THE END of 1994 saw a surge of action among teachers, especially in London, opposing the government's intended cuts in Section 11 funding.
Section 11 refers to special payments from the Home Office to local authorities considered to need to provide extra support for children from ethnic minority backgrounds 'whose languages or customs differ from those of the community'.
Section 11 teachers work in mainstream schools to support such children, many of whom are just beginning to learn English. The London borough of Waltham Forest alone has over 2,000 children needing Section 11 support.
These children are expected to follow HOME NEWS the National Curriculum and participate in lessons in the ordinary classroom. Such integration is important socially and culturally as well as academically.
Interacting with children whose first language is English allows many of them to become fluent speakers of English quite quickly, although learning to read and write, especially for some refugee children who have learned literacy in different alphabets and particularly for those who have had no previous formal schooling, usually takes longer.
Many of those who need and have benefited from Section 11 support are not recent immigrants but members of communities speaking languages which have -sizise needs had English and where Tere: students or those learning English in the classroom, teachers are able to devote more attention to the needs of the majority.
Racist
The threatened cuts to Section 11 are racist, and further undermine even the pretence of equal opportunities. They are part of a pattern of the government's drive towards a tiered education system, which aims to produce a well-schooled (rather than educated) elite, flexible, skilled workforce alongside an educationally-deprived mass - the future reserve army of unemployed.
The cuts will undermine all learning in multicultural schools, and will worsen teachers' conditions of service. The levels of need of students are rising in many areas. and demands on individual class teachers will inevitablv increase, so that =e are a pread their time and re.2:30*: Section 11 funding is vital to ensure equality of opportunity for school students Section 11 cuts. nationally as high as 4,000. administered unevenly. as to avoid redundancies. -==== CLINA::: redundancy notices as a direct result of Some estimates put the number of jobs threatened Compulsory redundancy is being used lated pay. in some areas, but the cuts are being While Tower Hamlets is likely to suffer heavy losses under Section 11, Tory Westminster is able to make up the funding shortfall so In the fact of the NUT leadership's inaction, a group of twelve London NUT groups, with the Socialist Teachers Alliance taking a central role, organised a Day of Action on December 7.
Lobbying vouth.
This included an afternoon lobby of the Department for Education by some 300 teachers, putting their views to Education Secretary Gillian Shephard, followed by a lobby of the Home Office and a meeting with NIT General Secretary tion.
The lobby and march involved open defiance of the new Criminal Justice Act. An evening rally featured speakers from the Anti racist Alliance and the NUT's Race Advisory Committee, while speakers from the floor warned that some Section 11 teachers coull face deportation.
Speeches linked the fight on Section 11 with the need for a wider campaign to defend state education. The Tories have set the total standard spending assess ment for local authorities this year at a level even lower than last year's meagre level, and councils are predicting that this will mean further job losses in education and higher pupil/teacher ratios.
insecurity Like other public sector workers, teachers face worsening conditions of service, greater job insecurity (linked to increased use of fixed-term contracts) and the imposition of performance reOf course securing adequate funding is not the only important ingredient of a recipe to save Britain's crisis-ricken education system.
Only a break from the divisive, market-oriented policies typified by grant maintained status for schools (the optouts now patronised by Tony Blair), the League Tables, the infamous Tory- imposed SATS tests and the existing Na tional Curriculum can begin to undo the damage done to the future of Britain's NUT members are increasingly vocal in their criticism of the Labour leadership for selling out on these issues. Socialists should be supporting the efforts to win public support for alterative policies de signed to allow equal access for all to a truly comprehensive, liberating educa
On April 29 a special Labour Party conference may scrap Clause 4 of the party's con stitution. Clause 4 commits Labour to social ownership. We want to keep Clause 4 and ensure a future Labour DEFEND government renationalises in- dustry, creates jobs and im- proves public services. A "TO secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits national 'Campaign to De- fend Clause 4' has been esof their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownwership tablished by a range of important labour movement figures and organisations - like Jim Mortimer (former each industry or service."
bour Party, Arthur Scargill (NUM), Dennis Skinner MP, Mildred Gordon MP, Doreen Cameron (NATFHE), Ken Loach and many others. Local details:
Write to Campaign to Defend Clause 4, C/o The NUM, 2 Huddersfield Rd, Barnsley, S70 2LS. Telephone: 0171 - 582 2955.
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300 PEOPLE SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No.75. 7 January 1995, Page 9