The Next Meeting of Islington NEU is on 

Wednesday 5th February

Islington Town Hall, Upper Street N1 2UD

5pm to 6.30pm

Agenda

The Conservatives did not win the election on education: their promises on school funding were insufficient, their plans to bring back no-notice Ofsted inspections left teachers and TAs dismayed and they ignored the severe and escalating crisis of child poverty.

We make these five challenges to the Government as we believe that they are issues that they must urgently address

1. End school cuts and invest in education
2. End child poverty
3. Replace Ofsted with a fair way of evaluating schools
4. End high-stakes primary testing
5. Address the teacher retention and recruitment crisis

      

DEFEND WHITTINGTON HOSPITAL 

Big thanks to your members for contributing £100 to Defend the Whittington Hospital Coalition.  It is particularly welcome to receive support from the NEU as the NHS is suffering many similar issues as Education, particularly the privatisation of the running of bits of it, underfunding and very poor pay leading to shortages of staff.

Whittington Hospital is currently facing TWO court cases. One relating to a missed diagnosis of cervical cancer, an area of medicine in which they have been world leaders. So that is shocking. And the case in which we are involved, where Grenfell contractors are suing the Hospital for FOURTEEN MILLION pounds for deciding not to procure them to loan money and to plan for their Estate Strategy. This whole debacle relates to the refusal of the Government to finance much needed hospital development and of course the use of private and reckless private companies who put profits before safety.

Our fightback is costly. So your support is great. Of course, there will be more battles to fight under the new Government.

With thanks and in solidarity

Teachers at City and Islington Sixth Form Centre took part in a strike over pay and funding on Thursday 24th October and Tuesday 5th November

This was a national strike by sixth form college teachers called by their union, the NEU (National Education Union), in response to years of funding cuts, since 2010,  that have resulted in:

• colleges being forced into mergers
• cuts to courses
• increased class sizes
• reduced support for students (for example in mental health, at a time when we know that mental health issues have been increasing amongst young people).

The £400 million increase in funding that has been recently announced by the government does not address the £1.1 billion gap that has opened up since 2010.  Pay has fallen behind that of school teachers and has been reduced by 16% since 2010. 

Of all the 16-19 education provision, sixth form colleges have been hit the hardest, with a 22% cut in funding in real terms since 2010. 

We are demanding that funding per student should increase from £4000  to  at least £4760, rising in line with inflation and that our pay should be brought in line with that of school teachers. 

Pippa Dowswell, NEU Rep at City and Islington Sixth form centre stated: “The funding cuts have had a massive impact on our college.  We have been forced into a merger which has resulted in degradation of all our support services whilst failing to make us financially secure.  There has been a huge impact on staff workload as teachers try to plug the gaps, with a resultant effect on their physical and mental health.  The decrease in pay in real terms has caused the college to lose staff members as they can no longer afford to live in London.  We have always offered a large range of courses for students to study in an environment which is a half-way house between school and University – this essential provision for our young people is being steadily eroded and is at risk of disappearing altogether if we cannot secure decent funding. ” 

Further strike action has been organised for  20^th November if our demands are not met.

ISLINGTON TRIBUNE ARTICLE