| StorageSite | UCL Institute of Education |
| Description | Records of the Association from 1898 until its amalgamation with the Association of Assistant Mistresses (AAM) in 1978, including minutes, officers' files, correspondence and publications. The personal papers of Arnold Whitehouse, who was a Treasurer of the Gloucester City branch of the AMA, have also been incorporated into this collection (series Q). The collection also includes one box of material from the years following the amalgamation with the AAM, and the creation of the Assistant Masters and Mistresses Association (AMMA) in 1978 (see series R). |
| AdminHistory | The Assistant Masters' Association was an association of male teachers in secondary schools. Founded in 1891 by a small group of London schoolmasters including Robert Blair, later Chief Education Officer of the London County Council, the Association quickly expanded to a nationwide membership and was incorporated in 1901. Soon after its incorporation it began mainly referring to itself as the Incorporated Association of Assistant Masters in Secondary Schools (IAAM). This continued until around 1960, when it reverted back to referring to itself as the Assistant Masters' Association (AMA) again.
Its main objectives were the promotion of professional status and standards for secondary school masters, including conditions of service, security of tenure, salaries and pensions, although it also took an interest in wider educational policy including the school curriculum and examinations.
Some of the gaps in the papers may be explained by the facts that the Association moved its headquarters once, and the second site, in Gordon Square, was bombed during Word War II. Gordon House was shared with the Association of Assistant Mistresses, and the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' respective organisations. These four organisations formed an amalgamated group for specific purposes and occasions, called the 'Joint Four', to whose existence reference will be found in this list, in particular series G.
Following the passing of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the AMA merged with the Association of Assistant Mistresses (AAM) to form the Assistant Masters' and Mistresses' Association (AMMA) in 1978. The AMMA changed its name to the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) in 1993, and in 2017 the ATL merged with the National Union of Teachers to form a new union called the National Education Union. |