1870: The Education Act
Britain took a halting step forward along the road to universal education in the 1870s – but not without ruling class opposition…
Education
Education
The 1870 Education Act: the road to universal education
4 April 2020
The 1870 Education Act was a great step towards achieving universal education, a powerful force for workers’ emancipation.
More worries over free schools
Fresh concerns are being expressed over the government’s free schools programme. To date, 27 free schools have been forced to close or change management, according to a new analysis.
Cuts in school funding are not being reversed
More than 80 per cent of state schools in England will have less funding per pupil in real terms in 2020 than in 2015, according to new analysis.
Teachers strike against excessive workload
12 July 2019
On 10 July teaching staff at The Castle School academy in Gloucestershire went on strike in protest at excessive workload. Action is set to continue into next term.
Class sizes on the rise
8 July 2019
New figures from the Department for Education show that class sizes in England’s secondary schools have risen by the equivalent of one extra pupil per class in just two years.
Primary teachers strike over forced academisation
Teachers at a primary school in Waltham Abbey, Essex, will begin a series of strikes this week over plans to force it into the hands of a controversial academy trust.
Pay strike at Wolverhampton College
10 April 2019
Wolverhampton College staff have been taking to the picket lines across three college sites in a fight for a more money.
Council tax - pay twice over
10 March 2019
Government is reducing the amount it pays out to local authorities. Services are cut or the shortfall is made up by increases for council tax payers, further damaging public services that people rely on.
Plug the education gap to build Britain’s future
As our eyes are drawn to parliament’s Brexit pantomime, another government failure threatens the world of education…
Greenwich a no-go area for more academies
26 November 2018
Greenwich teachers have effectively made their part of London a no-go area for the further academisation of its schools, led by the National Education Union at The John Roan School.
Heads march to reverse cuts
27 September 2018
Head teachers are to march on Downing Street on Friday 28 September in an unprecedented bid to get improved and sufficient school funding.
Class sizes rise as teacher shortage bites
12 September 2018
England's schools are facing a severe shortage of teachers, says a new report from the Education Policy Institute.
Carillion's £5m school bill
A school which cost £18.6 million to rebuild six years ago by Carillion needs to spend £5 million on repairs – including fixing some 300 holes in its roof.
Carillion crash leaves school with £5 million bill
8 August 2018
A school which cost £18.6 million to rebuild six years ago needs to spend £5 million on repairs – including fixing some 300 holes in its roof.
Child health: teachers helping out
The hygiene levels of a growing number of primary schoolchildren are so bad that teachers are having to provide basic items of personal hygiene to large numbers of them, says a charity.
Skills and education for the future of Britain
One of the consequences of Brexit must be that employers will no longer be allowed to dodge their responsibility to invest in training…
Sickness among teachers rockets
15 January 2018
Sickness among teachers is adding to the pressure created by staff shortages – leading to a teachers leaving the profession and creating even more strain.
Faith in schools
15 January 2018
The government is doing little to curb religious segregation and the influence of faith schools. The new education secretary is a supporter of religious segregation. The chief inspector of schools says more powers are needed to tackle illegal faith schools.
Education: inter-union agreement
A good development: the new National Education Union, Unison and the GMB have agreed not to poach each other’s members. But there is also a negative side.
Yorkshire Academy chain quits [updated]
15 September 2017
Wakefield City Academies Trust announced in early September that is pulling out of the 21 schools it runs. And in Bradford, a pathfinder acedemy is in special measures within three years of being rated outstanding.
Glasgow janitors' dispute ends in victory
20 August 2017
Janitors in Glasgow’s primary, nursery and additional support schools have won a pay rise – and the principle of one janitor, one school.
Teachers need to target their struggle
If teacher unions are to protect and improve members’ pay and conditions of work, then tactics and strategy must be reconsidered and revamped.
Teachers strike for education
Teachers have long railed against their growing workload, whose bureaucratic nature, ironically, means less time in the classroom.
Oversubscribed - and no way of coping
The crisis in school places is already a huge problem, especially in primaries, due mainly to local large spikes in population (it will hit the secondaries very soon).
Academies: brute force and ignorance
Thanks to George Osborne, ably supported by Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, a new word is gaining currency – “academisation”, the forcible conversion of schools into unaccountable academies…
Government U-turn over baseline tests for four-year-olds.
12 April 2016
Government ministers have abandoned controversial plans to judge primary schools based on new tests for four-year-olds.
Colleges funding campaign
The National Union of Teachers is balloting members in sixth-form colleges for a one-day strike over funding to coincide with a national demonstration in March.
Strike ballot for sixth-form colleges
8 February 2016
The National Union of Teachers has launched a funding campaign for the sixth-form sector, and is balloting members for a one-day strike to coincide with a national demonstration in March.
'Studio' schools to close in Free Schools fiasco
12 January 2016
The Midland Academies Trust has announced the closure of two of its “studio” schools, in Nuneaton and Hinckley, because of a failure to attract students.