Academies suck… money and life out of our schools
A key dispute in the battle against education privatisation has been unfolding at John Roan school in Greenwich. Support staff will be on strike again next week.
A Kestral for a Knave: fifty years on
Barry Hines’s book A Kestrel for a Knave, which became the film Kes, was published fifty years ago this year, but it remains as relevant as ever.
What strategy for labour in the US? #HM2018
Ian Allinson reports from a debate at the Historical Materialism Conference about strategy for the US labour movement, with useful lessons for the UK.
Reflections on the Education Spring
An interview with Lois Weiner about the flowering of militancy in the US education system
Welcome to The Jungle
Colin Revolting and his son were moved to tears by the new play The Jungle, currently showing at the Playhouse Theatre in London’s West End.
Experimenting on our kids: academisation and its discontents
Staff are taking strike action against the academisation of their school in Greenwich. Their next strike days are on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 July, when GMB staff will be joining their striking NEU colleagues. Below is a video of a speech given by Howard Stevenson at a previous strike rally. Introduced by Andy Stone, Joint Secretary, Wandsworth […]
Update: what’s new in the UCU strike?
We look at the latest developments in the wave of strikes that has taken employers by surprise across the higher education system.
UCU strike: dispatches from the picket line
Striking academic workers and their student supporters report on the ongoing nationwide action in defence of pensions.
A critical week lies ahead in the West Virginia teachers’ strike
The West Virginia teachers’ strike marks the return of the mass strike to the US in 2018.
Against the academy: parents and teachers protest primary school conversion
OpenEye Film met the Avenue primary school parents fighting the conversion of the school into an academy.
NUT conference: “This country must have a Government that will invest in education”
Tom Ramplin and Andy Stone report on the NUT conference that took place in Cardiff over the Easter weekend With the government slashing £3 billion a year from school budgets by 2020, the continuation of a seven year pay freeze and burnt out teachers leaving the profession in droves, the National Union of Teachers conference held […]
Durham Teaching Assistants – an inspiring struggle
Durham Teaching Assistants in UNISON are fighting against plans to cut their pay by 23% – plan backed up with a threat from the Labour Council to dismiss all 2700 of them and make them apply for their own jobs on worse contracts. Megan Charlton, secretary of the Durham Teaching Assistants’ Activists Committee, explains what […]
revolutionary reflections | Rank and File Organising – Lessons from America 1
The International Socialist tradition has always believed in socialism from below – which means that socialism can only come about by the self-activity of the working class. In this interview Rob Owen spoke to labour organiser Jane McAlevey about her experience of rank and file organising in the US since the 1960s, and their views […]
Motivation: a poem by Caliban’s Revenge
Caliban’s Revenge reflects on the state of teaching today MOTIVATION They told me to be “CUSTOMER CENTERED” So I left work and went to the American style mall and got a second job in Argos. I worked there for a week Nobody noticed Until I had a teaching observation and got “unsatisfactory”. They said no, we […]
Teachers invest in action: NUT strike reports 4/7/16
Activists from Manchester, Birmingham, and London share their impressions of today’s National Union of Teachers (NUT) strike against academisation and other problems facing teachers and students. NUT rep Chris Evans writes: Around 700 teachers and supporters rallied at Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens during today’s strike against growing workloads, class sizes and academisation. There was a healthy mix of young and […]
John Roan school successfully resists restructuring and redundancies
In this time of privatisation of schools and hospitals and with public service managers on the rampage it may seem odd to find so many teachers, pupils and parents at John Roan School feeling jubilant… but they are. Colin F, with Juliana J and Tony A, describe the latest developments in the campaign. Last September a new head […]
#KidsStrike3rdMay: Let our kids be kids
Michal Nahman reports from Bristol Kids and parents in Bristol gathered at Baddock’s wood, to have fun and learn outdoors, marking #KidsStrike3rdMay. Many parents across the UK have been appalled by the government’s approach to educating our children, an approach that imagines testing as the ultimate way to prove intelligence. This approach is highly contestable. […]
Chicago teachers join Manchester’s biggest May Day for years
