UCU: Education for all not just for business

Motion

Motion text: Congress believes that education should serve a full spectrum of aims, including cultural, social, personal as well as economic development, and the pursuit of knowledge which is not distorted by powerful interest groups. It expresses grave concern at the increasing dominance of business over education at all levels.
a) Congress opposes the concept of 'employer-designed degrees' and deplores the announcement (Higher Level Skills Strategy) that these will absorb any expanded HE funding.
b) Congress calls for FE development to be based on a responsive assessment of community needs in addition to work-related courses. It therefore calls for a wider vision of 'lifelong learning'.
c) Congress opposes the introduction of employer-designed 'A-level equivalents' (the Mac A-levels). It deplores the business takeover of schools as Academies, as well as the recent government attempt to increase their public credibility by involving universities as co-sponsors, and calls for affiliation of UCU to the Anti-Academies Alliance.