PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE explains why opposing war is inseparable from defending jobs, wages and public services – and why readers should come to the London Peace Conference on Saturday June 20
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Teachers, unions and parents must be at the heart of education policy
Fragmentation in education since 2010 has put the question of political influence firmly on the union agenda, says KEVIN COURTNEY
As protests erupt over Henry Nowak’s murder, ANDREW MURRAY argues that anger is being exploited to advance a wider racist and anti-immigration agenda
CARLOS MARTINEZ explains the sound case for car manufacturing co-operation with China
The National Emergency Briefing outlines the need for urgent action to address environmental crisis, says PAUL DONOVAN, warning that there’s no time to indulge the arguments of the fossil-fuel-funded climate-change deniers
Campaigners say criticism of Labour MP Stephen Morgan’s position on Gaza has been met with police intervention and cancelled opportunities for debate. HESTER WOLFE reports
The Committee for the Defence of Iranian People’s Rights warns of escalation danger in Iran war
JUST over 40 years ago, James Callaghan, a Labour prime minister, gave a speech at Ruskin College that changed the future course of education. This speech was to mark the beginning of the neoliberal domination of education policy that was written into legislation in the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA).
Indeed, it seems no coincidence that Callaghan’s 1976 speech came in the same year that the IMF intervened in the British economy, demanding strict adherence to neoliberal economic doctrine in return.
The 1988 ERA brought in the basic foundations of a quasi-market, through local management of schools and perpupil funding, to ensure school funding was based on the ability to attract “customers,” and a model of choice and competition was adopted by asking parents to specify which school they would like their child to attend.
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