Posters outside  City & Islington sixth form college, 15.3.16, photo by Helen Pattison

Posters outside City & Islington sixth form college, 15.3.16, photo by Helen Pattison   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Striking to save sixth form colleges

Members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) in sixth form colleges are on strike today against funding cuts, mergers and closures.

Sheffield

NUT members at Longley Park sixth form college were in high spirits on the picket line following the High Court ruling that their strike was lawful. Several members told us that the Tories’ decision to try to get the strike ruled unlawful had massively increased press coverage for the action!

Longley Park sixth form college, 15.3.16

Longley Park sixth form college, 15.3.16   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

NUT members nationally have taken this strike action against funding cuts to sixth form colleges, demanding that funding be restored to 2010 levels and that the government pledges not to close or merge any colleges.

One member told the Socialist: “It’s great that we’ve had a strong action today. But we need the other education unions to join us in the fight to preserve FE, and that means taking strike action with us.”

Sam Morecroft, Sheffield South Socialist Party

North Kensington, London

St Charles sixth form college, 15.3.16. photo Chris Newby

St Charles sixth form college, 15.3.16. photo Chris Newby   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Striking NUT members at St Charles sixth form college in north Kensington, west London, were joined by some of their students with homemade placards, making for a very lively picket line.

As a result of funding cuts, teaching time at St Charles is being squeezed. A fall in student numbers will see funding hit further.

NUT members at the college were out campaigning locally at the weekend and received a really positive response. The teachers are in a very determined mood to stop these cuts and reverse previous cuts; and as a result of campaigning by the NUT locally around this action, more teachers have joined the union.

Chris Newby

Islington, London

Martin Powell-Davies (left) on the picket at City & Islington sixth form college, 15.3.16 , photo by Judy Beishon

Martin Powell-Davies (left) on the picket at City & Islington sixth form college, 15.3.16 , photo by Judy Beishon   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

“Wow, it’s so colourful” said one of City and Islington sixth form college arts teachers as she joined the picket line [see pic at top of page].

Homemade placards and trade union banners were draped over the entrance to the college. A crowd of 20 staff and supporters were there towards the end when London NUT secretary and Socialist Party member Martin Powell-Davies joined the picket, and the NUT’s deputy general secretary Kevin Courtney also arrived to give support.

Helen Pattison

Newham, London

“The government has claimed our strike is political, but it is them who are politically attacking us – they want to destroy sixth forms”, explained a striker at Newvic (NewVIc: Newham sixth form college).

Newvic sixth form college, 15.3.16, photo by Hannah Sell

Newvic sixth form college, 15.3.16, photo by Hannah Sell   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Another, a modern language teacher, outlined why she felt so strongly about striking:

“We are on strike today because of the threat to sixth form provision, because of the cuts, the threat of academy status – the government is bent on turning sixth form colleges into academies or closing them down altogether.

“I think especially in an area like Newham with a lot of students from deprived backgrounds, the sixth form is really important. We were established in the 1990s because people realised that many students were not the ‘traditional’ kids who are encouraged by their parents to do A levels and then go to the top universities; and so many schools only had a small number of students doing A levels so it made sense to establish a large sixth form college; it still does.

“We can offer a very wide range of subjects to students and good facilities that schools could not provide. But now the whole thing is being driven back. Schools are being made to compete against each other, which does not benefit the ethos of education for all.

“The other thing we’ve had is the ‘Academy of Excellence’ where Eton college lends some of its teachers for part of the year to teach the poor in the East End – that smacks of Victorian England not 2016. It is a step back from our sixth form that caters for everyone. To smash up what has been created, as this government wants to do, to withdraw funding from us and then to turn round and tell us Ofsted or whoever says we are not doing well enough – that is very cheap.”

Hannah Sell

London: After the picket lines, strikers from across London and beyond went to a rally in the Camden Centre near Kings Cross

Outside the Camden Centre rally, 15.3.16, photo by Chris Newby

Outside the Camden Centre rally, 15.3.16, photo by Chris Newby   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

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Salford

Paul Rossington, an NUT member at Salford City College explained:

Members have gone out on strike today at Salford City College. It’s not about this college, this college is a great college, and teaching staff are very proud of it. It is primarily because of the Tory funding cuts – since 2010, it’s been cut by 14% in real terms and we feel that this sector that we’re extremely proud of, will cease to exist in the form that it presently is.

Poster outside City & Islington sixth form college, 15.3.16

Poster outside City & Islington sixth form college, 15.3.16, photo by Judy Beishon

And I think that particularly in an area like Salford which is classed as a deprived area, the service that we provide to young people is immense. And it’s just like everything else, the police, the NHS, that’s been cut by this government, they’re doing it to us. We’re taking a stand today in order to send a message to Nicky Morgan and the DfE and to David Cameron that we’re not going to put up with it any more.

