FREE THE BRIDGEWATER FOUR Hickey, one of the Bridgewater Four.
CUTS of almost £12m in HOUSE THE CHRISTMAS DAY VIGIL: December 25 saw a vigil outside the notorious West Midlands police headquarters in Birmingham in support of the Bridgewater Four, and other innocent prisoners. Among the protestors was Anne Whelan (centre), mother of Michael BRIDGEWATER FOUR ARE INNOCENT THE NEWS that the National Union of Teachers intends to ballot its members again, recommending them to cooperate with the Tory SATs tests will anger teachers throughout the country.
The boycott of SATs put national action back on to the union's agenda, in response to the Tory strategy of breaking up national resistance by the abolition of national pay bargaining, introduction of Local Management of Schools, opt-outs, and the City Technology Colleges.
The NUT leadership has refused to meet most demands for national, or even regional co-ordinated action. But the boycott of SATs stood in their way, allowing primary and secondary school teachers to unite in concerted action against tests.
The wording of the ballot is not yet known, but it seems likely that the NUT Executive may have difficulty getting the result it wants. The Socialist Teachers Alliance has already begun a vigorous campaign against the sell-out, although the short timescale for the ballot will make campaigning difficult.
NUT policy, unanimously agreed by Conference, is complete opposition to SATs and to League Tables.
Over 90% of NUT members who responded to 'the union's recent survey disagreed with the Tory claim that the government has now met teachers' central concerns over testing and assessment.
Only about 20% of secondary schools and 48% of primary schools, where members are relatively isolated and open to pressure, returned SATs results last year. This shows that in practice opposition to SATs is wider than the NUT's own membership.
THE NUT Executive is justifying its about-turn by quoting Gillian Shephard's offer of 'consultation' and an assurance that the purpose of test results at KS2 was not... the selection of pupils for admission to secondary schools' But the NEC's capitulation has more to do with the policies of Blair's 'new' Labour Party than any concessions the Tories are likely to make.
Right wing pressure within the NEC has been reinforced by David Blunkett's recent statements supporting the publication of national test results, making it clear that an incoming Labour government will not willingly abolish SATs.
But the SATs represent a return to the 11-plus. They are a wholesale attack on comprehensive education. They must be vigorously opposed - and scrapped.