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UCU NEC FE NEWSLETTER – FEC report
18/12/07 |
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Hi. Last Friday the Further Education Committee (FEC) met and
discussed a range of issues. The over-arching issues were Education Funding, where Further & Adult Education was heading and pay The
meeting was led off by Dan Taubman with the General
Secretary coming in to give a report on how the pay campaign was going and the next steps. Where is F & A Education going? The
government is moving fast to change the nature of F & A education.
It was leaked in last week’s Guardian that the government want to split up
Further and Adult education into SFC and community
colleges specialising in adult vocationalisation.
Alongside this 14 -19 FE funding is to be redirected through local
authorities and Adult education funding to come
from “train to gain”, moving Adult Education
further towards privatisation. The
FEC agreed that it was very important that we start a discussion about how we
should respond to these developments. It was also agreed that we did
not simply want to be responsive to the government’s different agendas but
instead we should be proactive by putting forward our own ideas about the
direction that F & A Education should take. It
is clear that the employers are divided over the government’s proposal; some
want to stay with the status quo, usually the bigger colleges who enjoy being
able to dominate the market; others do not like the status quo but neither do
they like the idea of LAs having control over
funding and are looking for more regional planning to fund and coordinate F/A
education. This is something that the Mayor’s office is looking at and has
moved in that direction by setting up the London Skills and Employment board.
The
FEC agreed to put together some strategies and alternatives to the
government’s proposals. Dan Taubman is going
to draw up some proposals for the next FEC in February to discuss
incorporating proposals made in the FE manifesto and the Liverpool Adult
Education charter. Also there will be a cross sector conference on
Privatisation and the Marketisation of F/A/H
Education in the
new year. Christiane Ohsan and FE
London regional officers will be meeting up early in the New Year to discuss
how to respond to the developments taking place in Pay campaign – our colleges, our communities, our union The
pay campaign has got off to a good start. At the The
ballot will start near the end of Jan. We are still attempting to
coordinate a ballot and any action we might take with the NUT. They
have not yet confirmed when they are going to ballot due to the government
having not yet told them what their response is going to be. However
Steve Sinnot, the General Sec of NUT, said at the
London Pay rally that he would ballot his members throughout Jan into Feb. By
framing our pay campaign around the slogan, our colleges, our communities,
our union it has
allowed us to highlight all the
concerns we have about the direction of F/A education whilst at the same time
focussing in on the single issue of pay. This
also allows us to approach the other education unions on the basis that
Education is under attack as a whole – from the cradle to the grave. The
FEC passed a statement put by the General Sec authorising
her to approach the HEC and other education unions asking them to join our
campaign. If
you have not done so already, organise a committee
meeting at your college to get things moving as soon as we get back from
holiday to put posters all around your colleges and to make sure that
everyone has a leaflet and is wearing a sticker. Have
a great and relaxing Xmas. Look forward to seeing you in the New Year. Best
wishes Sean
and Brian. |
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