

Easter Tuesday Easter Tuesday is the third day of the Octave of Easter and is a holiday in some areas. Easter Tuesday in the Western Christian liturgical calendar is the third day of Eastertide and analogously in the Byzantine Rite is the third day of Bright We ...

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. For a list of winners of the Fred and Anne Jarvis Award see

List of Fred and Anne Jarvis Award winners Named for former National Union of Teachers (NUT) General Secretary Fred Jarvis and his late wife, the Fred and Anne Jarvis Award was established in 2007 and first awarded in 2008. It was originally presented annually by the NUT to individuals out ...

References

External links

NUT website

NUT YouTube channel

NEU website

Catalogue of the NUT archives
held at the

Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick The Modern Records Centre (MRC) is the specialist archive service of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, located adjacent to the Central Campus Library. It was established in October 1973 and holds the world's largest archive collecti ...

{{Authority control 1870 establishments in England 2017 disestablishments in England Education in England Education in Guernsey Education in Jersey Education in the Isle of Man Education in Wales Education International Education trade unions Organisations based in the London Borough of Camden Teacher associations based in the United Kingdom Trade unions established in 1870 Trade unions disestablished in 2017 Trade unions in the United Kingdom Trade unions based in London