06.04.1995

Education battle goes on

Teachers at Poundswick Junior School in Wythenshawe, Manchester, celebrated victory over the council last week.

Threatened action over class sizes and lack of funding was called off by the National Union of Teachers after education chiefs promised £15,000 of extra money for the school.

However the victory was only a partial one since Phil Hoyland, the schools NUT steward, only a few days earlier said that the £15,000 offered was not enough to solve the school’s cash problems. It has a £60,000 budget deficit.

There are at least 30 children in every class at the school. This is the legacy of the Tories’ education cuts. Readers will remember education secretary Gillian Shephard’s comment that class sizes would not have to increase under their cuts, and that governors should not shy away from sacking teachers.

Parents, teachers and all workers are only too well aware from bitter experience that when money is allocated to one field it is taken away from another. The picture is the same up and down the country. On Tuesday Nottingham teachers staged an official one day strike against compulsory redundancies arising from the cuts.

In Manchester the NUT leadership has clearly settled for a far from adequate compromise. The fight against education cuts must continue. But most importantly it must be a united national campaign and linked to the fight against all cuts.

Linda Addison