Page 6
Upfront
Don't axe the EMA!
Students, teachers and education unions united for a day of action on 13 December as part of their campaign to save the education maintenance allowance (EMA).
Colleges and sixth-forms around the country held lunchtime protests against government plans to axe financial support that can often be the decisive factor when it comes to students staying on in post-16 education.
Protestors were urged to contact their local MP to make the case for keeping the EMA, which is worth up to £30 a week to teenagers from poorer households.
NUT General Secretary Christine Blower said: "If these proposals go ahead it will be a disaster for social justice and for the economy. Education is the major factor in social mobility. Ending the EMA will mean that many students from less well off backgrounds will simply not be able to countenance continuing with further education."
www.saveema.co.uk
Student teachers join fees protest
NUT student members have been among those protesting at the coalition Government's decision to raise university tuition fees to up to £9,000 a year.
NUT organiser Jen Larbie attended the 10 November demo in London with more than 70 members of Winchester University's NUT student society. "The NUT played an important role at this protest in supporting our student members and standing by our message that cuts in education never heal," she commented.
The NUT has sent messages of support to our colleagues at the National Union of Students, who continue to campaign vigorously against a policy that will see England's public universities become the most expensive in the world.
The future of education
Hundreds of teachers, parents and school governors debated the future of our schools and the coalition Government's education reforms at a conference at TUC HQ in London on 27 November 2010.
TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O'Grady warned that the Government risked "listening only to those obsessed with the undermining of comprehensive schools and ignoring those who want everyone, regardless of their income or where they live, to have access to a better education". She pointed to the coalition's acceleration of the academies programme, introduction of free schools and abolition of the Building Schools for The Future scheme as evidence that it is attacking comprehensive state education.
The NUT ran a seminar on involving parents and the community in campaigning against the Government's academies and free schools policies. NUT Deputy General Secretary Kevin Courtney was joined on the platform by Pete Jackson from the Anti-Academies Alliance and Leila Galloway, a parent campaigner against the proposal to turn Tidemill Primary School in Deptford into an academy.
And the winner is...
Congratulations to NUT member Llew Davies, named Teacher of the Year in the 2010 Teaching Awards.
A Year 5 teacher at Ysgol Cae Top in Bangor, Gwynedd, Llew was nominated by a pupil because of his humour, passion for sport, and strong character. Judges said: "What ever you call it, the X factor, wow factor, that certain twinkle or spark - Llew has it!"
Remembering Jeane
It is with great sadness we report that Jeane Richardson, the NUT's longest serving member of staff ever, died in December. Jeane worked for the NUT from the age of 14 for 49 years in a variety of capacities. She was universally loved, especially by the Union's presidents, with whom she worked closely.
Kind, generous and cheerful, Jeane was supremely loyal to the Union and dedicated to state education. Outside work she was Chair of Governors at a local school. She is survived by two sons, Mark and Robert.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52