Education
Lockdown live: ‘Race Today’
24 June 2020 Join Red Pepper editor K Biswas and guests Paul Gilroy, Lola Olufemi, Ciaran Thapar and Joy White to discuss marginality, inequality, creativity and belonging in Britain
No police in our schools
8 June 2020 As students return to school and protests against institutional racism spread across the UK, the left must keep monitoring - and opposing - efforts to put police into classrooms, says Remi Joseph-Salisbury
Gender, class and cliché in Normal People
26 May 2020 The BBC hit drama shows the complexities of class mobility, but can’t avoid class and gender stereotypes, says Frances Hatherley
Feminism in the precarious academy
10 March 2020 As the University and Colleges Union strike enters its final week, Ruth Pearce discusses the importance of building alliances and fighting back
Education and Empire
28 November 2019 Following Labour’s manifesto pledge to educate the public on the histories of empire, slavery, and migration, Kimberly McIntosh explains the dangers of colonial nostalgia in the national curriculum
This is how we build a National Education Service in the UK
15 September 2019 Chloe Tomlinson lays out the battle lines for a more egalitarian, democratic and holistic education system. Essential reading ahead of The World Transformed education sessions
Building a ‘Museum of Dissent’
5 July 2019 Lisa Kennedy and Donata Miller suggest five ways museums can be sites for dissent
What happens if a university fails?
29 May 2019 David Ridley reflects on the Augar Review
We need to decolonise museums
23 May 2019 Decolonising the museum is a pathway to decolonising society. We must start by providing more honest accounts of our past, says Subhadra Das
Governments fixate on STEM education – so why won’t they listen to scientists on climate change?
12 April 2019 Governments could do well to learn from school students, writes 17-year-old Climate Striker Cate Davies
Let’s harness the power of political education
1 April 2019 We need political education to build a confident, fighting movement writes Isaac Kneebone-Hopkins, an organiser for Bristol Transformed.
The rise of the student worker
10 January 2019 The student population today is unrecognisable from that of a generation or more ago, writes Matt Myers. And it is central to any socialist project for the future.
What can academics learn from the Lucas Plan?
22 November 2018 With the right organising and the right plan, UCU workers can transform universities from within. By David Ridley
‘Could do better’: Racism in schools
3 October 2018 Remi Joseph-Salisbury writes that institutional racism is not just about individual teachers, but a lack of clear school-wide or nationwide policy.
Educate, agitate, organise
26 September 2018 Jane Holgate and John Page on a new approach to political education - and its radical potential.
Stormzy’s scholarships aren’t racist. They’re about tackling racism.
17 August 2018 Stormzy is offering university scholarships to Black young people - and some people are kicking up a fuss. By Dr Remi Joseph-Salisbury
Education is a fight, not a privilege
22 February 2018 Laura McDonald writes that universities should not just be finishing schools for the wealthy or disciplinary institutions churning out docile workers.
A mental health crisis is the true cost of university marketization
9 January 2018 Students are suffering the effects of financial instability, stress, and slashed mental health services. Mark Crawford reports.
Academies run ‘on the basis of fear’
25 October 2017 Wakefield City Academies Trust (WCAT) was described in a damning report as an organisation run 'on the basis of fear'. Jon Trickett MP examines an education system in crisis.
University should not be a debt factory
5 December 2016 Sheldon Ridley spoke to students taking part in their first national demonstration.
The abolition of Art History A-Level will exacerbate social inequality
29 November 2016 This is a massive blow to the rights of ordinary kids to have the same opportunities as their more privileged peers. Danielle Child reports.
