Newcastle NEU

Unless any pay award is both above inflation and fully funded, it’s hard to see any outcome other than strike action.

The National Executive meet next week, and it's my view we have no alternative than to move to a formal ballot.

An unfunded, below inflation pay award - when inflation is expected to hit 6% - will take our schools from crisis to collapse.

This isn't a dress rehearsal. We must do all we can to

https://www.thetimes.com/article/a075ec12-28cb-4484-9470-53d4e275d471?shareToken=0ed83aaf641eaa969cca993d7cb253be

Trans Day of Remembrance feels like a good day to post this picture, taken by St Aiden's college last week. There are so many of us in Durham who stand in solidarity with the trans, non-binary, and intersex communities, even if we don't always feel able to say so.

We know how (more) bleak things have been since the EHRC interim guidance (now taken down). One uni building even went so far to write a statement assuring colleagues they could continue to use the toilets matching their gender identity. They were told they couldn't publish it.

(Sorry the picture is so bad, BTW. For all the hot air academics generate, we have very little control over the wind.)

Reminder of our event tomorrow! Please join us to meet more members and officers 😁✊️

Another reminder for our wonderful members ✨️

Afternoon all! Please join us at our ‘Meet the Officers’ event on the 24th September at Cafe Beam in Gosforth. You’ll get a chance to meet all of the team who are representing members in NCL and lots of lovely (free!) food provided by the cafe (GF and Vg options available).
Looking forward to seeing you there 🙌

Join us in Newcastle on Saturday, to reject the rising tide of racism in all our communities. Newcastle faces an "anti-migrant march" led by UKIP Leader Nick Tenconi and the presence of Tommy Robinson as he launches a new "political party" there on the same day.

Another reminder for our wonderful members ✨️

Afternoon all! Please join us at our ‘Meet the Officers’ event on the 24th September at Cafe Beam in Gosforth. You’ll get a chance to meet all of the team who are representing members in NCL and lots of lovely (free!) food provided by the cafe (GF and Vg options available).
Looking forward to seeing you there 🙌

Afternoon all! Please join us at our ‘Meet the Officers’ event on the 24th September at Cafe Beam in Gosforth. You’ll get a chance to meet all of the team who are representing members in NCL and lots of lovely (free!) food provided by the cafe (GF and Vg options available).
Looking forward to seeing you there 🙌

The issue is CLASS

The issue is CLASS.

This focus from
misses the scale of the problem.

In 🇬🇧 poverty is the biggest barrier to learning. The gap starts before school and grows.

1/By age 3, children from poorer homes are already ~1 year behind in language and communication skills.
That’s before they’ve even set foot in a classroom.
(Source: UK Parliament Early Years Inquiry)

2/ By age 5, only 57% of disadvantaged children meet “school readiness” benchmarks, compared with 74% of their better-off peers.
That’s a 17 percentage point gap that tends to widen throughout schooling.
(Source: Nuffield Foundation)

3/Yes—white working-class boys face real struggles. But so do Black Caribbean girls, Bangladeshi boys, Roma children, mixed-heritage pupils etc…

Class cuts across race, and poverty harms ALL children.

5/Focusing on one group while ignoring others in poverty doesn’t fix the system—it entrenches inequality.
We need policies that lift all disadvantaged kids.

Education should be the great equaliser. But right now, in 🇬🇧, it’s a mirror of inequality—and poverty is the reflection staring back.