The meeting began with a 1 minute silence for Donna Coleman, a longstanding UCU member at Burnley College. She died last month after contracting Covid. She was just 42 years old. This was a painful reminder of what is at …
The Fight for Trans Rights
Note on terminology: this article will use the term trans throughout as an umbrella term referring to a range of trans, nonbinary, genderqueer and gender non-conforming identities (as many trans-led organisations such as Gendered Intelligence do). We will use other …
How do we build a fighting union that can win?
UCU’s interim Congress took place in the context of a public health crisis where our employers and government are playing fast and loose with our health and using the pandemic to cut costs through sacking staff, including UCU members. But …
Why we shouldn’t welcome the FE White Paper
The new Skills for Jobs White Paper put colleges at the centre of an underfunded, narrow, skills-based and business-led plan.
Last week, the secretary of state for education, Gavin Williamson, finally launched the government’s FE …
No return to unsafe workplaces – ballot to defend education workers, students and communities
Jo Grady’s statement in today’s papers threatening strike action against any premature return to campus and face-to-face teaching should be applauded.
UCU is saying clearly that we will not allow employers to put staff and students at risk as they …
Further Education Sector Conference 2020 Report
Collectivise the resistance: Covid Safety, Pay and Working Conditions
This year’s rescheduled UCU Further Education Sector Conference (FESC) met on Saturday the 12th of December online via Zoom under the extraordinary conditions of a second wave of Coronavirus.
In addition …
At last advice from the UK Government on the re-opening of FE
— Joint statement from Marian Mayer, UCU Left candidate for Vice President, and Peter Evans, UCU Left candidate for the LGBT+ casual vacancy on the NEC.
Most Further Education (FE) colleges in England started physical on-site opening on 17 …
Vote Marian Mayer for VP & Peter Evans for LGBT+ rep
Elections for two important national UCU positions open this week. The first is for Vice President of the union, with the winner ultimately becoming President.
The UCU Left-supported candidate is Marian Mayer.
Marian has an excellent record as a rank …
New government proposals to take ownership of colleges
An article appeared in FE week reporting that the government is about to release a white paper on the future of Further Education. It says that the government is planning to take control of the sector.
Assessment: Time to close down the exam factory
When this crisis is over, we should not turn back to a system that has so badly failed many young people.
TES article by Sean Vernell
The announcement to cancel GCSE and A-level exams this year and to grade students