Robinson successfully defended his school from closure, fought for the unification of the teaching unions, mentored future trade union leaders and transformed teaching at the Marx Memorial Library, writes JOHN FOSTER
School support staff: the oil that keeps education running
Despite caring for vulnerable children and often covering classes, support staff remain undervalued, with some earning less than supermarket workers — but GMB’s campaigning offers new hope, argues DONNA SPICER
School children in a classroom
A judge in a German court ruled that the ban activity imposed on renowned Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah was unlawful, reports LEON WYSTRYCHOWSKI
At the very moment Britain faces poverty, housing and climate crises requiring radical solutions, the liberal press promotes ideologically narrow books while marginalising authors who offer the most accurate understanding of change, writes IAN SINCLAIR
From Gaza protest bans to proscribing Palestine Action, political elites are showing a crisis of confidence as they abandon Roy Jenkins’s apologetic approach for Suella Braverman’s aggressive ‘hate march’ rhetoric, writes PAUL DONOVAN
ANSELM ELDERGILL examines the legal case behind this weekend’s Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival and the lessons for today
Ben Chacko talks to RMT leader EDDIE DEMPSEY about how the key to fixing broken Britain lies in collective sectoral bargaining, restoring unions’ ability to take solidarity strike action and bringing about the much-vaunted ‘wave of insourcing’
The summer of 1950 saw Labour abandon further nationalisation while escalating Korean War spending from £2.3m to £4.7m, as the government meekly accepted capitalism’s licence and became Washington’s yes-man, writes JOHN ELLISON
IT was the summer of 1989. I was 16 and leaving school. This was a time when you could walk out of school and into any job. I left school with no qualifications. I went on to sixth-form college, but I was more interested in the “university of life” and wanted to work.
I did all kinds of jobs, waitressing, shop work, and even delivering newspapers to make ends meet. I became a single mum to two, at a very young age, but didn’t want to live on benefits. When my youngest started nursery school I set out to get a job that fitted around them.
I first volunteered at my children’s nursery, three days a week. While there, I was offered a cover role for a month as a midday meals supervisor — dinner lady to you and me — and this was the beginning of my journey into education.
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NEU president PHIL CLARKE, writing in a personal capacity, explains why a different way of organising school support staff is needed