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The government white paper and NEU conference: A look at a month in education

Teacher Robert Poole reflects on the government’s education white paper and the key events from the NEU 2022 conference

THE big educational news since my last column has been the exciting release of the government’s education white paper.

The paper opens with a foreword from the Secretary of State for Education Nadhim Zahawi. The foreword is accompanied by a photo of Zahawi in which he stares at the camera with a half smirk giving off clear Demon Headmaster vibes.

As is the way of politicians, they have to include a story to help us relate to them and prove that they too have experience of being a child. For Zahawi it is to tell us about how he was a disruptive child who knew “what it is like to feel that a bright future is a long way away.” Yes, life was hard for poor Nadhim at his £21,000-a-year private school in Wimbledon. 

Don’t worry, I read it so you don’t have to.

No surprise the paper entitled  Opportunity for all: Strong schools with great teachers for your child was 68 pages with nothing really new to say.

The main gist of the paper is more tests and more targets. More academies and more power to Ofsted.

As the press release by the National Education Union stated: “This is a white paper which does not reflect on the mistakes of the past, does not address the problems of the Covid-19 present and does not have the answers for the future.”

In other news Chancellor of the Exchequer “Dishy Rishi” Sunak has had a bad couple of weeks and is now being referred  to as “Fishy Rishi.” 

Not only has he been fined, along with the PM, over lockdown parties he is also under scrutiny regarding his private wealth and his wife’s non-dom status. Rishi Sunak donated over £100,000 to Winchester College to prop up this engine of privilege which is a particular kick in the teeth during the cost-of-living crisis whilst the best the rest of us can hope for is to get a £200 repayable loan so we can afford to heat the house. The rich, of course, know all about class solidarity. Rob from the poor and give to the rich.

In Britain, one of the largest economies on the planet, 4.3 million children live in poverty and this is expected to rise by another 500,000 this year and reach five million during 2023, a new record.

The argument goes that bungs from millionaires to private schools will help the underprivileged yet gifted attain places at these prestigious schools — yet only 1 per cent of bursaries are fully funded with the majority going to the children of staff or alumni.

Imagine a child attending Winchester on an 80 per cent bursary. This may sound pretty generous but this of course leaves 20 per cent left to pay.

With fees of over £40,000 a year that means parents would still be paying over £60,000 for their child’s education. With many in this country deciding whether or not to eat or heat this simply isn’t an option. 

The big event of this week though is the NEU conference. There have been many moments that make me proud to be a member of this union.

One of the proudest moments was watching as delegates in Bournemouth walked out of the room as Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s shadow education secretary, talked of reforming Ofsted. Contrast this with the standing ovation that Jeremy Corbyn received from educators when he spoke at the last in-person conference.

Robin Talbot, a teacher and workplace rep from Waltham Forest in north-east London, was one of those who walked out.

He explained: “She was talking about the importance of Ofsted. She either didn't get the memo that we voted to abolish Ofsted, a not fit for purpose punitive body, the day before, or she kept mentioning Ofsted in her speech in order to provoke us.”

Some people have argued that it is important to engage with politicians in these matters but Talbot explained that “at the end of the day, when some people heckled, she could have agreed to disagree — but instead Labour continue to follow a failed policy of hanging on the Tories’ coattails in education policy while education workers, pupils, parents, and people are crying out for a properly funded education system and a system where no child is left behind.”

It is no wonder that there is so much ill-feeling; In 2019 the Labour Party conference voted to abolish Ofsted. This was then included in the Labour Party manifesto in 2019.

The exact wording was “we will replace Ofsted and transfer responsibility for inspections to a new body, designed to drive school improvement.” Another pledge made and broken by the new New Labour leadership.

Conference also passed some other positive motions, for example the Children’s Rights and Police in Schools motion. Vik Chechi-Ribeiro, president of Manchester National Education Union, said this was “an important step towards removing policing from the education system,” something that is even more important in the wake of the Child Q scandal. 

It was disappointing to hear that the emergency motion on the Ukraine crisis, put forward by Alex Kenny, was narrowly defeated. The motion, which demanded an immediate ceasefire, warned of the danger of further Nato expansion.

Holding this opinion is of course verboten is liberal circles — you may lose the Labour whip or be accused of being in the pay of Putin just for hinting at it — which may be why it was defeated. The manufacturing consent machine has been whirring now for nearly two months and many, even on the left, have drunk the Nato Koolaid. 

In an age of climate crisis, rising inequality and international conflict — and faced with the lack of a credible opposition from political parties — trade unions are going to have to step up.

The number of trade unionists rose by nearly 120, 000 last year whilst membership of the Labour Party fell by over 200,000 as people lose faith in an increasingly disappointing Labour leadership.

Which is why an exciting addition to the conference is the Activist Zone where delegates could learn skills of organising for power and discuss what workers’ power looks like. This is what, to me, the union is all about. Building from the grassroots up and learning how to win.  

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