Plans by ministers in the North to expand pre-school education were criticised on the first day of the Ulster Teachers' Union conference in Newcastle, Co Down.
In her presidential speech, Ms Hazel Lendrum said the UTU was very unhappy that the pre-school initiative was being introduced in partnership with the private and voluntary sectors.
"These are a child's most formative years, and by putting their future in the hands of the private sector the pupils may be forced into saturation before motivation," she said.
The executive's report to the conference claimed that, if the government wanted quality nursery education rather than child care, it could only be provided by teams led by graduate early-year specialist teachers.
"Other provisions have their stance, but they are not nursery education," it said.
The union sharply criticised legislation on trade unions by the previous Conservative government. "More and more of the union official's time is taken up in a circle of bureaucracy which is producing nothing," the report said.
More practically, local demands meant that the cost of appointing a new general secretary to replace Mr David Allen, who retired three months ago, was close to £20,000 sterling.
Also, officials had to persuade every union member to renew their membership. The success rate was 99 per cent.
Delegates nudged slightly towards joining the Irish Congress of Trade Unions when they overwhelmingly backed a resolution asking the executive to investigate what advantages there might be in affiliation.
The Irish National Teachers' Organisation is an active member of ICTU in the North, and the National Association of School Masters/Union of Women Teachers has recently decided to join. The UTU has rejected the idea until now.
Mr Lexie Scott, who proposed the motion, stressed that it merely sought information and did not commit the union.
A controversial motion at the conference called on the executive to begin discussions on a recent government proposal to pay some teachers higher salaries in order to retain them in the classroom.
Ms Maureen Nutt, Foyle branch, said the idea was divisive and a school head could not select a good teacher.
Mr Colm Meads, Belfast branch, said people claimed the idea could put more money into the system, but that this was an issue on which they should take a principled stand of opposition.
But the proposer, Ms Eileen McCullough, a member of the executive, argued that the resolution said only that the union should discuss the matter with other unions.
It was carried by a substantial majority.