Kids strike over national SATs tests
3 May 2016 Amy Hall reports on the stay-away over excessive testing
Liberated learning in Rojava
25 August 2015 Janet Biehl reports on the new women’s science of jineolojî and the revolutionary transformation of education in Rojava, western Kurdistan
Occupation education
1 June 2015 Following the recent wave of university occupations across London, Ben Wilson looks at the emerging Free University of London, a radical alternative to the current higher education model
Lessons from the global education struggle
17 October 2014 Anna Wolmuth talks to US teacher and writer Lois Weiner about what the UK can learn from global education struggles
Companies profit from ‘flat pack’ schools
17 October 2014 Mary Compton describes how big corporations are profiting from some of the world’s poorest schools
GERM – neoliberal policy infecting the world’s classrooms
17 October 2014 Susan Robertson explains how the neoliberal mantra of ‘choice’, tests and privatisation is poisoning our education systems worldwide
Chicago teachers demonstrate a new approach to organising
17 October 2014 A strike by Chicago teachers shows how unions can resist the dismantling of public education. Micah Uetricht takes up the story
Unequal opportunities
1 June 2014 Ken Jones says Michael Gove’s new system for testing pupils will exacerbate inequality
Summer event: the Spark
15 May 2014 A week of workshops, films, discussions, poetry, music, art and more, looking at the fight for social justice in the UK and around the world to take place in June
Free schools: freedom for whom?
10 April 2014 Andrew Dolan looks at the problems posed by free schools
Arrested, suspended, then banned from elections: my student experience, by Deborah Hermanns
17 February 2014 University of Birmingham student Deborah Hermanns describes her experience of being arrested, released without charge and subsequently suspended from university and banned from running in the Birmingham Guild of Students elections
#3Cosas: University Of London workers protest
11 November 2013 Novara Media reports from the 3Cosas demonstration at Senate House
Demonstration to save the University of London Union
11 November 2013 Students and workers to mobilise on Wednesday 13th November to fight the closure of ULU
Back to class: free schools and academies mythbuster
18 October 2013 Red Pepper looks at the myths surrounding academies and free schools
Not playing by the book: radical children’s reads
8 October 2013 Children’s literature can be an important playground for kids to think critically and conceive of a better world. Kitty Webster explores what’s out there for little rebels to read
Teachers: ‘There is no other option but to strike’
1 October 2013 John Millington reports from today's teachers' walkout and rally
A spanner in the works of university privatisation
14 December 2012 Max Watson of London Metropolitan University’s Unison branch describes how its members helped stave off privatisation proposals at the university
New terms for teachers
28 October 2012 Donald Morrison examines what the explosive growth in academy schools means for teachers
The students’ moment
22 February 2012 Student activist Michael Chessum reflects on the state of the fight against the Tories’ education reforms
’19th-century inequalities in shiny classrooms’: Melissa Benn on the future of schools
8 January 2012 Melissa Benn, author of School Wars, discusses education with teacher Anna Wolmuth
After the flash bulb
22 May 2011 Student article competition winner Kit Withnail calls for others to stand with the movement
Higher education: the lie-busting low-down
4 February 2011 Cristina Delgado Garcia and Luke Yates explain why university cuts aren’t fair or needed
The Wembley way
16 September 2010 The struggle against a city academy in north London controlled by a group of hedge fund managers might be a sign of things to come. Hank and Jean Roberts tell the story of the campaign
Academy alarm
5 August 2010 As Tory education secretary Michael Gove pushes through legislation to 'put the boosters' under Labour's school academies programme, Fiona Millar explains her concerns
A good local school for everyone
5 July 2010 Donald Morrison says if the Tories get their way more money will be taken away from the public sector and handed over to private profiteers
Trouble at the sausage factory
29 May 2010 Leeds students Andre Pusey and Leon Sealey-Huggins report on the fight against higher education cuts and its connection to the wider battle against the current neoliberal role and form of universities
Mrs Chips
14 November 2008 From school meals to school selection policies, Margaret Tulloch has been a tireless campaigner for state education for half a lifetime. She spoke to Laurie Penny
Beyond town and gown
24 October 2008 The relationship between students and locals is fraught with long-held mistrust and resentment. Ex-student Jenny Nelson looks at the colourful history of these often segregated communities, and meets some of the student activists who are trying to break out of the ghettos they've inherited
Students are citizens too
24 October 2008 With 'top-up' fees and increasing debt leaving many students less willing to fight for anyone but themselves, London School of Economics union president Aled Fisher argues for more, not less, participation in wider politics
