MARCH 25 will see thousands of parents, teachers, school governors and school students demonstrate in London on the first national protest against education cuts for many years. Organising the march is a new organisation FACE (Fight Against Cuts in Education) formed in Warwickshire but drawing support from all over the country. Socialist Outlook spoke with SUE LISTER, an Oxford chair of governors, and Chair of FACE. SO: What is the political stance of FACE? SL: The campaign is obviously political - we are fighting government cuts, implemented at local level by county and borough councils - but it is not party political.
FACE is a very broad umbrella group to keep local campaigns in touch and suggest national events and strategies for fighting cuts. It draws support from those members of all three main parties who are actively opposed to the cuts. SO: How wide is the spread of support you are receiving? SL: We have contacts covering the whole of England, and now Wales as well.
We would like to involve Scotland, too, but we are not sure how far similar problems are affecting them. Groups have been in touch from Newcastle to Devon, and there are more calls every day. SO: Are these all ad-hoc local campaigns, or organisations? SL: Both. FACE is now supported by the National Association of Governors, the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations and the Campaign for State Educa*tion, but it is also supported by a network of local campaigns springing up in towns and cities as angry parents organise to fight back. SO: It appears that the National Union of Teachers has attempted to hold back support for your campaign, hinting that FACE is some kind of left wing front. What support are you receiving from teachers? formed the launch-pad for the FACE campaign SL: FACE is a genuinely broad campaign, not controlled by any political party or faction.
We are approaching the NUT nationally seeking their support. On a local level many teachers have been very demoralised by the NUT ballot vote to end the fight against the SATs tests, and in many areas it appears that the anti-cuts campaign is pushing the local NUT into activity.
But we are receiving strong support from NUT members and from branches: in Leeds, for example, the NUT branch has booked a coach to go down to the March 25 demonstration, even though there are no education cuts in the city! SO: Are you piecing together any kind of national picture of what is happening to education? It appears that the county councils are making much bigger cuts than London and the big cities. SL: This year the county councils face a much tighter cap on education spending after years in which the squeeze was on the inner cities, and many of them made painful cuts.
Now in Oxfordshire, for example, the Liberals and Tories have combined to adopt a cuts budget which will slash educaNOT BE ANYMORE race tion spending by 5.8%, on top of which there is the underfunding of teachers' pay, resulting in a cut of well over 6 percent: this means 300 teaching jobs face the axe in the county.
In Lambeth, on the other hand, where I spoke at a rally on Saturday, the cuts come from a different source: the council has decided to cut the council tax. The borough has actually been given an extra £7 million for education, but has decided to make cuts of £8 million instead.
In the big cities, it appears that the cuts are much more a result of the under-funding of the teachers' pay award than outright cuts in allocation: in the counties the big issue is the cuts.
Of course there is also the divisive element of the Grant Maintained Schools, which continue to get a preferential share of the cash everywhere. In Lambeth one opted-out school has £1 million in reserves, and is not facing any cuts: it will earn as much in interest as the state schools are losing in the borough. SO: A big factor in your campaign is opposition to larger class sizes. SL: Yes, many areas are facing class sizes increasing towards the 40 mark.
This is not education, but crowd control: the individual needs of the children cannot be Schoo catered for in big classes, and the result would be that the able child will find work too easy and get bored, while those struggling to keep up will switch off for lack of help and encouragement.
Teachers will be less able to respond to the emotional and social needs of the children, such as combating bullying, child abuse and drug abuse. Children only get one chance at education. We have got to fight for the resources to make sure we get it right. And that means fighting now. SO: How is FACE organising in the run-up to March 25? SL: We are doing meetings around the country, and urging every group fighting education cuts to contact us.
We may be able to help with literature and posters for lobbies. We can suggest ways of putting our case to MPs and councillors, and advise on phone lobbies and other techniques. But the main thing is to assure local campaigners that they are not isolated, and that through FACE we can find a national focus for the welling anger against the cuts. That's why we want a really big demo on March 25. Be there - and bring people with you! • FACE can be contacted by phone on 0589-789104.