Voice, formerly the Professional Association of Teachers (PAT), is a section of the British

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

Community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

representing teachers, lecturers and other education and childcare workers in

British education Education in the United Kingdom is a devolution, devolved matter with each of the countries of the United Kingdom having separate systems under separate governments: the Government of the United Kingdom, UK Government is responsible for England ...

. The union is committed to protecting and promoting the 'cause of education' and to defending the professional interests of members. As a section of Community, Voice retains responsibility for the union's education policy and maintains a specialist staff. Voice was an independent trade union until October 2020. Whilst 'respecting and reserving' its legal right to take industrial action, Voice maintained a policy that it did not engage in 'any kind of industrial action' that is 'injurious to education' or damaging to the health, safety of welfare of those in its care or charge.

History

The Professional Association of Teachers was founded in 1970 by two Essex teachers: Colin Leicester and Ray Bryant. The union initially aimed to recruit teachers from all colleges, schools and universities, and by 1979 had a membership of 13,000. In 1981, the Conservative government gave the union a seat on the Burnham Committee, and its membership increased rapidly, reaching 40,000 by 1985.Mike Ironside and Roger Seifert, ''Industrial Relations in Schools'', p.92 By 2001, it still had 34,000 members, many from early years education, and whilst ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' has claimed that it struggled to recruit and that rival unions believed it was likely to close, this did not occur and the union remains active. In February 2008, the Professional Association of Teachers became Voice: the union for education professionals. In 2018, Voice affiliated to the General Federation of Trade Unions, the 'federation for specialist unions', and works constructively with other unions in pursuit of shared objectives to the benefit of Voice members. From October 2020 Voice: The Union for Education Professionals has transferred to general trade union

to become its education and early years section.

Affiliated bodies

The Professional Association of Nursery Nurses (PANN) was established, in 1982, by a group of nursery nurses, who also wished to commit themselves to the principle of not striking. They became a section of PAT on 1 September 1995. The Professionals Allied to Teaching (PAtT) section was launched in 2000. The National Association of Administrative Staff in Schools and Colleges, which had been founded in 1951 as the School Secretaries Association, merged into PAT/PAtT in 2001. The PANN and PAtT sections no longer exist, as they are now part of Voice. The charity ''PAT (Education and Learning)'' was launched by the Professional Association of Teachers in 1999. This charity changed its name, in June 2008, to Voice (Supporting Education and Learning.

General Secretaries

:1980: Peter Dawson :1992: John Andrews :1998: Kay Driver :2001: Jean Gemmell :2006: Philip Parkin :2012: Deborah Lawson

References

External links

* {{official website, https://www.voicetheunion.org.uk/ Education in Derby Education trade unions Trade unions in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Derby 1970 establishments in the United Kingdom Trade unions established in 1970 Trade unions based in Derbyshire