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Christine Blower, Baroness Blower

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The Right Honourable
The Baroness Blower
Blower in 2022
Born (1951-04-20) 20 April 1951 (age 73)
Surrey, United Kingdom
OfficeGeneral Secretary of the National Union of Teachers
Term2009–2016
PredecessorSteve Sinnott
SuccessorKevin Courtney
Political partyLabour
SpouseDennis Charman
ChildrenTwo

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 shortlisted for the position of the Labour Party's General Secretary. She is the Vice Chair of the pressure group Unite Against Fascism.

Early life

She was born in Surrey, part of the Home Counties.

Her father was a coalminer in his younger days in the north east of England, and then a GPO engineer, as well as a Labour supporter.[1]

She grew up in Chessington and attended Ellingham County Primary School and then Tolworth Girls School,[2] a bi-lateral school where she was educated in the grammar stream.[1] Having contemplated a career in law or probation work, she instead trained as a teacher.

Teaching career

In 1973, she took her first teaching post, at Holland Park School, a comprehensive in Kensington and Chelsea which was then part of the Inner London Education Authority, where she taught French.[3] At the time, the school had changed from streamed teaching to mixed-ability teaching, a style of teaching she prefers as it does not "create the sheep and goats situation that comprehensives were set up to avoid".[1] Her daughter Sophie later attended the school.

In 1980, she became Head of Modern Languages at St Edmund's Secondary School in Fulham, then Head of Department at Quintin Kynaston School in Westminster in 1983.

With the threatened break up of the ILEA, Blower moved back to Hammersmith and Fulham in 1990 and concentrated on working with young teenagers at risk of care or custody at Farm Lane Adolescent Resource Centre.[3] After its closure, she was redeployed as a member of the local authority's Behaviour Support Team. As she explained in 1997, "The brief of the team is to try and deal with the behaviour in order to calm the children down, get them focussed in on tasks so they can stay in the mainstream".[3]

National Union of Teachers

Blower joined the NUT at the start of her teaching career. Between 1986 and 2004 she held various posts in the West London association, including Secretary.

She was elected to the National Executive of the NUT between 1992 and 2000.[citation needed]

Other positions include national vice-president in 1996 and then the 125th national president of the NUT from 28 March 1997 to 10 April 1998, succeeding Carole Regan. Blower used this platform to argue for a greater role for teachers in the running of Pupil Referral Units and for "properly resourced nursery provision".[3] She was a critic of grammar schools, SATs and the schools regulator. Of the latter, she argued that "much of what people have to do for Ofsted is an utter waste of time".[3]

Blower failed in her bid to be elected as general secretary in 1999, with incumbent Doug McAvoy re-elected with a 17,000 majority.[4] She was later elected Deputy general secretary on 28 January 2005 under his successor Steve Sinnott.[5]

After the sudden death of Sinnott while in post,[6] she became acting general secretary on 5 April 2008,[7] and led the union's first national strike in two decades – over teachers' pay – a fortnight later.[8]

On 5 May 2009, she was elected unopposed as the first woman general secretary of the NUT.[9]

In February 2013, in line with the NUT, Blower was among those who gave their support to the People's Assembly in a letter published by The Guardian newspaper.[10] She also gave a speech at the People's Assembly Conference held at Westminster Central Hall on 22 June 2013.

SATs

Blower has aligned herself to long-standing NUT criticisms of the standard assessment tests (or SATs) in schools, including the national boycotts led by the union in 1993[11] and 2010.[12]

Her opposition has centred on the tests' use in the compilation of national league tables, which the NUT would also like to see abolished. Blower has referred to the tests as "high stakes", with teachers under pressure to narrow the curriculum, "skewing everything to enable their pupils to jump through a series of unnecessary hoops".[13] Addressing the Government's position in the magazine Tribune, she wrote: "Tests do not drive up standards. They just cause additional stress for pupils, teachers and parents. Teachers are continually rushing to deliver a huge curriculum that ends up unbalanced because of the pressure to reach Government-imposed targets. Many feel that they cannot depart from the restrictions of the national curriculum".[14]

