Criticism of planned SEND reforms and concerns over the “rise of the right” will be front and centre at the National Education Union’s annual conference this week.
Around 1,500 NEU members will gather in Brighton from Monday to Thursday, voting on dozens of motions spanning various issues.
Here are five important motions to look out for…
1. The white paper
The NEU’s national executive is expected to draft an emergency motion on the recent white paper and government’s planned SEND reforms, deputy general secretary David Wilson told a recent re-conference briefing.
Details of that motion are not yet clear, but Wilson said it will help to shape how the union responds.
He said the NEU welcomes aspects of the plans, such as the clamping down on private special school providers, and the “acknowledgement that education doesn’t start or end at the school gates”.
But the union feels there are “fundamental flaws … that will result in a system that is not collaborative and not inclusive”.
Wilson said the “major problem” identified is “the lack of money”.
The government has pledged £1.8 billion over the next three years to make more experts available to support schools and their pupils, but the NEU has questioned whether this is sufficient.
“You cannot build an inclusive school system on the cheap,” Wilson said.
2. Pupil behaviour
Another key motion will focus on “tackling the violence and behaviour crisis in schools”.
The NASUWT’s 2025 behaviour in schools report revealed that 85 per cent of teachers had experienced verbal abuse, and 40 per cent had faced physical abuse in the past 12 months.
The NEU motion will call on the union’s executive to carry out a similar, major survey of its members, to find out more about the scale and nature of these issues.
It will also call for behaviour policy guidance to be updated and the creation of a violence in schools taskforce to monitor trends and support affected members.
The motion will call for a national campaign to reduce violence in schools, and for the NEU’s executive to lobby for a statutory national framework on school safety, including mandatory reporting and protocols.
An amendment will also highlight successful industrial action led by the NEU at specific schools and call on the executive to provide training on how to successfully run a ballot focusing on student behaviour and how it is managed by leaders.
3. Opposing the year 8 reading test
Members will also vote on a motion arguing “against the introduction of a statutory year 8 reading assessment”.
The government plans to introduce the test for 13-year-olds from 2028-29, to help “drive up reading standards”.
But NEU members will debate whether to “publicly oppose” its introduction, believing “another high-stakes national assessment will increase pressure on pupils, narrow the curriculum, and further erode teacher autonomy”.
The motion calls for the NEU’s executive to demand the DfE carries out “meaningful consultation” with teachers on the plans, and to campaign for government investment in early intervention and targeted support, “rather than new layers of testing”.
4. Ending ‘scripted’ lessons
Another key motion is on ending “centrally prescribed” teaching.
Wilson told the recent briefing that the NEU has seen a “really worrying trend” in “the roll-out of scripted, standardised, prescribed lessons that teachers are expected to deliver”, particularly in multi-academy trusts.
He said this “undermines the very concept of professionalism within teaching”.
The tabled motion calls for the launch of a new national “trust teachers to teach” campaign, opposing this practice, which it says reduces teachers to “delivery technicians”.
It also calls for research to measure the scale and impact of prescriptive teaching and leadership.
5. The ‘rise of the far right’
Elsewhere, members will vote on “combating the rise of the far right”.
One motion calls on the NEU’s executive to reaffirm the union’s opposition to far-right extremism, and to produce materials “making the case against the far right”.
One tabled amendment suggests districts should work with local community organisations to “build solidarity networks … and to campaign actively against Reform UK in the forthcoming local elections”.
Another amendment will call for the NEU to campaign for a “funded diversity and inclusion specialist” for every school, who would be trained to “tackle discrimination, promote inclusion, and lead anti-far right education”.
Other motions will cover a broad range of topics including opposing the new Ofsted framework, supporting stronger sanctions for racist incidents in schools, and ending academisation.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski will give a speech on Monday afternoon, and NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede (pictured, top) will speak on Thursday morning.
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