When Nicky Morgan gave her speech to the Conservative Party conference this year, her main focus, presumably to the disgust of her predecessor, was on spiralling teacher workload and the need to support the real “heroes” of our education system.

She stopped short of actually doing anything about it, something teachers are unlikely to forgive her for, but nevertheless this seemed something of an odd focus for a Conservative secretary of state, speaking to her own party conference. Particularly when it is widely acknowledged that her government is responsible for the problem.

It seems odd unless you have been following what has happened in education over the past few months and in the week running up to her speech.

On September 30, the NUT released the results of a workload survey we had carried out over the previous weekend. A staggering 16,379 teachers responded between

September 25 and 28 and their responses make for shocking reading.

This survey was part of a larger strategy pursued by the union which has put teacher workload back on the political agenda and piled the pressure on Morgan to act. She had no option but to talk about teacher workload.

But talking is not enough. We must increase the pressure to make her act.

The successes of our campaign so far from the resignation of Michael Gove to the protection of lunchbreaks and PPA have rested on a strategy that combines strike action and putting pressure on politicians with probably the most important strand — engaging parents and the wider community and building sustainable alliances.

This strategy is not just about improving teachers’ working conditions. It is also about our vision of education.

The NUT launched its Stand Up For Education manifesto at the TUC. Since then it has received strong support from the Labour grass-roots

at their conference and is attracting support from much wider layers.

This, combined with our campaigning on workload, has enabled the union to get on the front foot and start to “make the weather” in the run-up to the general election.

The support for the manifesto is already widespread. Renowned author Philip Pullman, of the His Dark Materials trilogy fame, tweeted his support for the manifesto saying: “The NUT’s new manifesto for education is first-rate and well worth supporting.”

And ex-children’s laureate Michael Rosen and fellow children’s author and library campaigner Alan Gibbons led the way in getting support from other authors.

They have organised supportive statements from very many children’s authors including ex-Python Terry Jones, Beverley Naidoo, Bali Ril and others, many of whom have tweeted their support as well.

Heavyweight education academics have not been far behind. The Labour Party is now positively citing the London Challenge policy of school collaboration as one of its

achievements while in government last time.

The man who led that initiative, Professor Sir Tim Brighouse, has endorsed the education manifesto: “At last a set of statements which, if acted upon, could transform our children’s future. It will command the support of all engaged on a daily basis in education — parents, school staff, students and governors. Their voices need to be heard by all those seeking our votes in 2015.”

His support has been echoed by another leading education academic Professor Robin Alexander, who is director of the Cambridge Primary Review. Prof Alexander said: “How can we not support NUT’s 2015 Manifesto for Education? This is not some ideological wishlist but a sensible and principled statement with a firm basis in evidence.

“The proposals on child poverty, the curriculum, assessment, teacher development,  accountability, localism and the strengthening of education as a public service are all in line with those from national enquiries like the Cambridge Primary Review.”

These endorsements are valuable in themselves. However they will only have a real impact when backed up by people campaigning for the manifesto in their local communities.

On the weekend of October 11 many local NUT associations are organising street stalls to promote the manifesto to seek parental and public support for it. The following week the NUT is organising to ensure that every participant in the TUC Britain Needs a Pay Rise demonstration gets their copy of the manifesto.

Other NUT branches are mailing the manifesto to all of their local governing bodies and Labour Party wards, with many of them asking to be invited to speak about it.

It’s simultaneously a long time to the general election and a very short time in which to get the manifesto accepted. The NUT strategy is to seek to build as broad an alliance as is possible in the run-up to the general election but also going beyond that so we can begin to turn back the tide of privatisation facing education.

Engagement with the public through streets stalls is a vital strand of that campaign but in the run-up to the election it is also possible to lobby to good effect.

There are thought to be approximately 1,000 teachers in every constituency. In the run-up to an election every MP should be interested in them, but those in marginal constituencies will be listening very hard to what they say.

It will be possible in many areas to organise joint teacher-parent lobbies both of sitting MPs and off their parliamentary opponents. Raising issues in the manifesto and also raising issues of teacher workload can have a real effect on them.

It may be that we can have the first general election for a long time where politicians feel they need to compete for the votes of teachers rather then compete about how tough on teachers they are going to be.

The NUT is, of course, not an affiliated union. We pay no funds to any political party and we wish to influence all of them. But many members of the NUT are members of the Labour Party and/or Labour voters.

It’s clear that for them the widespread support for the manifesto from Brighouse and Alexander and others makes it easier to raise the demands of the manifesto in Labour Party meetings.

Others are in the Liberal Democrats and will be raising it there. Green Party members of the NUT are very keen to tell us about the overlap between the party’s policy and the manifesto.

But it’s not just in political party meetings that these issues are being raised. In a Barking Methodist church last Sunday an NUT member got a very good reception when she spoke about our manifesto from the pulpit!

Headteacher members of the NUT report getting a positive reception from their governing bodies.

The NHS is quite justifiably seen by members of the public as a service which must be defended against privatisation and cuts, and a real debate on its future has been opened up in the run up to the election.

We hope that the launch of the NUT manifesto and the activity we can generate around it can contribute to putting education in a similar place in the public’s mind.

Ultimately, what could be more important than our children’s education?

Kevin Courtney is NUT deputy general secretary