Our regular columnist and Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome dives into the importance of looking after our schools and unis...
When I was about fourteen, my teachers went on strike. My classmates and I heard that we were getting a day off, and started asking around to figure out why. Soon after, I proudly joined a rally organised by the teachers’ union - my first of many to come. This experience - of seeing industrial struggle and solidarity in action, hearing about trade unions and workers’ rights - was at least as educational as memorising chemical symbols and the names of Henry VIII’s six wives.
I was reminded of this story when the National Education Union (NEU) recently announced the results of its strike ballot. Teachers overwhelmingly voted to strike again, and for good reasons. Since the Tories took power, their real-terms incomes have steadily declined - and that’s before energy prices shot up, eroding their paychecks even more. At the same time, workloads went from high to unmanageable, with teachers working an average of 54 hours a week.
Workers aren’t the only ones to suffer as a result. Burnt out staff won’t give children the attention they need. Meanwhile, teacher shortages - driven by problems with recruitment and retention - mean fewer specialist teachers in schools, and young people not getting the education they deserve.
Education should be free and accessible: not just at school level, but at any age
But it’s not just in schools that educators are facing excessive workloads and declining pay. The University and College Union (UCU) has announced another eighteen days of strikes. Since tuition fees were hiked in 2010, university staff pay went down by around a quarter. Add to this a 35% cut to pensions and the normalisation of precarious contracts, and it’s easy to see why they’re fed up.
The struggles faced by workers point towards wider problems with our education system, which has been underfunded and mismanaged by successive governments. A pay rise for staff is a necessary first step towards improving it, but it’s only the beginning. What else would I do to transform education? Here’s a few ideas.
Most people would agree that every child, regardless how rich or poor their family is, deserves an equal start in life. Even staunch supporters of the free market claim to believe in equality of opportunity. But this principle is fundamentally incompatible with the existence of private schools, which cement generational inequality.
I don’t blame parents who want to give their kids the best opportunities money can buy. I blame politicians, disproportionately privately-educated themselves, who vote to cut funding for state schools, knowing that their own children won’t feel the consequences. Imagine how quickly things would change if the kids of the rich and powerful had to learn together with everyone else.
Ultimately, the education system won’t be transformed by politicians alone. The best ideas come from the people who live it: students and education workers
Education should be free and accessible: not just at school level, but at any age. This means investing in adult education, significantly increasing maintenance support for students and, yes, scrapping tuition fees. Some say that university fees are more like a tax, since most students get out a loan rather than paying upfront. But taxes should be paid on income and wealth, not knowledge. Education is not a luxury or a business like any other, but a public good that benefits society as a whole. If debt-free degrees are possible in Germany, Denmark or Norway, we can have them here as well.
A lot of debates around the future of education come down to the question of what it’s really for. For some people, the answer is straightforward: to prepare young people for work. And while that’s certainly part of its purpose, it’s not the whole story. All students, regardless of their class background, deserve the chance to develop their passions and broaden their horizons. As well as competent employees, students should be learning to be critical thinkers and conscious citizens. That’s why it’s crucial for arts and humanities to not be devalued - and to not shy away from difficult topics, such as race and the legacy of the British Empire.
Either way, if education is meant to prepare students for the future, it can’t do so without teaching about the issue that will affect virtually every aspect of our lives: the climate emergency. It shouldn’t just be students who choose optional subjects like Geography who get to learn about the changing climate. It belongs in every subject: whether that’s learning about sustainable diets and food production in food tech, or discussing how changes to the environment shaped our history, economy and societies around the world. Equally, sustainability should form a core part of vocational courses, from engineering to design. This is why I joined forces with the youth group Teach the Future to bring their Climate Education Bill to Parliament - the first ever bill written by students.
Ultimately, the education system won’t be transformed by politicians alone. The best ideas come from the people who live it: students and education workers. I’m looking forward to hearing even more of them on the upcoming NEU and UCU picket lines. Solidarity, and see you there!
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
