Pre-school education

Nurseries and early years

Make childcare a universal service

Sarah Ronan of the Women’s Budget Group talked with Solidarity in the run-up to the Budget. (This version includes some amendments sent by Sarah Ronan relative to the printed version.) We know that the current offer of free childcare is not funded at cost. Freedom of Information requests from 2021 show that the government knowingly underfunds the schemes by around £2.60 per hour. That obviously forces providers to cross-subsidise by increasing fees, and means that providers can’t pay the wages that they need to pay to compete in the current labour market and attract and keep staff. It doesn’t...

Childcare: gaps in Tory promises

The Tories’ 15 March Budget recognised the high cost of early years and childcare for working parents, and how little funding comes from the state. The present system of payments via Universal Credit and tax-free allowances isn’t making a difference. With labour shortages in almost every sector of the economy, the government is keen to find a way to get women with young children back into work, and promises to make childcare cheaper and more affordable. It promises to: • expand the free entitlement for some working parents from three-year-olds to include as young as nine months. That is to be...

Childcare workers in India fight for their rights

For a longer article explaining the political background to this struggle, with links to more in the Indian press and a video of workers talking about their problems and demands, see here . You can make a donation to support the workers here . Tens of thousands of workers in “anganwadi” government childcare centres – a bit like Sure Start centres – in the Indian capital Delhi and the neighbouring state of Haryana have been on strike to demand higher wages, secure employment and better rights. They have demands about: • Pay. The anganwadi workers get 9,678 rupees a month (about £96) and helpers...

Close votes at NEU conference

The National Education Union (NEU) met online from 7 to 9 April for an annual conference of reduced length due to the exigencies of having to meet online.

What should Labour do about schools?

As in so many areas Labour's 2017 manifesto marked a welcome and significant sea change in the party’s direction and vocabulary on education. Gone was the talk of driving up standards by competition, increased observation and punishment of teachers who didn’t make the grade. Instead there were welcome commitments to establish a National Education Service (NES), ensure democratic control of schools, and restore funding cuts and genuine commitments to fund further education and Early Years provision better. However, the manifesto only appeared as radical as it did because of a context of defeats...

Industrial news in brief

Tube cleaners employed by contractor ISS have returned to work, after a months-long lock out. Workers were locked out of work without pay for refusing to use biometric fingerprinting machines. ISS, which has a history of using immigration law against its mainly-migrant workforce, had openly admitted that the data collected would be shared with the UK Border Agency. The locked-out cleaners have been given a number of options, including returning to work on alternative contracts without biometric fingerprinting. Tubeworker called for a cleaners’ strike, voted for by ISS RMT members, to be called...

Save Newcastle's Children's Centres

Sure Start Children’s Centre services in Newcastle are facing a two thirds cut in funding over the next three years. The proposals will mean closure of services, buildings, parents groups, activities for young children. It will mean at least 100 jobs will be lost across the council and the voluntary sector, opportunities for children and parents will continue to be worsened after significant cuts already since 2010. Many families will be even more isolated following the axing of the council’s play and youth services last year. The council proposals for 2013 – 2016 amount to over £5 million...

Workers' Liberty Teachers bulletin and fringe meetings at NUT conference 2014

You can download the PDF here . Contents include: Members remain solid for action but need a strategy than can win Madness from Planet Gove! GS and DGS elections: there is an alternative! School wars on the side of a bus In support of Ukrainian self-determination Whistleblowers should be protected, not hounded! Bob Crow - a fighter for our class! Swing to the LANAC left in the NUT executive elections George Orwell and Leon Trotsky - working class heroes standing up for truth Introducing the Nottingham Free School: Why not take a closer look inside? NEC election campaigning to win! Expelled...

Aimless toddlers?

Elizabeth Truss, Tory Childcare Minster, says toddlers in nurseries “run around aimlessly”. She says they should be in a more structured environment, learning the skills they will need when they get to “big school” (i.e. reception class). Who is this woman? Has she ever met a toddler and what is she going on about? Elizabeth Truss employs a nanny to look after her two children. Possibly the only context she’s ever met a toddler is one in which they are fed, watered, shiny from the bath, and ready for bed. Many toddlers do indeed like to run around. But the activity is not pointless. Give them...

Fight Sheffield early years cuts

On 4 December, Sheffield City Council announced a “redesign” to Sheffield’s Early Years services (including both public and voluntary sector nurseries and children’s centres). This will mean cuts in front line provision serving 9000 people in Sheffield, reducing the 36 sites to 17 "areas", the removal of statutory funding to 16 voluntary sector services, the effective removal of funding for one and two year olds across Sheffield, and at least 150 redundancies. These changes are based on a review of Early Years in Sheffield published around nine months ago, which has had no subsequent...

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