The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) was a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

, teachers' union and

professional association A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) usually seeks to further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in that profession, and t ...

, affiliated to the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances ...

, in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

representing

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

s from nursery and

primary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/ kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in '' primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or ...

further education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. It ...

. In March 2017, ATL members endorsed a proposed merger with the National Union of Teachers to form a new union known as the National Education Union, which came into existence on 1 September 2017. At that time, approximately 120,000 individuals belonged to the union (apart from those professions included in the name, education support staff and teaching assistants were also members), making it the third largest teaching and education union in the UK. ATL had members throughout England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, and British Service schools overseas. The ATL brand continues as a section or subsidiary of the National Education Union.

Governance and administration

ATL was led by its

Executive Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

who were assisted by a General Secretary. All senior officers and officials were elected by an Association wide ballot and the overall direction was determined by the Annual Conference which had delegates from each branch. The ATL President served a one-year term. From September 2009, Lesley Ward. From September 2010, Andy Brown. From September 2011, Alice Robinson. From September 2012, Hank Roberts. From September 2013, Alison Sherratt. From September 2014, Mark Baker. From September 2015, Kim Knappett. From September 2016, Shelagh Hirst. From September 2017, Niamh Sweeney. From September 2018, Kim Knappett who became Joint President of the National Education Union on 1 January 2019. The final ATL General Secretary was Dr

Mary Bousted Mary Winefride Bousted ( Bleasdale; born 15 September 1959) is a British trade unionist who is the Joint General-Secretary of the National Education Union (NEU) alongside Kevin Courtney. Bousted was formerly General Secretary of the teachers' ...

History

The origins of ATL go back to 1884 when 180 women met to create the Association of Assistant Mistresses (AAM). These women worked in schools founded for higher education of girls. Their concern was primarily for the pupils. However, in 1921, the AAM appointed representatives to the newly formed Burnham Committee on Salaries in Secondary Schools. 1891 saw the formation of the Association of Assistant Masters in Secondary Schools (AMA). Its purpose was to protect and improve the conditions of service of secondary teachers. Between 1899 and 1908 it played an influential part in obtaining security of tenure for assistant teachers through the

Endowed Schools Act A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors. Endowments are o ...

. Then in 1978 AAM and AMA merged to form the Assistant Masters and Mistresses Association (AMMA) with a membership of approximately 75,000. The name was changed in 1993 to the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL). ATL affiliated to the TUC in 1999. It resigned from the

Irish Congress of Trade Unions The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (often abbreviated to just Congress or ICTU), formed in 1959 by the merger of the Irish Trades Union Congress (founded in 1894) and the Congress of Irish Unions (founded in 1945), is a national trade union centr ...

in 2015. In January 2011, the

Association for College Management The Association for College Management (ACM) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. The union was founded in 1965 as the Association of Vice-Principals of Colleges, representing middle managers in colleges of further and higher education. I ...

merged into ATL.About AMiE

Annual Conferences from 2009

* 2009 Liverpool * 2010 Manchester * 2011 Liverpool * 2012 Manchester * 2013 Liverpool * 2014 Manchester * 2015 Liverpool * 2016 Liverpool

General Secretaries from 1978

* 1978:

Andrew Hutchings Andrew William Seymour Hutchings (3 December 1907 – 30 October 1996) was a British trade union leader. Hutchings studied at Cotham School in Bristol and then St Catharine's College, Cambridge, before becoming a teacher. His first appointme ...

and

Joyce Baird Joyce Elizabeth Leslie Baird (8 December 1929 – 3 October 2015) was a British trade unionist. Baird studied at The Abbey School, Reading, then at Newnham College, Cambridge, before training as a secretary. In 1952, she worked briefly as se ...

* 1979:

Geoff Beynon Ernest Geoffrey Beynon (4 October 1926 – 21 October 2012) was a British trade union leader. Born in Sheerness in Kent,Meryl Thompson,Geoff Beynon obituary, '' The Guardian'', 17 December 2012 Beynon attended Borden Grammar School, then the Un ...

and

* 1988: Peter Smith and

* 1990: Peter Smith * 2003:

References

External links

*
Catalogue of the AMMA archives
held at the

Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick The Modern Records Centre (MRC) is the specialist archive service of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, located adjacent to the Central Campus Library. It was established in October 1973 and holds the world's largest archive collecti ...