The enforced government U-turns over the grading of this summer’s school exams has shone a spotlight on the inbuilt class inequality inherent in education under capitalism. But what place would exams have in a socialist curriculum?
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The Tories have been forced into a complete U-turn over the issue of A-Level and GCSE grade moderation.
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Students should be awarded the grades their teachers decided so they can move on to the next stages of their lives without these ridiculous and unfair judgements weighing them down. Working class students must not be funnelled away from top universities. All applicants must receive a high quality, fully-funded university place.
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Even before the call for a ‘new normal’ in the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis, the UK education system has been crying out for change.
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The Covid-19 crisis has shone a spotlight on the crisis in our education system, especially the Early Years and Primary sector.
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The Black Lives Matter movement has quite correctly posed the question of black history in our schools and public life. It is a question that has been taken up by many teachers.
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Newham NEU victories over academisation show that, if you fight, you can win!
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We’ve won. But the fight is far from over.
St Angela’s school in Newham, east London, won’t become a privately run academy. Privatisation has been ruled out for five years.
On the eve their second round of strike action, National Education Union (NEU) members won the reprieve. They were ready with more strike action if academisation continued.
St Angela’s is a Catholic school. The diocese wants all 14 of its schools to join a multi-academy trust.
The NEU is campaigning with parents across east London to stop this happening. St Angela’s balloted for strike action as soon as they caught wind of the academisation threat.
NEU members at St Michael’s school in Newham will be out 21-23 January. Their strike days will hit six if management don’t back down. And St Bon’s is balloting for action too.
Along with supporters, the striking teachers at St Michael’s discussed the importance of continuing to win over parents’ support. Niall Mulholland, local Socialist Party member, recounted how he and other parents organised support for striking teachers at Stratford Academy, in 2012, successfully forcing back senior management’s planned attacks.
Louise Cuffaro, joint NEU Newham secretary and Socialist Party member, said overcoming “divide and rule” tactics were crucial.
Supporters of the teachers planned to leaflet outside a parents’ meeting organised by senior management at St Michael’s about the dispute to counter management misinformation.
Ian Pattison, East London Socialist Party
After over a decade of intensified attacks on workers’ living standards, and without the labour movement organising decisively to oppose them, it is almost inevitable that the growing anger and alienation within working-class communities can be misdirected towards chauvinism and division. It is the task of socialists, without ever conceding to discriminatory views, to find a way to overcome those divisions and help bring workers together in the united struggle needed to solve the problems we face.
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