GCSEs: Gove turns back the clock

"We are beginning to create aspirations which increasingly society cannot match … When young people cannot find work at all … or work which meets their abilities or expectations … then we are only creating frustrations with perhaps disturbing social consequences … people must be educated once more to know their place”  Unnamed civil servant, quoted in 'Thirty Years On', Benn/Chitty

Protest outside Ofqual in Coventry yesterday Sept 17 2012

All too predictably, Michael Gove has chosen to use the furore around this summer's English exams to announce his plans to ration the number of top grades and ditch GCSEs altogether.

As the quote below from 1992 shows, this attack from the Tory right has been being coming right from the very introduction of GCSEs. Like any exam system, GCSEs were still there to limit opportunities - but at least attempted to widen those opportunities to a broader number of young people. Now, with the economy in crisis, the Tories have decided that it is time to turn back the clock.
 
"The Tories present this in terms of a crusade against falling educational standards ... In reality, when Tories talk about doing something to improve standards, they really mean doing something to enforce greater inequality ...

In the summer of 1992, for example, they attacked the results for GCSE. Tory thinking is if results are improving, standards must be falling. Ironically, the relative success of the GCSE has been the very reason why many on the Tory right now want to see it scrapped... 

But it was the Tories themselves, under Keith Joseph, who replaced the existing two tier O level/CSE system with GCSE, arguing that it would lead to higher standards and better qualifications. However, at the time there was economic growth and staff shortages - employers wanted a qualified, educated (to a point) workforce. Now too many young people are being turned out with too many qualifications and high expectations but with too few opportunities. No wonder right wing advisers are advocating a return to O levels and "greater differentiation"  A Socialist Education Programme - Militant Teacher 1992

GCSE latest - TES leaks and Welsh Government expose Ofqual

Leaked letters revealed by the TES - along with a decision by the Welsh Government to call for a regrading of English Language GCSEs for students that come under their jurisdiction - have increased the pressure on Ofqual - and Michael Gove - to come clean on the GCSE scandal.

At the very least, there has been unfair statistical manipulation of this June's English Language results. Many suspect political manipulation as well. As a result, our students and our schools have been cheated.

It is clear from the TES revelations ( http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storyCode=6289700 ) that Ofqual DID intervene at a very late stage to pressurise Edexcel into shifting their grade boundaries.
 
In a separate development, the Welsh Government has reached the conclusion that "“it seems probable that a serious distortion to the outcomes of the candidates in Wales has been caused”, and that a 3.9 percentage point fall in outcomes for all grades C and above in 2012, when compared to 2011, “is unjustifiable and almost certainly unfair to candidates”".

As the National NUT press release this morning correctly states:

“It is glaringly obvious from this exchange of letters that Ofqual has been less than transparent about its involvement in this year’s GCSE scandal.

“The letters reveal that Ofqual was trying to ration qualifications on the basis of the SATs tests that the students took five years ago. This is tantamount to saying that education does not matter. Michael Gove’s policy of setting a floor target that requires 40% of children to grade A*-C, and his position of supporting Ofqual in stopping any increase in the number of grade Cs, are in direct contradiction.

“Young people and teachers have been cheated by an examination system which is becoming subject to political influence regardless of the consequences. It is not just Glenys Stacey, head of Ofqual, with answers to give at this week’s Education Select Committee. Michael Gove can no longer be allowed to stand on the sidelines. It is high time he took the lead by the Welsh Government. He must do the right thing by students in England by ordering a re-grading of this year’s GCSE English examinations.”

Trade unionists call on TUC to name next strike date

This afternoon, hundreds of trade unionists marched to lobby the Trades Union Congress in Brighton, coming from right across the country to support the event organised by the National Shop Stewards Network. The main demand of the Lobby was to call for co-ordinated strike action and for unions to act together and call a 24 hour General Strike.