Under Blower's leadership, the NUT has published its proposals for alternative approaches to assessment, most recently in conjunction with the NAHT in 2009[15] and with ATL in 2010.[16] A further document co-authored by the three unions was published in December 2010.[17]

In her presidential address to NUT Conference on 29 March 1997, Blower reported that in the previous year her daughter Sophie had been withdrawn from the Key Stage 2 tests.[18]

She told delegates, "As a parent and a teacher, I will continue to support campaigns to rid education of blanket testing of our children." There was much criticism of this 'direct action'[19] in the press, but defending herself, Blower argued that "[Sophie] did something considerably more useful with her time than if she'd been at school during the tests".[18] This element of her speech was portrayed by some as an example of hard left militancy.

Academies and free schools

The NUT under Blower's leadership has been a vocal critic of the Academies programme,[20] both in its original New Labour model through to the expansions brought about by the Academies Act 2010 which favours schools rated "outstanding" by Ofsted.[21]

Policy introduced by Michael Gove also allows for free schools, newly founded and directly funded schools intended to fulfil a local need and with freedoms very similar to Academies. The NUT opposes Free Schools[22] and Blower has voiced concerns that they are able to employ teaching staff without Qualified Teacher Status.[23]

Both of these types of school are outside LEA control and have the potential to make Collective bargaining more difficult.

Blower has disputed the success of the Swedish system as well as American charter schools,[24] both regularly cited by Michael Gove as exemplars of narrowing the social divide.[25][26]

In a cover story for The Spectator magazine in August 2010, it was claimed that NUT activists were "bullying" head teachers known to be considering academy conversion and, with it, a break from local authority control.[27]

Politics

Blower was a Labour member until the early 1990s. In 1982, she stood as a Labour candidate for East Putney ward on Wandsworth Council, but was not elected, with the three seats being held by the Conservative Party; one of the winning Conservatives whom Blower stood against was future MP Christopher Chope.[28][1]

Speaking before the May 1997 general election, she distanced herself from Labour leader Tony Blair's New Labour rebranding of the party. Two years later, she told a journalist that she was "to the left of old Labour" and confirmed that she had no affiliation to any political party or group.[29] However, in 2000, she was a member of the London Socialist Alliance, ahead of the Greater London Assembly Elections. She said at the time that it "was formed to prevent disillusionment with Labour giving a new birth to the far right as it did in the 1970s".[30] At this election, she ran for election as the party candidate in West Central and on the multi-member party list system; she was unsuccessful on both.

In March 2016, ahead of her departure as general secretary of the NUT, Blower announced that she would be joining the Labour Party "led by Jeremy Corbyn, to fight for the better world we know is possible".[31] She was shortlisted for the post of Labour's general secretary in 2018, but the role instead went to her opponent, fellow trade unionist Jennie Formby.[32][33]

Blower was nominated for a life peerage in the 2019 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours.[34] She was created Baroness Blower, of Starch Green in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, on 15 October 2019.[35] As a Labour peer, she has sat in the House of Lords since 4 November 2019.[36]

Family

Her partner of thirty seven years, Dennis Charman, a retired teacher, was secretary of Hammersmith and Fulham NUT.[citation needed]

Her two daughters have taken the double-barrelled surname Charman-Blower. Sophie attended the University of Edinburgh,[37] where she acted as Edinburgh spokesperson for the Stop the War coalition, whilst studying ancient civilisations of the Mediterranean and Middle East. She followed this up with an MA in human rights law at SOAS, University of London, and now works for Marie Stopes International. She attempted to be selected as the Labour candidate for the London Assembly constituency of West Central in 2020, but was unsuccessful.[38]

Elections contested

London Assembly election

Date of election Constituency Party Votes %
2000 West Central LSA 2,720 2.6
Date of election Party Votes % Results Notes
2000 LSA 27,073 1.6 Not elected Multi-member party list

