Page 36

Sixth form colleges

Colleges in crisis

NUT members in sixth form colleges have started industrial action as part of the NUT’s campaign on funding and pay in sixth form colleges, writes David Powell.

Following a positive ballot result, London members took action on 23 February, lobbying Parliament to bring their concerns before MPs. At the time of going to press, discussions were taking place on possible coordinated action in the rest of the country with colleagues from ATL and NASUWT.

Strike action is always a last resort, but NUT members are determined to defend the sector against the damage being done to the prospects for young people. NUT members are working hard to make the campaign a success. They know action is needed to resist the cuts, pay freeze, job losses and higher workload. Teachers and students in sixth form colleges face a bleak future unless the Government and the employers are made to think again.

Teachers in sixth form colleges are under attack on a number of fronts. Teachers are colleges’ key resource but their pay is being cut in real terms, workload is increasing and jobs are being lost. At the same time the Government is proposing ever more stringent cuts on colleges.

Students are suffering too. They face higher class sizes and fewer educational opportunities, as well as having lost the education maintenance allowance.

The sector is hugely successful, but is being vandalised by funding cuts amounting to almost 20 per cent since the coalition Government came to power. We must resist and

reverse these huge and unjustified cuts and the attacks on teachers, to prevent irreparable damage being done to a valuable part of our education system.

Sixth form colleges play a key role in developing the skills of our young people, providing an essential route to higher education. The Government’s cuts will damage not just the sector itself, but the country’s economic future – like the other public sector cuts, they are a false economy.

We’re working with other unions to highlight the impact of the cuts, and the loss of skills and opportunities that will result if these cuts are not halted.

Join us

 Whether or not you work in the sector, you can join the NUT’s campaign to defend it. News about the campaign and other materials can be found at www.teachers.org.uk/6fcs/campaign.

• David Powell is NUT Principal Officer, pay and education economics.