1977: a new Constitution

There are many elements to the structure of the organisation. These include the by-laws and the articles of association, governing body, as well as the terms by which committees operate. There is also a strategy document which guides thinking.
I have been involved in exploring these over the last year.
The constitution was a guiding document for some time, and any changes to this were a lengthy process.
In 1977, a new Constitution was approved at the AGM on the 6th of April.
It envisaged a governing Council with three standing committees: Education, Publications and Communications and Finance and General Purposes.
These were supported by Section Committees (I served on the Secondary version for many years).
There were 2 officers posts: Honorary Treasurer and 2 Honorary Secretaries.
The President was required to serve four years - two before and one after the Presidential year.
This model stayed until the present Junior Vice President, who will be the last to serve this model as it has not moved to a three year 'term of office' due to the appointment of a new Chair of Trustees.
One of the major changes was to put a period of time on the work of the officers, limiting it to 6 years.
This put an end to the previous situation where some individuals served for many decades, in some cases for most of their lives. This would now only be possible by changing Office. The Founders racked up over 50 years in some cases. This change was hotly debated at the time. The compulsory retirement of effective Officers was not agreed with by all. It was seen as a sign of the Association's strength and also ensured a lack of stagnation, and also saw a sign towards the Association being run by the active teacher membership to a greater extent.

More to come in tomorrow's post...