Full name | National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers |
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Founded | 1976 | (merger of NAS and UWT)
Members | 321,217 (2015) |
Affiliation | TUC, ICTU, STUC, EI |
Key people | Chris Keates, General Secretary |
Office location | Rose Hill, Birmingham |
Country | United Kingdom |
Website | www |
The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) is a TUC-affiliated trade union representing teachers, including headteachers, throughout the United Kingdom.
The union organises in all sectors from early years to further education and represents teachers in all roles including heads and deputies. With over 300,000 members it's the second largest teachers' union in United Kingdom. The NASUWT claims to be independent of any political party, and seeks to influence educational policy on behalf of its members with national government and the devolved assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The origins of the NASUWT can be traced back to the formation of the National Association of Men Teachers (NAMT) in 1919. The Association was formed as a group within the National Union of Teachers (NUT) to promote the interests of male teachers. The group existed alongside others within the NUT such as the National Federation of Class Teachers, the National Association of Head Teachers and the National Federation of Women Teachers (later to become the National Union of Women Teachers).
The formation of the NAMT was in response to an NUT referendum the same year, approving the principle of equal pay. This major change in salary policy had been achieved whilst many male teachers were away serving in the army during the First World War.
A subsequent three-year campaign by the NAMT to further the interests of male teachers in the NUT saw its name changed in 1920 to the National Association of Schoolmasters (NAS) and finally resulted in secession of the NAS 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 31 December 1922.
The NAS aimed to recruit every schoolmaster into the NAS, to safeguard and promote the interests of male teachers, to ensure recognition of the social and economic responsibilities of male teachers, and to ensure the representation of schoolmasters on matters concerned with education with both the local education authorities (LEAs) and government. The NAS also maintained that all boys over the age of seven should be taught mainly by men and that schoolmasters should not serve under women heads.