education and learning
News and articles about work, policy and workers' and students' struggles in education around the world.
Education: the future of an illusion
Article looking at 1989 attacks by the government on the higher education system in the UK.
Despite the rhetoric about reducing "state interference" the government has a unified social policy that seeks to restructure all areas of social life in line with the changing needs of capital. Examples of the breadth of this policy include the dismantling of the NHS, the increase in the size of the British prison population and a number of changes in the education system.
Hoax academic articles, media meddling, and problems with 'open access' as it exists.
Some recent hoax articles are demonstrating the flaws in the control of information and particularly academic publishing. A recent hoax demonstrates that, so long as you are willing to pay, you can get anything published, even computer generated mumbo-jumbo. And if you can't pay, you either don't publish, or the company owns the product of your labour. Open access isn't as open as it seems.
Not quite as lol-worthy as the 'Sokal hoax' but certainly a nice effort is the story of a recent hoax paper submitted to, and accepted, by an open-access information science journal.
Education Worker - issue 4 - Bulletin of the Education Workers Network
Education Worker - issue 4 - Bulletin of the Education Workers Network
Wildcat Strike at NATO International School
Teachers went on strike at a school for children of NATO officers in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Teachers at the school for children of NATO officers in Bydgoszcz Poland went on a wildcat strike yesterday after several weeks of protests due to non-payment and lack of contracts.
Berlitz launches legal blitz against striking instructors in Tokyo
Berlitz General Union Tokyo (Begunto) supported by the National Union of General Workers (NUGW) have launched a strike against the international language school Berlitz.
The rotating strike is in its 14th month, and Berlitz is trying to break the strike with a lawsuit directed at the five teachers who serve as volunteer Begunto executives, as well as two officials of the National Union of General Workers (NUGW) Tokyo Nambu: President Yujiro Hiraga and Louis Carlet, the deputy general secretary and case officer for Begunto.
Resistance to job cuts at the University of Salford gathers steam
Around 150 job losses have been forecast by opponents as part of large cuts across the university, along with the slashing of courses and funding.
The job losses and cuts to courses and infrastructure stem from the ‘project headroom’ program currently being pushed through by university management, which aims to claw back £12.5 million for the university budget.
On the unrest in Greece
Commentary on the situation in Greece published by the Anarchist Federation. It was written on the 15th of December, before the extension of the town hall occupations and the occupation of the offices of the General Confederation of Greek Workers on the 17th of December.
The unrest in Greece following the killing of 16 year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos has held the attention of the world and electrified the anarchist movement internationally. In the UK, solidarity actions and demonstrations have taken place in London, Leeds, Brighton, Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
France: demonstrations by school students continue to grow
Demonstrations against the Darcos reforms of the education system are intensifying with more students joining protests and taking more direct action.
Students are angry about reforms to the French secondary examination course, the baccalaureate and also about the planned loss of 25000 teaching posts over the next two years. Today's demonstration (11th Dec.) was called by the school students' union (UNL), the union has called for another day of action next Thursday although it looks as if many students will continue action tomorrow.
Unrest over academies expansion
As 70 failing schools join the 310 already on the list of schools which will be or already are now operating as academies, coalitions of parents in Brighton and Hove, Ipswich and Sheffield are challenging moves to switch them over.
In separate developments, privatisation moves in Goldsmiths College, London and Essex University are also being fought by staff and students, and sponsors of the Unity Academy – one of the early flagships of the initiative – have pulled out. The academy lost its primary backer, Amey, who deny financial pressures are behind their decision.
Teachers' union calls off strikes
Despite a vote in favour of discontinuous strikes over below inflation pay, the National Union of Teachers has announced there will be no further action.
A quarter of a million teachers walked out on April 24, disrupting nearly 10,000 schools in action which inspired many other workers in their fight against the government's 2% pay cap. This at a time with inflation running at around 5% constitutes real terms pay cuts.
However, the NUT then declined to ballot for action coordinated with other school workers in UNISON who struck on July 16-17.
