A message from Roger

The UCU general secretary ballot result has now been declared and Sally Hunt has been elected. The union and our members face major and difficult challenges from employers and government in almost every aspect of our working lives. The turnout was just 13.9 per cent which in itself suggests the scale of the challenge the union faces. I wish Sally Hunt very well in meeting those challenges. To meet them successfully will require a clear strategic vision and a determined articulate response which members can have confidence in and ownership of. I will seek to play my part in ensuring that is the case through my continuing role as Head of Equality and Employment Rights Finally I would like to sincerely thank the hundreds of members who sent messages of support and campaigned during the election.

Monday, 5 February 2007

Friday 2nd February

On Oklahoma! and education

I spent Friday evening at my daughters’ school watching a stunning production of Oklahoma, the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Laura was in the chorus and Leah helped with the set.

The singing of Curly (Daniel Farrugia) and Laurey (Stella Charalambous) and the acting of Luke Anthony Muslim as the peddler was really really good but what struck me most was that the production and performance probably did wonders for pupils self confidence and pride.

It got me thinking yet again about the foolishness of Governments whose focus is excessively on “results” and league tables which can easily leave pupils and teachers impoverished rather than a more rounded education which can inspire for life.

Don’t get me wrong. I want all children to be encouraged and stretched intellectually. If every other school is focussed on exam results I don’t want my daughters to miss out, say, on university entrance if exam results are the means of access.

Unfortunately the mentality of focussing on easily measured and overly narrowly utilitarian skills and knowledge pervades many parts of this Government’s education strategy.

When Alan Johnson says he wants “plumbing not pilates” (don’t we want both?), when adult education faces a never ending squeeze between the rock of cuts and the hard place of rising fees, and when FE education is increasingly tied to narrow short term employer led vocational skills, we should all be concerned.

If children don’t have space to think, build their self confidence, develop wider perspectives because of incessant pressures to gain qualifications it cannot be good for schools, teachers, pupils and eventually for society. The more so when many Ministers have so much confidence in comprehensive education and FE that they send their own children elsewhere.

Back to Oklahama! Thanks to the drama and music staff for putting in hundreds of hours of unpaid overtime to make it happen, convincing boys that a musical is a cool thing to take part in. If only Government ministers could see beyond league tables.

Our children (and our students) need good formal learning and wider challenges. What counts can’t always be easily counted.
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A trade unionist all his working life. An activist and a proud campaigner, Roger has consistently worked to defend human rights of workers. As the leader of the Equality and Employment Rights team in the newly formed UCU he continues to unite the movement around equality and keep employment rights at the top of the agenda.