Once again, a warm welcome to all our life members who are reading this latest edition of the life members’ newsletter.
I am delighted to report that the spring edition of the newsletter was received by more than 7,000 of our life members, which is very pleasing. However, I am conscious that NAHT’s membership services department tells us that we have a life membership totalling some 15,500 and rising. When I investigated the reason for the differing numbers, I was informed that several of our life member email contacts are out of date, and NAHT’s IT team receives many ‘bounce backs’ when attempting to contact life members. While I fully understand there may be many NAHT members who on retirement do not want to engage with NAHT on a regular basis, I am concerned that they may be missing out on many of the benefits extended to life members, such as NAHT Extras. When you meet retired NAHT colleagues, please give a gentle reminder about keeping contact information up to date with NAHT.
It is also surprising how many of our members, both serving and retired, do not reclaim tax from their membership fees. This can be back-dated and is worth a short conversation with the team at NAHT.
Life Members have a full entitlement to be supported throughout their hopefully many years of retirement, and at the latest life member sector council meeting in June we had a discussion on appropriate CPD support for retired school leaders. This might include a vast range of areas that could help members such as family, probate trusts, lasting power of attorney, will writing, and caring for elderly relatives to name but a few. It was decided to send out a very short survey to life members to garner your views and see what, if any, areas would be of interest to you. You will be emailed shortly with a very short survey – please complete and return this, as it’s your views that count. Thank you.
I would also like to take this opportunity to introduce NAHT’s mentoring scheme. We will all no doubt have experienced the highs and lows of school leadership, and it can at times be a very lonely place! NAHT would like to support school leaders in whatever way it can. One way is by facilitating contact between leaders at various stages of their careers, and allowing them to share best practice and invaluable guidance. By working together and tapping into all this knowledge, we can make education the best it can be.
NAHT’s platform provides a space for school leaders to share and gain knowledge that will benefit those starting their leadership journey, as well as seasoned leaders. As retired school leaders, you have immense value to the mentoring scheme. The sad fact is that for many organisations and professions, retirement means a wealth of knowledge and experience walks out of the door with the retiree.
This of course needn’t be the case. Mentoring provides the ideal opportunity for you to share your expertise and pass this on to others in our profession. I know some may say ‘I’m retired now, so a bit out of touch’. While a retired person may not be keeping themselves completely up to date with the latest legislation or advances in technology, mentoring isn’t about knowing or teaching this type of information. A mentor’s role is to listen, not tell. You may be able to signpost a mentee to where to find the latest legislation or information, or act as a sounding board in its interpretation; you don’t necessarily need to be versed in the detail.
As we know, while some mentoring relationships can focus on the development of hard skills such as using the latest technology, more often mentoring is used for the development of soft skills such as people management, negotiation and work-life balance. No matter how long you have been retired, your input is still invaluable on types of skills. For example, juggling work and home life always involves many of the same challenges, and your input will be relevant. Your ability to act as a guide, to ask the right questions, and offer different perspectives, alternatives and support can make the difference between talented young school leaders staying in the profession or giving up!
I am sorry if this sounds like I am on a crusade, but I am sure many of us can think back to a moment in our careers when there was somebody there for us, someone who just gave the support and encouragement we needed to carry on, and we did! If this is of interest to you and you would like to find out a little more about the NAHT Mentoring scheme, please go to www.naht.org.uk/mentoring-platform for full details about the scheme.
Wishing you and your families safe travels, with no flight cancellations or delays at airports, and happy holidays when you take them.
John Killeen
Life member sector council (LMSC) chair
Click on the links below to read more on these topics
- National Executive: Thursday 13 and Friday 14 October 2022
- Life member sector council: a meeting will take place during the week commencing 12 October 2022, and there will be a further date, which is yet to be confirmed.
In each life members’ newsletter, you will find the name and email details of several members of NAHT’s LMSC. Each LMSC member is annually elected by the appropriate NAHT region’s executive committee or NAHT devolved nation (NAHT Cymru and NAHT NI) executive committee.
For full details about who's who on the LMSC, click here.
West Midlands
Elaine Maher: elaine.maher@naht.org.uk
Wales/NAHT Cymru
Barbara Miller: barbara.miller@naht.org.uk
Eastern
Tony Draper: tony.draper@nahtofficials.org.uk
North East
Graham Curry: graham.curry@nahtofficials.org.uk
NAHT provides a free and confidential support line to all members, which can be reached on 0800 917 4055. This service is available all year round and during out-of-office hours.
Find out about opportunities for retired and former qualified teachers to join the tutor community at Talent-Ed.
Talent-Ed is a charity dedicated to closing the education disadvantage gap. We work with young people from across the country to deliver tailored tuition programmes both online and in person.
There are two programmes, the Schools Programme and its Maths Masterclass Tutorials, and you can tutor on one or both of these programmes. Both have slightly different role requirements.
Click here to find out more and apply.
Our three equalities networks are open to members across all roles, phases and sectors – including life members.
The networks have been developed to support our diverse membership while continuing to campaign for wider change. Each one provides a safe space for members to come together to discuss issues and experiences – both within NAHT and more widely within the school leadership profession.
Find out more, including the dates of upcoming meetings, by clicking on the links below:
NAHT Leaders for Race Equality Network
Open to all Black, Asian and minority ethnic members.
NAHT LGBT+ Network
Open to all LGBT+ members.
NAHT Disabled Members' Network
Open to all disabled members.
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