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Militating Tendency", Peter Wilby, The Guardian, 13 May 2008
  2. ^ "Christine Blower pays tribute to her former headteacher" Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Teacher Support Network, 9 December 2008
  3. ^ a b c d e The Teacher, April 1997, p11
  4. ^ 'McAvoy beats hard left in NUT ballot", The Independent, 29 June 1999
  5. ^ 'Unions appoint new second in command", The Guardian, 28 January 2005
  6. ^ 'Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, has died", The Times, 5 April 2008
  7. ^ 'Teacher union leader Sinnott dies", BBC News, 7 April 2008
  8. ^ 'Teachers defend strike action", BBC News, 22 April 2008
  9. ^ 'Christine Blower confirmed as head of teaching union", The Guardian, 6 May 2009
  10. ^ "Letters: People's Assembly Against Austerity". 5 February 2013, The Guardian.
  11. ^ "Boycott blocks tests for pupils aged 11", The Times, 31 May 1993
  12. ^ 'Sats boycott hits tens of thousands of pupils", BBC News, 10 May 2010
  13. ^ "The pupils forced to face unnecessary hoops", Yorkshire Post, 11 March 2010
  14. ^ "Scrap damaging SATs and let teachers do what they do best", Tribune, 19 April 2009
  15. ^ Statement by the National Union of Teachers and the National Association of Head Teachers
  16. ^ Making Assessment Measure Up, NUT/ATL Joint Statement
  17. ^ "Common Ground on Assessment and Accountability in Primary Schools" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
  18. ^ a b "Teachers' leader made her child miss key tests", The Observer, 30 March 1997
  19. ^ The Times, 1 April 1997
  20. ^ "A call to arms", New Statesman (supplement), 9 July 2010
  21. ^ 'Academies expansion in jeopardy" Archived 1 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Times Education Supplement, 11 June 2010
  22. ^ "Free Schools: Beyond the Spin of Government Policy" Archived 17 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ "Free school staff need no qualifications", Financial Times, 24 October 2010
  24. ^ Speech to TUC, 14 September 2010 Archived 18 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  25. ^ "We need a Swedish education system", The Independent, 3 December 2008
  26. ^ "Education Secretary Michael Gove Unveils Policy Framework For 'Free Schools'" Archived 24 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, eGov Monitor, 21 June 2010
  27. ^ "Revealed: the secret war over England’s schools"[permanent dead link], The Spectator, 28 August 2010
  28. ^ London Borough Council Elections 6 May 1982 (PDF). London: Greater London Council. 29 July 1982. p. 64. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  29. ^ "Goodbye, grey suits", The Guardian, 17 June 1999
  30. ^ "Right of Reply", The Independent, 26 April 2000 ]
  31. ^ Pope, Conor. "Meet one of Labour's newest members…. the head of Britain's biggest teaching union". LabourList. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  32. ^ Rodgers, Sienna. "Jennie Formby and Christine Blower shortlisted for general secretary post". LabourList. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  33. ^ Rodgers, Sienna. "Jennie Formby's to-do list – longer than a Leonard Cohen song". LabourList. Retrieved 14 December 2020. the new general secretary
  34. ^ "Resignation Peerages 2019" (PDF). Cabinet Office. 10 September 2019.
  35. ^ "No. 62801". The London Gazette. 21 October 2019. p. 18812.
  36. ^ "Parliamentary career for Baroness Blower - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament". UK Parliament. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  37. ^ ""Education not for sale"". Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  38. ^ Chappell, Elliot; Rodgers, Sienna. "Corbynsceptics score victories in London Assembly candidate selections". LabourList. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
Trade union offices
Preceded by
Carole Regan
 President of the National Union of Teachers
1997–1998 		Succeeded by
Maureen Skevington
Preceded by Deputy General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers
2005–2009 		Succeeded by
Preceded by General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers
2009 – May 2016 		Succeeded by
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