Received from: UCU
Merged into composite C09
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 believes:
a. education is a quintessential public good.
b. post-16 education has a key role in tackling inequality, mitigating climate change, and rebuilding our communities, and is essential to national renewal
c. it must be properly publicly funded, accessible, and democratically governed
d. trade unions are vital in defending the rights of post-16 education workers and learners.
Congress resolves to:
1. campaign for a fully funded national education service ensuring decent pay, secure employment, and professional autonomy
2. 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
3. demand pay parity between FE and schoolteachers, backing coordinated industrial action where needed
4. support joint campaigns resisting cuts, closures, and mergers
5. 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.
University and College Union
AMENDMENT
Add new bullet after bullet d.:
“e. the cut in arts subjects is detrimental to the health and careers of individuals, and damaging to communities”
Add new bullet after bullet 5.:
“6. campaign for the restoration of all arts subjects.”
Artists’ Union England