TUC draws education battle lines
Unions call for ‘alliance of unions, parents and governors’ to tackle education cuts.
Speaking at the education unions’ rally and lobby of Parliament, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
“Wherever you look – from education to the NHS and criminal justice – services are being broken up, divided into competing pieces and starved of the investment they need. But there is an alternative future for our schools and public services. A future where public servants and service users are not made to pick up the tab for the bankers’ crisis.
“A future where fair taxes, not savage cuts, pay down the deficit. Where there is a proper bonus tax on the speculators in the City, a financial transactions tax on the banks, and a clampdown on the £25 billion of tax avoidance by the super rich. This is the best way of securing services and securing the recovery.
“Massive cuts now will not just have a devastating impact on our public services. They will undermine growth and risk a double-dip recession, hit the private sector and cause rising unemployment across the economy.
“It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the Government’s policies are more about ideology than necessity, and nowhere is that more the case than in education. The coalition seems to have made a clear choice about what its education priorities are – and where the resources should go.
“Not to providing decent schools for all, with good facilities and modern buildings, but to a massive expansion of academies and the creation of so-called free schools, carried out at breakneck speed, with next to no consultation. These reforms are driven by dogma not evidence, by the interests of ministers and consultants, not the needs of parents or children.
“The consequences could be devastating. Not just the loss of accountability to local communities and the effective dismantling of state schools, but the diversion of limited funds away from schools which remain in local authority control to those that choose to opt out. The most vulnerable children in the most disadvantaged communities could lose out as a result.
“Building Schools for the Future was an investment in all our futures, a genuine success story that transformed 4,000 schools the length and breadth of Britain, reversed the decline of the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, and in the process broadened the horizons of so many children.
“We will press for an independent review of the Government’s plans to show there is an alternative future for education in this country. Today is a great example of education unions joining together to speak with one voice, and the TUC will continue to co-ordinate joint action in the weeks and months ahead.
“But we will only succeed if we reach out beyond the confines of our movement and encourage others to embrace our cause. That’s why we must continue to build coalitions with parents, governors and other education professionals, campaign in our communities and inspire ordinary people to get involved. Only by building a progressive alliance can we tackle the coalition’s regressive approach to education.”
