Priority Campaigns
Save our Schools
Hundreds of teachers, parents, pupils and governors lobbied parliament on Monday 19th July to protest against the Government's cuts to the Building Schools for the Future programme and to highlight serious concerns about academies and free schools. On the day that the Academies Bill was first debated in the House of Commons - with the Government seeking to railroad the Bill through Parliament before the summer break - around half of all English MPs were lobbied and many more will be visited in their constituencies.
Read a message from NUT General Secretary, Christine Blower here.
Academies
Despite all efforts to delay the Academies Bill's progression through Parliament, it became an Act on 28 July. As a direct result of NUT members lobbying and emailing their MPs the Government has been forced to make a concession and allow for consultation before an academy is established. This was confirmed in a letter from Michael Gove. The legislation, however, is still fundamentally flawed as it allows for “consultation” to take place after an Academy Order has been made. This is not “consultation” in any meaningful and genuine sense of the word, but rather “information” after the event. The Government also made the following significant concessions:
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