In this blog:

• Response to cuts in Teacher Training Places
• ULU Lobby of Parliament
• International Students’ Briefing Day
• Defend the Time Limit Public Meeting
• Union Building and No Platform – Visit to Cambridge
• Youth Green Paper response
• Exmouth Campus Closure
• Affiliation Work

Response to cuts in Teacher Training Places – Tuesday 18th October

Despite wanting to spend the whole day continuing preparations for the Lobby of Parliament the next day, I ended up juggling my preparations with producing an immediate response as the NUT Scholarship Holder to news in Education Guardian that the Government is quietly planning to cut 17% of secondary teacher training places and 7% of primary teacher training places in England over the next three years.

The Government argues that these cuts are a response to demographic trends that will see fewer young people going through the education for the foreseeable future.

As anyone who has spoken to me about this and other issues will know, education and education policy are great passions of mine. My interest in education extends beyond Higher Education to Further Education (particularly Adult Education which is often undervalued as we place greater emphasis on the 14-19 agenda) right down to schools policy, which is why I was so keen to take up the NUT Scholarship in the first place.

I cannot help but believe that the Government is being remarkably short-sighted with this decision. While they are right about demographic trends, I believe they are misguided in their analysis. Whilst pupil numbers will begin to decline, so to will our workforce since a third of the teaching profession are over 50. Furthermore, pupil-teacher ratios in the UK are still amongst the highest in Europe. In recent years the Government have made significant leaps forward in teacher recruitment and retention through accelerated leadership schemes such as Fast Track and providing incentives such as training bursaries, ‘golden hellos’ and removing the burden of tuition fees for PGCE students. We have yet to see the impact of £3,000 top-up fees on PGCE courses and my gut reaction tells me that it is not going to be good for students, schools or training providers.

I have already begun making representations on this issue and drafted an immediate response that went out to local, national and student media. I have also begun to alert CMs about this issue and the effect it could have on our institutions. Julian was also able to provide a quote for the press release before it went out, after returning from the announcement on support for part-time students.

Click here to download a copy of the press statement

ULU Lobby of Parliament – Wednesday 19th October

On Wednesday I headed over to the House of Commons where I was speaking as part of a panel with Universities UK and the Campaign Group of Socialist MPs at the Lobby of Parliament on the Right to Appeal for international students on visa decisions.

During the previous few weeks, I had been very pro-active in getting in touch with CMs across the UK to see if they could make it down to London to support the ULU Lobby, including a letter in the fortnightly mailing with Kat, and I was really pleased at how many CMs came from outside London. I think particular thumbs up have to go to the gang from Plymouth, who made it all the way up from the South West despite having more than enough to deal with on their own doorstep!

After speaking at the Lobby Briefing, I spent the entire day in Central Lobby trying to speak to as many MPs as I could and supporting the assembled students and officers.

I met with Barry Sheerman MP, who is the Chair of the Education & Skills Select Committee with Dave Charlesworth from Goldsmiths College. Barry Sheerman shared our concerns on this – and other issues surrounding international student recruitment and retention – and urged us to keep up the fight.

I also spoke to Mike Gapes MP, the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. He was aware of the issue, but wanted more information, so I produced a briefing which I’ve sent off to him, which particularly highlighted areas that will be of particular concern in terms of our foreign policy and reputation overseas. He’s my local MP, so I’ll be trying to follow this up locally and plan to table a motion to my local Constituency Labour Party (CLP), of which I am a member.

I stayed until the very end of the lobby. I think particular thanks must go to ULU – Stewart Halforty in particular – for their organisation of the day. At the time of writing this blog, I am aware that Stewart Halforty has resigned as President of ULU and frankly I’m gutted. I have really enjoyed working with Stewart on international student issues these past few months and I think his resignation is a loss to London students. I wish Stewart all the best for the future and hope that ULU is given time to reflect on the reasons for his resignation and engage in some self-reflection.

International Students’ Briefing Day – Wednesday 26th October

Keeping up the international students’ theme, I attended the International Students’ Briefing Day at Westminster University, which Benson had organised to brief students and officers on the plethora of issues facing our international students on campuses across the UK.

I though the day was excellent and it was only a shame that more people couldn’t make it. The morning was spent with officials from the Home Office and UK Visas, who were consulting on the Government’s Five Year Immigration Strategy in relation to international students. What was supposed to be a relatively short session turned into a 2 hour long detailed Q&A where we were able to put our concerns directly to them, including some illuminating case studies of the kind of issues our students are facing.

