TUC general secretary PAUL NOWAK speaks to the Morning Star’s Berny Torre about the increasing frustration the trade union movement feels at a government that promised change, but has been too slow to bring it about
Schools and the toxic resilience agenda
The poorer the area, the more the school walls will be plastered with exhortations that students 'believe in themselves' and dig deep for individual reserves of positivity. It's no coincidence, writes STEVE HANDFORD
DIANE ABBOTT exposes the misconceptions, rumours and downright lies perpetrated around immigration issues
With 12,000 fewer teachers since 2010 and dwindling resources, Scotland’s schools desperately need investment to support diverse learners rather than empty promises from politicians, writes ANDREA BRADLEY
Reversing outsourcing is the pre-election promise the government must honour, says Unison general secretary CHRISTINA McANEA
EMAN ABU ZAYED reminisces about the perilous time her family and neighbours endured in northern Gaza and how they were forced, in fear of their lives, to flee south
The EIS president who defended Marxist politics in the 1980s fought Thatcherite educational policies while organising Teachers for Peace rallies and ensuring Morning Star circulation in Scotland’s pit villages and factories, writes JOHN FOSTER
RECENTLY, I worked in a school for deprived and vulnerable pupils. Its walls and corridors contained a litany of inspirational quotes from gurus ancient and modern. This blu-tacked, laminated treasure trove included: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Another read: “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” There were so many of these they became a running joke with the cynics among us, staff and pupils alike.
I didn’t realise I was waking up to what teachers are now calling “toxic resilience.” Not dumbing down, but numbing down.
More from this author
We must take a stand against the government’s spending on war
These vast multi-school bodies are fast becoming a monopoly in our marketised education system — one that can lobby the government to defy inspection and democracy, warns STEVE HANDFORD
STEVE HANDFORD introduces a co-operative in northern England that could be a massive win-win for the working class and for schools currently being fleeced by employment agencies
