Further Education

Issues in further and adult education

Fight ESOL cuts: defend asylum seekers and migrant workers

In October last year Bill Rammell, minister for education and lifelong learning, announced massive cuts in the funding of 'English as a Second or Other Language Courses'. On the 15th January, the University and Colleges Union held a public meeting in London of a mounting coalition of trade unionists, ESOL teachers and migrant and refugee organisations to 'launch' the 'fight back'. Existing universal entitlement to free ESOL training up to level 2 is to be removed with fee remission available only to people receiving means tested benefits and tax-credits. Migrant workers are told that that if...

We need a rank and file movement in the UCU, not a political "front"

This is a longer version of a leaflet given out at the UCU left conference in London on June 24th 2006. ------------------------------------------------------- The chaos at the head of the UCU over the last two weeks shows that a rank and file movement is essential in the UCU. The old maxim says that ‘when the leaders won't lead then the rank and file must’. And we have just seen how our leadership is paralysed by division and irresolution. A campaign to win a 'No' vote needs a campaign for a special sector conference Although there is no recommendation for acceptance of the deal from the TAC...

New student campaign launched

Education not for sale! On September 21, a Guardian survey of English universities showed that two-thirds are preparing to charge the maximum possible top-up fee in order to maintain their image against competitors. This information, while not unpredicted, should be ringing alarm bells for the student movement — yet despite the election of a new president, Kat Fletcher, on a left-wing platform, the National Union of Students appears to be continuing on the same course that has meant defeat after defeat for the student movement throughout the last 20 years. To rally the forces necessary for a...

"Psst - could you live on £30 a week?"

By Ruth Cashman Anyone who's watched TV or walked past a phonebox recently will be acquainted with the series of adverts produced by the Government to advertise the national launch of Further Education Maintenance Allowances for 16-18 year olds this September. In these works of modernist genius, a private detective-type, badly disguised as a fire hydrant, dinner trolley, etc, leaps out to give unsuspecting 15-year-olds the skinny on the new allowance. The adverts may not be funny, but you do get the definite feeling that the Government's taking the piss. The only thing you can say about EMAs...

Lecturers strike in rogue colleges

Members of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) staged a 24-hour strike on Thursday 26 February in seven Further Education Colleges. The strike had been triggered by the failure of management in those colleges to implement a nationally agreed pay deal. Members of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) staged a 24-hour strike on Thursday 26 February in seven Further Education Colleges. The strike had been triggered by the failure of management in those colleges to implement a nationally agreed pay deal. Agreement on...

Stop this closure!

By Uduak Udofa, Westminster Kingsway Student Union Executive The Battersea site of Westminster Kingsway College in south London has just been threatened with closure. The college wants to sell the Battersea Park Road building and is also considering totally withdrawing from the area as a provider. Money from the sale of the building, which has housed educational facilities for over 100 years and is part of the college where TV chef Jamie Oliver learned his trade, would be used to help resolve financial problems elsewhere in the organisation. Closure could result in many teaching and admin job...

Support Leicester College NATFHE

By Chris Allen NATFHE lecturers at Leicester College are in their fourth week of strike action in response to management trying to by-pass the union and get lecturers to sign up to new contracts which increase their workload and cut holidays. The college has used local media to pretend that the strike is ineffectual. A visit to the college tells a different story. The Abbey Park campus looks like a ghost town. Management have infuriated students by insisting they come into college when many lectures are simply not happening. Talks at ACAS on Monday 16 February got nowhere, with managers...

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