1972 -1974: The London Allowance campaign
Astronomic rises in house prices and rents, young teachers unable to live in the capital, a staffing crisis in the schools. Sounds familiar?
Education
Education
'Incoherent' teacher plans
A recent Ofsted report talks about local authorities failing to raise school standards – but noted the long-standing difficulties in recruiting teachers.
Academy conversion by force
Each successive Secretary of State for Education tightens the noose of state control around schools, and the current one, Nicky Morgan, is no exception. The Schools and Adoption Bill currently making its way through parliament is a short bill with a long arm.
Adult education campaign launched
The Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) is calling for support for its campaign to save adult education. The area is under increased threat in the run-up to the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review.
Schools: the long arm of the state
24 October 2015
The Schools and Adoption Bill currently making its way through parliament aims to speed up the rate of “conversion” to academy status – this time by force.
Born free - now in chain
17 October 2015
In what appears to be the first case of a free school being forced to accept an academy sponsor, Grindon Hall Christian school in Sunderland looks set to be pushed into the arms of the Bright Tribe academy chain.
London teachers launch housing campaign
19 September 2015
Teachers can’t afford London, says the newly formed London Teachers’ Housing Campaign, as tthe average price of a home soars above £500,000 and rents continue to rise by over 10 per cent a year.
Where have all the teachers gone?
2 September 2015
Statistics quietly released at the end of August tell a devastating story: we are heading for a full-blown teacher supply crisis. For the third year running, ministerial recruitment targets fell woefully short.
Tested to destruction?
Why are governments (Tory, Labour) so obsessed with school testing? The latest wheeze is to test the youngest children within a few weeks of starting full-time school, when most are still just four years old.
Wasted spaces
24 May 2015
Nicky Morgan, the new government’s education secretary, has tried to bolster free schools. Her stance should dispel the illusion that she is more approachable and reasonable than her irascible predecessor.
Children forced into Sikh free school
1 May 2015
Parents in Leeds have been shocked to discover that their local authority has allocated places to their children in a Sikh free school, despite their not having chosen the school.
Something for nothing
With Scottish universities among the highest users of zero-hours contracts, it is fitting that the University and College Union (UCU) should hold its annual congress this May in Glasgow.
And the next generation?
The number of young people choosing to study science is actually rising, despite the fees. From 2007/8 to 2013/14: Physics up 16 per cent, Engineering and Technology up 15 per cent, Biological Sciences up 30 per cent.
Arts education for all, too
No matter how hard it tries to push a private/public partnership agenda, the Warwick report cannot escape the key role of state education in developing the creativity and curiosity of students.
Paying the cost of university
A report at the end of March showed that almost half of the 9 per cent increase in household debt in 2014 in Britain was accounted for by young people trying to fund their way through university.
Barnsley College workers strike for conditions
3 April 2015
Barnsley College workers are in dispute over restructuring plans that will bring worse pay and conditions. A series of strikes restarted with four more days' action in the week ending 20 March.
Special school site handed over to religious academy
4 January 2015
The government has ordered Leeds City Council to hand over a £1 million former primary school site where it had been looking to build a special school – gratis and without compensation – to a Sikh academy.
Students march against fees
20 November 2014
Thousands of students from all over Britain demonstrated in London on Wednesday 19 November against the fees charged for university courses. Placards called for the return of free education.
More cuts in graduate teacher training
4 November 2014
Despite glaring evidence of failure, the government has announced an increase in its programme of school-based teacher training for 2015-16. One result will be a massive switch in funding away from universities.
Survey reveals scale of teacher workload
15 October 2014
Excessive workload has driven nine out of every ten of teachers to consider giving up teaching during the past two years, according to an online survey carried out by the National Union of Teachers.
The real Trojan horse
The “Trojan Horse” inquiry indicated that people with a shared ideology were out to control schools’ governing bodies. That’s also happening in some academy chains.
Education: Victory for reason
In a dramatic victory for rational thought over mysticism, the government has decreed that creationism cannot be taught as science in any existing or future academy or free school.
How the government’s loan repayments work
WARNING: If what follows sounds complicated, it’s because it is. The government has made its loans so complex that most students don’t really know what they are signing up for.
The next mis-selling scandal: why most of today’s students may never clear their debts
For many of today’s students a university place has become the first step on a ladder of debt that will be with them for the whole of their working lives.