I hope it doesn’t come to fruition as it’s the students who will suffer. AoC and college leaders have shown over many years now how committed they are to improving pay and conditions, as far as their funding will allow.
We know, as do the unions, that any campaigning and action really needs to be directed nationally to secure commitments and investment from government to address the pay gap with schools and industry.
Fortunately, and as Hughes should know, the UCU is also directing its campaigning nationally.
According to the UCU, the average college teacher makes £9,000 less than the equivalent school teacher. As such, the union — along with the National Education Union, GMB, Unison and Unite — are demanding a New Deal for FE. That includes:
- a 10% pay rise
- parity with schoolteacher pay within 3 years
- a minimum starting salary of £30,000
- closing equality pay gaps
- national agreements on workloads
- putting FE at the heart of government plans.
FEWeek reported that the UCU strike will disrupt several key exams for students:
The move is likely to disrupt nearly two dozen Pearson BTEC exams as well as several WJEC level 1/2 technical awards that will be sat during the three strike days. AQA’s final applied general exams will take place on strike day 1.
However, if the colleges want to avoid the chaos, nothing is yet set in stone. The union has signalled that it’s still happy to negotiate, provided bosses can make a decent offer. Then, of course, we can begin to address the demands of the New Deal for FE.
Featured image via the Canary
