From my results and research which is largely qualitative and cannot be displayed in graphs it has became apparent, much in contrast to my original hypothesis, that teaching unions do not have much force for good in secondary education and are rather more just something that is paid every year with little thought. I believe it to be more like a car tax, knowing that you really should pay it or you could get in trouble at some point.

From what I have gathered throughout this investigation it is uncommon to find a member of a teaching union that is fully involved and on top of current issues and those that are, are usually the union representatives. Not one of my questionnaires or person have I spoken to have used a training course offered by their union, not only that but they also haven’t updated on recent issues involved with their union in the past 3 months.

Reverting back to the question in hand, ‘to what extent are trade unions a force for good in secondary education? ‘ it would seem in conclusion this lack of interest and negligence to be aware of current topics informed by their unions clearly goes to show that unions have little involvement with the teaching of secondary education and is more of just a fee for an seemingly invisible henchman for teachers that fall into trouble somewhere in their career.

Although the unions offer training courses and much information for their members and the public too, it seems that most teachers are little bothered to use these facilities and carry on as normal knowing that they have that support if they need it. Although the different unions have different ethics and views, commonly this plays no part in the being the decisive factor in whether a potential member chooses it or not, it is mainly based on recommendation or being the first to approach.

However, I do believe that unions do play a large part in being a force for good in secondary education for some teachers, for those that are very much involved with the current issues and the ethics of each organisation. I spoke to a representative who was deeply immersed in the doings of his trade union, closely followed the guidelines set and enmeshed himself into putting his views forward which he claimed affected his teaching in secondary education much so. As the teaching union directly affects the teacher and the way he or she teaches then it subsequently affects the students being taught.

In consideration to all the points I broached above I believe that trade unions have a large extent in being a force for good in secondary education for some teachers, on the other hand; in majority for most teachers they do not act as a force for good, nor a force for anything except protecting its’ members in legal battles and other policies such as insurance, without affecting the students. Here I have included a sample of my filled-out questionnaires and a bibliography of my sources used.

Bibliography

http://www.nasuwt.org.uk/