Tara Stamps and Matt Luskin from the Chicago Teachers’ Union joined Manchester’s biggest International Workers’ Day festival for years. Ian Allinson reports. Manchester TUC had organised a huge festival for May Day this year. Despite hail, rain and sun we marched into the city centre to Sackville Gardens and the Mechanics Institute (the birthplace of […]
Academisation and the Chicago teachers’ strikes
It is really important and positive that the National Union of Teachers (NUT) conference was so determined to strike against the Tories’ plans to force all schools to become academies and break up national pay and conditions for teachers. It is even better that the NUT aims to coordinate with other unions, including the junior […]
Six reasons why academisation of our schools should be opposed
George Osborne has announced that all schools are to become academies. The teachers at John Roan School in London are already campaigning to save their comprehensive school from academisation and here explain why. 1. Academies don’t have to follow the national curriculum – the pressures to achieve in English and Maths GCSEs narrows the educational […]
John Roan Resists: Kick-starting a community campaign
Fighting against the academisation of a London school, by Colin Revolting with Juliana J. Recipe for a community campaign: Ingredients: a small group of parents and teachers passionate about comprehensive education. Mix them together in a pub or similar receptacle. Whisk up ways to spread the word of ‘academisation’ of their school – i.e. word […]
Government tries to overturn teachers’ 86% strike vote
Andrew Stone reports Nicky Morgan has followed through on her threat to mount a legal challenge against Tuesday’s planned strike by NUT 6th form members, on the nonsensical grounds that we can’t oppose funding cuts because they don’t affect our terms and conditions. We won’t know the result of the challenge until Monday afternoon – […]
Unison and UCU strike together in FE over fair pay
Jessica Redman, a Unison member at a college in London, reports from Wednesday’s FE strike Wednesday 24 February saw Unison and UCU members in Further Education colleges across England strike together over pay for the first time in a decade. The strike was over an ongoing dispute with the Association of Colleges (AoC). The FE Joint […]
“£1 extra an hour for all” – UNISON and UCU national FE Strike
Tomorrow (24 February), for the first time in over a decade, UNISON and UCU in Further Education will be striking together for more pay. Mark, an FE lecturer in London discusses why they are taking action. Why we are striking Lecturers, admin and support staff working in Further Education colleges in England are to take […]
Why I’m cycling to Paris
John Walker explains why he’s setting off on his bike to the COP21 in Paris. Along with around 130 other people, I will be cycling to join the demonstrations around COP21, all the way from London to Paris. We will be taking five days, cycling from London to Brighton on Sunday 5 December, taking the ferry from […]
Greenwich teachers: on strike for respect and fighting to win
NUT teachers at John Roan School in Greenwich took strike action on Tuesday, 10 November over their working conditions. In their words, they have “an unsustainable workload alongside excessive monitoring and scrutiny of our work”. A local trade unionist reports from the picket line. “It’s important we take this action as I’ve seen the effects at other […]
Radicalising the rank and file
The following comments are extracted from a very lengthy and detailed discussion which rs21 members Anindya Bhattacharyya and a Unite rep recently conducted with the US Marxist labour historian Kim Moody. A former member of Students for a Democratic Society and the US International Socialists, Moody served on the editorial board of the journal he […]
The Magpie: Tories attack workers’ right to resist
The Magpie takes on the Tories latest attacks on workers’ rights to organise in their latest column The Tories have now published their much-trailed Trade Union Bill. It goes much further than their manifesto in restricting workers’ rights. Key elements are: All strikes will be unlawful without a 50% ballot turnout Strikes in health, education, […]
The rise of the GERM: how is education messing with our minds?
With the neoliberal assault on education seemingly unending, Andrew Stone, a teacher and NUT rep in south London, considers the role of education today and how we can fight back “Anorexia is increasing among primary-age children. Self-harm was reported as a direct response to the pressure of SATs [national tests taken at ages 6-7 and 10-11] […]
London FE colleges hit by six strikes
UCU members in Further Education report on strikes that took place across London yesterday Seven London Further Education colleges took coordinated strike action yesterday against course closures and massive job cuts. Members of the University and Colleges Union (UCU) have been campaigning since the election in May against draconian cuts to college budgets, most notably […]