Further Education. It’s ours

Education belongs to the students who learn in our classrooms, the educators who teach and support them, and to everyone in our society who benefits from the development of knowledge.

But after decades of underfunding, further education has been pushed to breaking point. Workloads are spiraling out of control across college, prison and adult education and skills.

But the government is refusing to act. It falls to us – education workers – to do something about it.

We are demanding immediate, sustainable investment in further education, protection for jobs, pay and pensions and improvements in our working conditions.

All of these things are achievable, but they will only happen if UCU members force the government to act.

Every UCU member has a role to play in making this campaign a success. You know better than anyone what is happening in your workplace. You know exactly what cuts mean for your students and colleagues. And you are the people best placed to build a campaign that wins.

• Pay parity with schools across college, prison and adult education
• Sustainable and stable long-term funding
• Safe and manageable workloads
• Sector wide standards on pay and other terms and conditions.

Further education is on the brink. Unsafe workloads, rising class sizes, and a recruitment and retention crisis are driving dedicated educators out of the profession. With the devolution of further education funding to regional authorities and metro mayors imminent, we need to act now to secure the future.

We want a stable further education sector run for those who use it – staff and students. We want the widest possible debate on the future of further education, its strategic value and importance to society and local communities, through our commitment to delivering life-changing, rehabilitative prison education; providing vocational and academic pathways for all, for young people not in education, employment or training; and supporting adults in need of second chances.