At the packed NSSN rally, Mark Serwotka made clear that the PCS would call its members out on national strike action if the teaching unions named the day for another national strike. 

Bob Crow from the RMT explained that he would be seconding a motion from the POA calling on the TUC to make plans for a General Strike. The General Council had been spilt 16-16 at its earlier meeting to consider voting recommendations on the POA motion - but with UNISON still undecided. To cheers, it was announced that the UNISON delegation had voted to back this motion - so listen out for more news from Brighton!

UPDATE 11.9.12: The POA motion calling for "coordinated action where possible with far reaching campaigns including the consideration and practicalities of a general strike" was overwhelmingly passed with the NUT amongst the majority of TUC delegates voting in favour. Unfortunately, the NASUWT not only voted against, but also spoke against the motion. In essence, as far as I can see from reports, the NASUWT General Secretary argued that a serious campaign of strike action would lose teachers public support. This is not only wrong, it raises real concerns about the seriousness with which the NASUWT leadership takes the idea of agreeing dates with the NUT for a programme of co-ordinated strike action. Rank-and-file members of both unions urgently need to keep up the pressure for unions to set a date for joint national strike action.

See further reports on the NSSN website: http://shopstewards.net/2012/09/march-together-yes-but-lets-strike-together/

MEET TOGETHER - ACT TOGETHER - STRIKE TOGETHER

THIS GOVERNMENT is going all-out to hound and demoralise teachers and to attack our pay, conditions, jobs and pensions. 

Not content with trying to increase our pension ages to 68 or more, they want schools to adopt policies that would fast-track teachers onto formal capability procedures and allow unlimited lesson observations.

On top of a pay freeze, we also face 'pay-cuts-by-performance'. Gove wants appraisal judgements and new ‘Teachers’ Standards’ to be used to block pay-rises - or even to kick teachers down the pay scale! 

As the scandal over GCSE grading has shown, the standards that teachers and schools are judged against are also open to political manipulation too. We face a Government intent on blocking opportunities for our students, trashing teachers, cutting our pay and pensions, attacking union facilities and widening school privatisation.

But, after the NUT ballot, the key message to tell our colleagues is: "it doesn't have to be this way!". The ballot result gives teachers the chance to stand up for ourselves and for education. We must make sure we seize that chance.
 
The NUT and NASUWT, making up 85% of teachers in England and Wales, will be releasing common advice to members about ‘action short of strike action’. The NUT will be issuing notice to employers so its members can legally begin this action from September 26 onwards. For details of the action advice follow this link to the NUT national website:  http://www.teachers.org.uk/node/15835

Members of both unions will be issued with jointly agreed instructions covering a range of actions intended to enforce union objectives, such as:

• APPRAISAL and PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT policies must be in line with the latest NUT/NASUWT checklist - e.g fixing a maximum of three objectives 
• OBSERVATION PROTOCOLS must be in line with the NUT/NASUWT checklist - e.g all observers to have QTS and no more than three observations a year
• NEW INITIATIVES and POLICIES must be workload impact assessed and agreed to by union reps
• LESSON PLANS should not be submitted to the senior management team - planning should be to help teachers teach, not for managers to monitor us!
• COVER: teachers should not be covering for absence

Collective ‘non-strike’ action to enforce these objectives could let teachers take back control of their workload at last. But experienced union reps will know that these kinds of actions take determined effort. Above all, to succeed, they need colleagues to stick together. 

That’s why it’s vital that NUT and NASUWT members meet together in schools to discuss union advice and to plan ahead for the action in their school, encouraging every member to take part. Regular local reps’ meetings, comparing experiences across schools, will also be vital.

The immediate battles may well be around appraisal and observation policies. Where schools are imposing unacceptable policies, strike action is the best response. 