‘Defend the time limit’ Event, House of Lords – Wednesday 26th October

After the Briefing Day I attended a public meeting at the House of Lords, organised by Abortion Rights, called ‘Defend the Time Limit’ where our very own Jo Salmon delivered an outstanding speech on behalf of the NUS Women’s Campaign as part of their ‘Pro-Choice and Proud of it!’ priority campaign. The meeting brought together a powerful alliance of leading trade unionists, students, medical and sexual health workers, many MPs, journalists, women’s groups and a leading representative from the pro-choice struggle in the US. It was also good to see an ex-NEC member, Louise Hutchins, leading such a vibrant national campaign.

I found the event hugely inspiring. So many people attended that we had to be moved into a larger room and even then most people were packed it at the back or sitting on the floor. I also felt very privileged to be in a room with women who had campaigned long ago to end the appalling position where women were dying as a result of back street abortions because they were not afforded the right to make decisions about their own bodies under the law. It served as a stark reminder to the many young women (and men) assembled, of how much the present generation owe to those women and the responsibility each of us have to defend a woman’s right to choose.

I know all too well from personal and difficult experience, the pressure that students’ unions are put under by groups that claim to be pro-life. They tell us that the abortion issue doesn’t ‘affect students as students’, that we should not provide our members with information about their rights under the law and that their own position on abortion should be enforced on everyone.

Any Welfare Officer will tell you that unplanned pregnancy DOES affect students as students, on everything from financial support and accommodation through to childcare, aspiration and attainment. When students approach our unions with an unplanned pregnancy, it is vital that they are presented with ALL the options available of which abortion is just one. Pro-choice means exactly that – giving students a choice. Many students would choose not to have an abortion on personal and religious grounds. As a Christian, I strongly support this legitimate choice. But I also support the right of women to make decisions about their own body and, where necessary, their right to choose a termination.

I am sick and tired of groups that claim to be ‘pro-life’ bullying officers to get their own way and ignoring the tremendous work that unions are doing to fight for better childcare, better financial support and better welfare support for student parents. Advocating a return to the dark days of back street abortions where women were dying in droves doesn’t sound very ‘pro-life’ to me. They’re not pro-life, they’re anti-choice.

I am always happy to talk to officers about my own experience as a sabb last year. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you want more information.

Union Visit to Cambridge – Union Building and No Platform Policy – Friday 28th October

On Friday I visited Cambridge to help plan campaign strategies for getting the union out of their inaccessible building and renewing their No Platform Policy, which will lapse soon.

Sian Davies came up for the early afternoon to discuss the union building from the perspective of disabled rights and we had some great ideas for campaigning action. Sian is going back for a follow-up meeting and I’m also hoping to stay onboard with this campaign. Too many students’ unions are in accommodation that is not accessible to all students through no fault of their own. I know Sian’s planning to blog a rant about this so I’ll leave the rant to her, but we’re hoping that Cambridge could serve as a landmark case that could change the fortunes of unions elsewhere and the students that are being left out in the cold because of their disability.

Following that meeting, I met with the new CUSU Anti-Racism Officer Jenni Woolf about the No Platform Policy, as I was a member of the Exec when it passed originally. Jenni is an outstanding campaigner and I know Jess is going up to speak at the Open Meeting on this issue, so fingers crossed!

Youth Green Paper Response – Saturday and Sunday 29th/30th October

I spent the weekend finishing up the NUS Response to the Youth Green Paper. I will be writing a report for my blog and posting the response online for you to read!

Exmouth Campus Closure – Ongoing

Hopefully everyone is aware of the campus closure facing Plymouth right now. The NUT has been providing support locally, but I have also been working nationally to try and build some support from the big guns alongside the work that Julian has been doing in this regard. I have also made a formal request to the National Executive Committee of the NUT to see if they can provide some funding to the students’ union as good campaigns don’t come cheap!

I will also be attending their day of action later this month.

Affiliation – Ongoing

Although not officially part of the Affiliation Team on the NEC, I have been appointed to lead on some affiliation work at one of our HE institutions with the Regional Officer because of my relevant knowledge and experience. Things are probably a bit too sensitive and tentative to go into details here, but I thought it best to report in any event.

That’s it for now. Drop me a line for any more info!

All the best,

Wes

wes.streeting@nus.org.uk

Please note my new mobile number: 07738 477 353

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