ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the influence of the interest groups. Teachers' associations are formally recognised interest groups. They are only a wafer away from the local authority associations in consultative status. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) is a classic interest group which advances both the causes of its members and of the education service at large. The NUT claims to have frustrated at least part of the James Report on teacher education even before the report was published, because it acted on well documented leaks of some of the proposals. The NUT has long been strong in Parliament. Parliament is used and local associations put on pressure through backbenchers. The National Association of Schoolmasters (NAS) has the image of a right-wing, even poujadiste and male dominated, organisation. The Association of Assistant Mistresses (AAM) shares membership of the Joint Four with the Association of Assistant Masters, the Incorporated Association of Headmasters, and the Head Mistresses' Association.
