There Is An Alternative Say No to Sixth Form College Cuts Support the NUT Action

Sixth form colleges under attack The sixth form college sector is recognised as successful but is under attack - colleges are implementing redundancies, increases in group size and reductions in courses offered Teachers have seen pay comparability with schools lost Students and colleges are suffering from the cuts to teaching and the abolition of the EMA

Action The industrial action short of strike action which began in autumn 2012 is continuing The regional strike action in October was a great success In response to the successful action, Gove has offered the NUT and NASUWT talks Without sufficient progress in the talks, a national strike will be held not later than 13/2/14

Teacher pay The sixth form college employers froze pay in The award was only 1%, not enough to restore comparability with schools – or to prevent a further real terms pay cut The pay award of only 0.75% was well below the 2.3% in schools

NUT pay and funding campaign The NUT seeks to defend education from the impact of the cuts We will continue to seek to work jointly with ATL, NASUWT and Unison on sixth form college issues and will continue to campaign against the Government’s public sector cuts

Government cuts The Government is slashing funding for sixth form colleges The cuts are ongoing, year after year Students and teachers have already been hit The damage will be irreparable

Why the cuts? Cuts to funding are part of the Government’s wider public sector cuts IFS says the cuts are the deepest since at least 1945 The cuts, including to teacher pay, have contributed to the Government’s dreadful record on economic growth Cuts don’t solve problems, they create them

The long-term picture

A history lesson UK public debt is significantly lower than in many other major economies National debt is not new - it has been much higher in the past Between 1916 and 1970, UK debt was much higher than now - yet we could still fund the creation of the welfare state and the NHS

College cuts don’t heal Sixth form colleges face real terms cuts of almost a fifth by 2015 Funded guided learning hours (enrichment/tutorial funding) being cut by 75% education cuts are particularly severe New funding formula likely to create more problems

We’re not all in this together Inequality has grown since 1979 The Government prefers spending cuts to taxing the banks Tax and NI changes will compound the impact of pay cuts and pension increases It’s all about privatisation - but public spending is needed to secure growth

Education for growth A first class education system is essential for growth We need to invest in colleges & teachers to enable young people to access HE - but the Government is cutting teacher pay and pensions as well as college funding A Government that doesn’t value education doesn’t understand economics

What can we do? Support the action Talk to teachers in your college about the importance of the action Lobby your MP and local media We know there is an alternative – you can be part of the fight back!