NUT school reps have already been told that: "The NUT is currently in dispute with the Secretary of State and, in Wales, the Minister for Education. In part this dispute is about the failure to negotiate a satisfactory system of appraisal and observation with sufficient protections … members will be supported in refusing to cooperate with all aspects of a schools appraisal policy if it does not meet the terms of the joint NUT/NASUWT checklist and observation protocol. Where schools continue to refuse to adopt [those] provisions … the NUT and NASUWT will issue, in accordance with required legislative procedures, a notice to the employer, to take further action".

Where Local Authorities are ignoring union protocols, we need to be urgently discussing about escalating action to coordinated strike action in line with NUT advice.

But, alongside this localised action, we also need to call national strike action. That’s what really hits the headlines and puts the Government under pressure. It also most easily unites members from across different schools and regions - from the best-organised through to those that perhaps are not yet confident to act. The NUT has been talking to the NASUWT about national strikes but nothing yet has been agreed. Members of both unions need to demand dates are set for this term. Discussions about co-ordinating national action should also be held with unions like the PCS - and others like the firefighters and prison officers who have recently voted to reject the Government’s pensions proposals. 

Trade unionists must mass together from across the country on 20 October at the TUC march in London. The NUT have asked that ‘68 is too late’ is a key slogan on the day. But classroom teachers must make sure this isn’t just a day to ‘let off steam’. It has to be a springboard to rebuilding united national strike action.

Also posted on:  http://classroomteachers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/nut-ballot-gives-go-ahead-for-national.html

NUT votes YES YES for action

The NUT National Executive meeting this afternoon welcomed the overwhelming results of our national ballots to seek to persuade the Secretary of State for Education to protect teachers' pay and working conditions:

The results for the votes covering teachers in England were:

In favour of discontinuous strike action YES 83.4%, NO 16.6%
In favour of industrial action short of strike action YES 93.1% NO 6.9%

Similar majorities were recorded for the ballots in Wales and in Sixth Form Colleges.

The overall turnout (of 27%) compares well with many national ballots especially given the timing of the ballot at the very end of a gruelling academic year. Above all, the huge majorities in favour show that NUT members are ready and willing to take action to oppose the barrage of attacks on our pay and working conditions being thrown at teachers by the Secretary of State Michael Gove.

On the basis of these overwhelming results, the NUT Executive voted unanimously:

• For action short of strike action to commence (at a date to be confirmed shortly) *
• In the event that the Government shows no evidence of moving on our concerns, the Union will approach the NASUWT with a view to moving to a programme of discontinuous strike action later this term
• To propose to the NASUWT a joint meeting of our National Executives to consider the next steps in the campaign

A set of action short of strike action instructions will soon be issued so that urgent preparations can now be made in schools and Local Associations ready for the action to commence. This action will be being taken jointly alongside the NASUWT, representing, in total, 85% of teachers in England and Wales.

It was also reported to the Executive that, as part of our dispute with the Secretary of State, the ballot result will allow the Union to escalate action, from action short of strike up to strike action, where a school group, or groups, request it. This may rapidly become an issue in those schools and Local Authorities who are refusing to adopt appraisal/performance management and/or classroom observation policies in line with the NUT/NASUWT joint checklists.

The announcement of this overwhelming vote for action by NUT members nicely sets the tone for next week's Trades Union Congress and should give confidence to all those unions and TUC delegates that want to see a serious campaign of co-ordinated action - including plans for a 24-hour General Strike - being enacted by our movement.

The NUT National Executive also voted overwhelmingly to endorse the position correctly taken by Christine Blower and Dave Harvey, the two NUT delegates to the TUC General Council yesterday, to support the motion from the Prison Officers' Association calling on the TUC to pursue "far reaching campaigns including the consideration and practicalities of a general strike". With the General Council vote on support for this motion being tied 16 for and 16 against, this could yet become TUC policy!

