Three executive members of the Anguilla Teachers’ Union represented the organization at the 38th Biennial Conference of the Caribbean Union of Teachers (CUT) during the period Saturday 30th July through to Friday 5th August, 2017: President Michelle Queeley; General Secretary, Cherise Gumbs; and Treasurer, Faun Campbell-Toussaint.
While in St. Lucia, they participated in active discussions on a range of issues impacting educators across the region including: Improving the Status of Educators; Teacher Trade Unions for the 21st Century; Technology in Education and the Challenges and Opportunities that this presents; and Education for Sustainable Development.
The ATU participated in the election process to select Executive Officers for the CUT biennium 2017-2019, as well as in the review of the CUT Constitution, its Strategic Plan, and CUT’s Draft Programme and Budget for the upcoming biennium. Secretary Ms Gumbs presented a formal report to the CUT on the functioning of the ATU for the period January to July 2017 and apprised the CUT of the ATU’s plans for the upcoming quarter.
In a brief review of the Conference, President Queeley noted that: “The Conference moved along very well. Discourse on the range of issues was rich and empowering. I foresee the ATU going places in time to come, as efforts will be made to implement what we learn so that we can strengthen our capacity to provide effective representation for our teachers. What was particularly enlightening for me is the process involved in constitutional reform – a matter that we are currently looking into at the national level.”
The ATU was among 22 member units at the Conference which was held under the theme: Caribbean Educators: Inspiring Today, Impacting the Future.
At the culmination of the Conference, Anguilla was chosen as the host Union for the next CUT executive meeting which will be held in December 2017.
– Contributed
