Extract from on
line bulletin from 8/4/20
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Time to rethink our education system
While we act to protect against redundancies and other cuts in the
shorter term, we also need to take a longer view of the role which education
will play in any recovery and the steps that need to be taken to guard against
similar shocks in the future.
Last week I wrote to the secretary of state for
education, Gavin Williamson, outlining a seven-point plan
for ensuring that tertiary education can survive and prosper, during this
crisis and also beyond it.
In line with our existing policy, UCU is calling on the government to:
1. Underwrite current
levels of funding across all sectors
2. Direct institutions
to collaborate, rather than compete with one another
3. Convene a group of
representatives from trade unions, student organisations, examination bodies
and employers to rethink examinations and admissions
4. Ensure job security
for visa holders and other precarious staff
5. Intervene to
protect further and higher education providers if they are at risk of
insolvency
6. Cancel the REF,
TEF, Ofsted inspections and other unhelpful, bureaucratic, metrics-driven
exercises
7. Reverse cuts to
adult learning provision
As ever, staff and student interests are aligned, and we were pleased to
receive strong support from the NUS for
our proposals. For the full text of my letter, please click here. Similar
representations are being made to the relevant ministers in our devolved
nations.
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