By Bernie McAdam Teachers from both main unions have overwhelmingly supported a series of regional strikes against Education Secretary Michael Gove’s attacks on pay, pensions and workload. This action was meant to be a forerunner to a national strike before Christmas. But now the NUT leadership has decided to call off further action for […]

Thousands of teachers thronged Markham Street in Westminster between the Home Office and Department for Education, writes Bernie McAdam, NUT. Some started jumping up and down as loud calls rang out for “Gove to go”. You could feel the frisson in the air as the police did not quite know what was going to happen […]

By Bernie McAdam The teachers’ unions NUT and NASUWT called the second and third of their regional strikes this month as they step up their fight against Education Secretary Michael Gove’s attacks on their pay, pensions and workload. Teachers from the Eastern, Midlands and Yorkshire and Humberside areas took one-day strike action on 1 October. […]

  By Bernie McAdam, Sandwell NUT   The National Union of Teachers (NUT) is gearing up for a national strike on Wednesday 13 March, possibly coinciding with a European TUC Day of Action against austerity. This is a direct response to Tory Education Secretary Michael Gove’s vicious attack on teachers’ pay. His plans will involve […]

  2012 was a year to forget for the Tories. It was, in the main, a year to forget for student activists as well, writes K D Tait. The first year of £9,000 fees saw a 10 per cent drop in student numbers. September saw the government try to deport thousands of overseas students from London […]

On November 21 the National Union of Students (NUS) will march in London under the slogan ‘Educate, Employ, Empower’. The protest is supported by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC), Education Activists Network (EAN) and the UCU. Activists across the country are organising for the biggest possible turnout, but participation seems uneven and […]

‘Time to tackle the dumbing down’ is the new slogan of the Tory education ‘reforms’ which aim to make school serve the needs of the market, not the students. At their heart these counter-reforms aim to segregate students by class, limiting working class students to basic literacy and numeracy skills or, at best, technical, vocational […]

By Bernie McAdam, Sandwell NUT Teachers’ unions NUT and NASUWT have announced a joint campaign to defend pensions and protect pay, working conditions and jobs. Teachers will be balloted both for strike action and action short of strike to be taken in the autumn term “should the government refuse to listen”. As yet no clear […]

By Bernie McAdam, Sandwell NUT The National Union of Teachers (NUT) Conference this Easter made abundantly clear to its leaders that more national strike action was needed to stop the Coalition’s pensions attack. A successful motion called for regional strikes in the summer term, culminating in a national strike in June. Within weeks, however, the […]

Students in Québec, Canada have been on strike for three months against the government’s attempts to raise university tuition fees, while Chilean students are protesting for reforms in the public education system, writes KD Tait   THE GENERAL unlimited strike, organised by a coalition of student federations, started on February 13 and has drawn in […]

Public education is under attack. Greedy corporations are hell bent on getting their hands on schools, colleges and universities – desperate to make a profit out of education and knowledge. This is having a terrible affect on young people, adult learners and education workers – as the market drives up costs, drives down standards and […]

There was a time when the neoliberal campus was just a coveted aspiration of the political right. Now students and lecturers live with the heavy burden of its realisation, writes Luke Cooper at New Left Project.

By a striking Unison Teaching Assistant 8.00am The NUT rep and I mounted a picket at our school – much to the Headteacher’s surprise, who had expected a passive, going-through-the-motions strike. Until yesterday, we had an agreement that seven Unison members would respect the picket line, but this crumbled at the last minute with colleagues […]

Education Secretary, Michael Gove, has announced he will turn 200 “worst-achieving” primary schools into academies next year, writes Rachel Brooks, NUT member

Statement by REVOLUTION Many student activists will be wondering why we did not stand for, or vote, in the elections for a steering committee at the recent “reinvigoration” meeting of the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts on 5 June. There’s no doubt been much frustration in the movement after parliament voted for tuition fees, […]

As the student academic year draws to a close, the summer is a good time for reflection on the year that was. John Bowman provides a balance sheet for Revolution. Read it here

  As the majority of UK working class youth face a future without further education and limited job prospects, what has to be done? asks Joy Macready

Katharine Birbalsingh wowed the Conservative Party conference with her tales of a south London school, which was “out of control” supposedly because white liberal teachers were afraid of punishing black pupils. Jeremy Drinkall reports on plans to put her right wing educational theories to the test by opening a “Free School” in the area

SOME PEOPLE would have you believe that young people today are lazy and that they don’t care about education. Adverts tell young people how terrible their life will be without the right shoes, deodorant or iPhone. Teachers and celebrities tell us that there is a world full of opportunities and it’s our own fault if […]

University lecturers are preparing to strike against a massive attack on their pensions. Across the public sector, the Con-Dem government are tearing up existing pension agreements (see article on Hutton Report). But so far it’s only the lecturers who have balloted for action. Over 60% voted to strike, with just over 50% also voting to […]

When the NUS NEC passed a strategy document, supported by NUS president Aaron Porter for the student movement on 10 January, they showed once again that they want to plead and negotiate with the Con Dem government, rather than organise a fight to stop their plans. The document agreed to sponsor the Manchester demonstration on […]