The TUC Lobby being called in Brighton this Sunday by the National Shop Stewards Network this Sunday, calling for a 24-hour General Strike, could not be better timed. I will certainly be there - why don't you get there too!? (See: http://shopstewards.net/2012/08/lobby-the-tuc-strike-against-austerity/)

* There will be a joint NASUWT/NUT Press Conference at the Trades Union Congress in Brighton on Monday where further details will be released

GCSE scandal latest: NUT meets with Ofqual

Following the refusal of Ofqual to agree to demands from the NUT and others to regrade this June's GCSE English results, NUT National Officers met Ofqual today.

The NUT Executive will be discussing the NUT's ongoing campaign to demand a regrade and an independent inquiry into the GCSE scandal at meetings later this week.

Pasted below is today's NUT national press release and a summary of some of the key points that have been prepared for Executive members by the NUT's  Education and Equalities Department:

"Commenting on the NUT’s meeting today with Ofqual to consider the evidence base of its decisions taken on this year’s GCSEs, Kevin Courtney, Deputy General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers’ union, said:

“The NUT is very pleased that Ofqual has drawn to the attention of both the Education Secretary and Ofsted their concerns that if they are to meet their statutory responsibility of maintaining standards by ‘stabilising results’ then that has consequences for the way schools are assessed. This highlights the inherent contradiction in the Government’s policies on examination standards as they tell Ofqual not to let overall results go up, while at the same time telling schools they must reach a new 40% floor target of A*-C grades which obviously requires overall results to increase.

“Schools, teachers and most of all pupils are caught up in the middle of this and have suffered the serious consequences of such incoherent policies. Schools and pupils need to know where they stand. To attempt to work towards goals which can change significantly half way through a school year is ridiculous and totally unfair.

“We will be seeking urgent meetings with the Education Secretary and Ofsted to talk about these contradictory policies. The NUT will be continuing to press, alongside NAHT and ASCL, for an independent inquiry and a regrading, not resits, of this year’s English GCSEs.”

Some key points to consider:

• Exam boards have been under pressure from Michael Gove who wants an end to decades of ‘grade inflation’ in GCSEs. An estimated 10,000 fewer teenagers achieved at least a grade C in the subject. School floor targets were raised to 40 per cent this year. Schools will be judged as underperforming and subject to merger or closure if fewer than 40 per cent of pupils achieve at least five good GSCE passes, including Maths and English. Gove plans to move the target to 50 per cent by 2015. At the last count, there were 216 schools below the previous floor target of 35 per cent. Hundreds more schools could miss the 40 per cent this year. Some of the academies themselves have missed the target. 
• The NUT believes that a close reading of Ofqual’s interim report reveals that the GCSEs fiasco is actually about the rationing of education. Despite the fact that schools (and students) are working harder to get at least a C and despite the fact that this is “so important to students’ future”, Ofqual will not allow more students to get C or above. This rationing of education is a return to the days where it was said that there is a natural ability that children are born with and there is nothing that can be done about it. Combined with the abolition of the EMA, the trebling of tuition fees and one million youth unemployed, this is the biggest attack on working class ambition for generations.
• In its report, Ofqual glosses over the 1.5 per cent drop in the number of children getting a grade C or above as ‘in line with expectations’ and claims that ‘this is not the issue’!
• Ofqual claims that it has a more sophisticated approach than ‘norm referencing’ (page 8) which would at least have resulted in the same proportion of children getting C and above as last year. It calls its new approach ‘comparable outcomes’ and claims it ‘produces similar results year-on-year’ if the students have similar abilities each year. It says, “Before setting the grade boundaries, examiners use data on the prior attainments of the cohort of students to check the outcomes” (page 31). The provisional GCSE results are compared with prior attainment for matched candidates, that is, those for whom there are known Key Stage 2 results (page 10). And this year, it says there were 23,000 fewer students from independent and selective schools (page 10). So they adjusted the grade boundaries up to compensate!
• This is the explanation provided as to why Ofqual set the boundaries such that 10,000 fewer students got a grade C confounding the expectations of experienced teachers who had spent two years preparing children for the exams. Ofqual is seriously setting the boundaries for allowed grades at the end of secondary school based on the grades children got at the end of primary school. This begs the question as to the purpose of secondary education.
• The Government is forever, incorrectly, attacking teachers for a culture of low expectations and for using poverty as an excuse - but here is an independent examination Regulator at the behest of the Secretary of State putting a defined cap on achievement.
• This scandal should lead to much deeper thinking about how we judge schools and assess pupils. The very high stakes system of league tables and exams at 16 isn't used in many other high performing education systems. There is an urgent need for an open and honest debate about what exams and education are for.

