UCU: Implications of changes in 14-19 education for further and higher education

Motion

Motion title: Implications of changes in 14-19 education for further and higher education

Motion text: Congress notes with apprehension the government's policies for 14 -19 education and their implications for further and higher education, including:
1. making A-Levels more rigorous while not giving FE Colleges resources to respond
2. narrowing of the curriculum through the 'EBac'
3. abolition of EMA
4. the Wolf Review of vocational education
5. the cuts in resources to the 14-19 entitlement and enrichment, badly affecting tutorial provision in particular
6. the continuing fragmentation and privatisation of 14-19 education with the continuing push towards academies, free schools, 16-18 academies and UTCs.
The results of all these policies will lead to a much more stratified 14-19 education, with young people being divided into rigid pathways and the temporary needs of business being given priority over education and lower numbers of students able to go to university.
Congress calls on NEC to continue to campaign with other unions and organisations against these policies.