Comprising Motions 51 and 52 plus amendment
Congress notes:
i. across the UK, post-16 education faces an unprecedented crisis
ii. one in two universities are making job and course cuts and up to 15,000 job losses are predicted in 2025
iii. pay for further education (FE) workers remains significantly below that of schoolteachers, creating severe recruitment and retention issues
iv. young people and adult learners are being denied access to high-quality, inclusive education vital for social mobility, regional development, and a fair transition to a green economy
v. marketisation has undermined the democratic and public essence of higher education (HE), elevating financial imperatives over educational ones.
Congress notes its concern that education throughout the UK is underfunded and that this has contributed to:
a. unsustainable and increasing workloads for teaching staff
b. rising ASN/SEND pupil needs not being met as stretched professional support services and overworked school staff are unable to properly respond to pupils’ needs
c. more violence and aggression in schools, both between pupils and towards staff.
Congress notes that these issues are interrelated; many young people do not get the support that they need to support their learning, and that this unmet need can lead to increased disruption and violence in schools. Furthermore, that education staff are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain quality education.
Congress affirms the following principles:
1. Education is a quintessential public good.
2. Post-16 education has a key role in tackling inequality, mitigating climate change, and rebuilding our communities, and is essential to national renewal. It must be properly publicly funded, accessible, and democratically governed.
3. Trade unions are vital in defending the rights of post-16 education workers and learners.
4. The cut in arts subjects is detrimental to the health and careers of individuals and damaging to communities.
5. The central importance of a quality education system that provides all young people with the knowledge, skills, and confidence that they need to succeed in life, both personally, within their communities, and in workplaces.
6. That a quality education system should be a safe place of work with sufficient support and resources for staff to work in a long-term, sustainable manner.
Congress calls on the General Council to support and amplify affiliates’ campaigning for:
I. the benefits to individuals and society of a well-funded, quality education system
II. increased ASN/SEND funding and resources
III. zero tolerance of violence in our educational establishments
IV. increased funding to deliver quality education with reduced class sizes and weekly class contact time.
Congress resolves to:
i. campaign for a fully funded national education service ensuring decent pay, secure employment and professional autonomy
ii. lobby the government to reverse HE-funding cuts, abolish student fees and introduce a new system underpinned by public funding and equitable distribution of students between institutions
iii. demand pay parity between FE and schoolteachers, backing coordinated industrial action where needed
iv. support joint campaigns resisting cuts, closures, and mergers
v. campaign for restoration of all art’s subjects
vi. produce, by next year’s Congress, a TUC report outlining a bold, progressive vision for a national education service, free at the point of use from cradle to grave.
Mover: University and College Union
Seconder: Educational Institute of Scotland
Supporter: Artists’ Union England