English Defence League scurry away from Walthamstow

The misery and anger created by cuts and unemployment can, particularly if the trade union movement  takes a fighting lead, be turned into united action to defend jobs and services. However, there is the ever-present danger that despair can also be misdirected into the hands of racists and fascists in an effort to divide opposition against the cuts being inflicted by the banksters and their politicians. As we found when a NUT member was hospitalised earlier this year in an unprovoked attack in Lewisham, the far-right can also be a direct threat to trade unionists.

EDL platform surrounded outside the Town Hall

That's why it is vital that the trade union movement mobilises alongside local communities to make sure that the racist English Defence League is unable to gather strength - and that's why yesterday's successful counter-demonstration in Walthamstow (as well the turnout in Dundee against the Scottish Defence League) was an important event for trade unionists to celebrate !

The EDL had been given permission to march through the heart of the diverse Walthamstow community from Blackhorse Road tube station to a rally outside the Town Hall. A counter-demonstration had been organised to show the EDL that they would not succeed in spreading their divisive lies in Waltham Forest.

After an opening rally, a sizeable anti-EDL demonstration marched up towards Forest Road, a road that the EDL were supposed to be coming down soon after. At that point our march stopped, which blocked the way for the EDL. Hundreds of anti-racists, residents, trade unionists - notably from PCS, NUT, UCU, RMT and FBU - and increasing numbers of  local youth gathered in the sunshine, surrounded by a growing police cordon. After a while, and to the crowd's anger, it became clear that the EDL were being allowed to march along side roads to get to the Town Hall.

It looked like the day would end as some previous anti-EDL demonstrations have done - with a good anti-EDL turnout but then a frustrating wait for those caught in a police kettle. However, there was one route away from the area that had not been blocked off by vans but only by a few lines of police. Gradually, demonstrators managed to find their way through and away from the area where we had been penned for some time.

Waiting for the EDL at the junction with Forest Road

Faced with one group of police in my way, one officer tried to explain that he had to keep us in place to avoid a breach of the peace. However, his colleague seemed to take notice when I explained that, in reality, they were being used to help football hooligans who threaten the peace most Saturdays! I then slipped through alongside the Waltham Forest NUT banner and many more followed us behind.

Turning back down the hill, we were then able to reassemble right by where the EDL were trying to stage their rally outside the Town Hall, joining other protestors who were already there. However, most of the EDL members were surrounded by police in a side-street and only a dozen or so of the racists were stood by their platform. But, to their obvious shock, in front of them now stood just a thin line of police and then hundreds of anti-EDL demonstrators.

It didn't take too long for the few EDL members to scurry away from their platform back to the rest of the EDL group - before they eventually all had to retreat ignominiously back from where they came. (In their own words, 'humiliating', as one EDL member has angrily described it on twitter !). 

I walked back into Walthamstow with a group of local youth who had certainly enjoyed their day and were more than pleased to have seen the EDL chased away from their community.

Yesterday was a success but it certainly won't be the end of the story. We need to continue to organise against the cuts and the racists, uniting communities in a common struggle for jobs, homes and services. 

Above all, the trade union movement needs to take a lead by taking united strike action against the cuts so that we can help give confidence to working people and direct the genuine anger against this Government - including from workers and youth who might otherwise be attracted by the lies of the EDL and BNP -  into a united struggle to defend services and living standards.