- Conference
- 2003 National Delegate Conference
- Date
- 6 February 2003
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
The issue and challenges facing the UK’s education system continue to be of concern to this union. Whilst Conference acknowledges the promise of more money for the education system as a whole, too many of our children are still failing to reach their full potential. Participation rates beyond 16 are marked by social inequality. Years of underspending on our schools, colleges and universities have left a crumbling infrastructure in desperate need of major capital investment. And a backlog of school repairs is not the only legacy of underinvestment. The education system is facing a huge wave of up and coming retirements, with existing staff, especially support staff, often expected to take on more and more responsibility yet have only received minimal wage increases.
Conference calls on the Government to state clearly its objectives across the education system and the means by which it is going to achieve these. This will be in contrast to its current strategy of piecemeal announcements, often made by different central government departments. Whilst solutions to alleviate the acute financing need are being driven by the Treasury, reforms to the school system in England are being proposed by the Department for Education and Skills. All post-16 education is now being funded by a huge quango, the Learning and Skills Council, whilst the strategic role and democratic accountability of local education authorities is being eroded. Conference believes that this situation does nothing to help construct a universal vision for education or work towards joined-up solutions.
Further education is a vital part of the Government’s vision for education and lifelong learning and should be given equal emphasis when deciding a strategy for lifelong learning. At present, further education is not seen as the main player in training the workforce or for vocational training. The numbers of people engaged in learning in further education is greater than the rest combined and this demonstrates the need for greater, less restrictive, funding to deliver high quality learning and training, which is both relevant to the needs of the economy and accessible to working people.
Conference is also concerned at the diverging policy across the UK. Scotland has led the way in finding an alternative way of funding higher education, whilst Wales has reaffirmed the benefits of the comprehensive school system and discontinued testing at the age of seven. Conference believes that the vision for education held in Cardiff and Edinburgh presents a far better opportunity of addressing the needs of all our communities, and is more likely to deliver greater equity for staff and students alike.
In contrast, Conference recognises the work carried out within this union to campaign against the privatisation of our education system; to oppose proposals that increase the use of selection in our schools; and fight the introduction of top up fees in universities. Furthermore, we encourage the further development of a positive UNISON vision for education that recognises the problems that need to be addressed, yet provides a coherent alternative to many of the policies offered by the Government.
Therefore, Conference calls upon the National Executive Council to:
1)campaign and promote existing union policy relating to all aspects of the education system, and to disseminate this material and information to regions and branches;
2)disseminate any and all consultation documents/policy documents to activists in colleges and branches in a timely fashion to enable an informed response to be developed;
3)develop a UNISON vision for education services based upon the principles listed within the Positively Public Manifesto, promoting realistic alternatives to government policies such as Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and specialist schools;
4)advance campaigns that will raise the profile of the union within the education sector, and enable branches to campaign, organise, and recruit within the sector at a local level;
5)campaign for all colleges to honour the national agreements on pay and conditions;
6)campaign for greater UNISON representation on the Learning and Skills Councils both regionally and nationally and provide relevant training for activists to apply for position on the local Learning and Skills Councils.