Ultimately I’d like the government to move away from their austerity agenda, though I doubt that’s ever going to happen! I think at least we need to have open discussions with the teaching unions working with sixth form colleges, looking at what the sector actually needs in terms of keeping class sizes at decent levels, keeping pay for staff at fair levels as well, and ensuring the quality of service we provide for young people is second to none, as it always had been.

One of the most heart-breaking things has been cuts to services for students with mental health issues, that’s something our college has had to tolerate over the last 12 months.

We’ve got a government that isn’t interested in investing in the future of education. People at Salford who are proud of the job that they do, proud of their profession, having to take a day of action like this where you’re taking yourself out of the classroom, taking yourself out of that environment that you’re so proud to work in, on top of losing a day’s pay, it’s not a decision taken lightly by professional people like myself and my colleagues. The government needs to understand that. We’re better than them in that regard, we’ve got integrity, we’ve got honesty, we care!

Paul was interviewed by Hugh Caffrey

Waltham Forest, London

Sir George Monoux College, 15.3.16, photo by Paula Mitchell

Sir George Monoux College, 15.3.16, photo by Paula Mitchell   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

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Eastleigh

Visiting the NUT picket line outside Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh we found a buoyant and committed group of sixth form teachers. One by one they explained how cuts to education are resulting in courses being withdrawn and staff losing jobs.

One asked: “What kind of society does this government wish to create through a lack of access to decent education?”

Placard outside City & Islington sixth form college, 15.3.16, photo by Judy Beishon

Placard outside City & Islington sixth form college, 15.3.16, photo by Judy Beishon   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Another correctly linked the attacks to education with cuts to other public services and described how young people are disproportionately affected by these times of austerity: “To be young today means struggling to find a course at a local college to engage in and study, going on to university but having to accept a lifetime of debt or joining the masses fighting over poverty pay jobs with no terms and conditions to speak of. It’s criminal!”

Pickets described how happy they were to receive support from parents who stopped to give support and from the Socialist Party members who came in solidarity and support of their strike.

The teachers on this picket line see that many trade unions are now going into dispute with the government but are not yet discussing coordinated action. With Unison and UCU recently striking in education they asked: “Why aren’t we out together?” A question they intend to put to their union in the period after this strike. “We need a real strategy now, going forward, and must use this strike as a springboard to more action. We cannot let this mood die out!”

Declan Clune, Southampton Socialist Party

Havering

Havering sixth form college, 15.3.16, photo by Pete Mason

Havering sixth form college, 15.3.16, photo by Pete Mason   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

NUT members at Havering sixth form college, the fifth largest in England, were on strike today to protest against the massive cuts in education.

Kieran Clements, NUT rep for the college, which has 2,700 students, told the Socialist that the college faces losing approximately £500 per student due to the government cuts: “So multiply that by 2,700 and you can see just how hard these cuts are hitting!”

The cuts, Kieran added, “mean education courses will be dropped, class sizes will increase and teaching workload will increase. It makes it increasingly difficult to provide the service the students deserve. People might say that the strike is inconvenient for the students for one day, but the current government is harming the students’ education every day with their cuts to education.”

Pickets noted that students and passers-by have been very supportive, and NUT members, who make up a large majority of the college teaching staff, have been ‘pretty solid’ today.

These cuts mean that managements in sixth form colleges have to concentrate on enrolling as many students as possible to gain funding, pickets told us, and consideration of their educational benefit comes second. It is an “education free-for-all” that the government has engendered, with no strategic planning for the borough.

Pete Mason, Barking, Dagenham and Havering Socialist Party

Leicester

I visited the picket line at one of the entrances to Leicester QE college, where National Union of Teachers members were striking as part of the national strike against government cuts.

The strike went ahead after a government attempt to stop it with legal action failed. As one supporter from the local trades union council said: “The government doesn’t seem to understand it when workers take action to defend the service rather than just their pay!”

Many had already left to get the bus to a rally in London. Those that remained were leafleting pupils and other staff going past. Some stopped to sign a petition against funding cuts and take stickers to support the strike.

One picket said: “We are protesting against a real danger to our students and future students. We are doing this for the whole community.”

Another teacher said: “We believe sixth form colleges offer specialist education, we are trained to teach at this level. The impact of the government cuts will mean a third of sixth form colleges could potentially close.”

Steve Score

This version of this article was first posted on the Socialist Party website on 15 March 2016 and may vary slightly from the version subsequently printed in The Socialist.