NUS Walk-Out and Teach-In: Solidarity in the Academic Community

Academic and student unions strike to revolutionise the education sector.

The National Union of Students demonstration at Torrington Square on March 2nd.

Over the last two years, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused massive disruption within education. Higher education in the UK has been further destabilised by the ongoing disputes between university management and academic and student unions. These unions aim to reform education through a wide range of measures beginning with the University and College Union (UCU) Four Fight’s and pensions disputes, to fully funded and decolonised education, which is accessible to all by the National Union of Students (NUS). 

Staff taking part in the Four Fights dispute are striking over pay, working conditions, casualisation, and rising inequality. The other UCU dispute is over proposal changes to staff pensions by Universities UK, which will lead to a 35% pension cut for the typical staff member. 

Whilst the casualisation of teaching staff and the increasing psychological and economic pressures faced by the student body are not being fully addressed, the average full pay packet of vice-chancellors stands at £269,000 per year. Unless employers are willing to address the concerns of their employees and the student body, it is unlikely that they will see any improvement.

In response to the challenges facing students and staff, the National Union of Students (NUS) organised a Walk-Out Teach-In for students on Wednesday 2 March. Facing the prospect of a broken education system, the demonstrations by students were a display of strong student-staff solidarity, hoping for positive change in the higher education system. As NUS president Larissa Kennedy said in a passionate closing speech to students at the London demonstration, the NUS wants “fully funded, accessible, lifelong, democratised education”.

The London demonstrations took place opposite the UCL main campus at Torrington Square and saw hundreds of university students participate across the country. Students from Sussex, Brighton and Aston universities joined UCL at the London demonstration. The Teach Ins embodied the spirit of the New Vision for Education set out by the NUS, creating safer spaces for the exchange of ideas and knowledge. 

The New Vision for Education Movement aims to achieve free, fair, funded, accessible and decolonised education for all. The student strikes strived to incorporate these idealistic goals into the real life educational experience of students. The New Vision is also focused on eliminating colonial influences and implementing better sexual violence policies.

NUS pop-up tents at Woburn Square featured craft corners, interactive art, and workshops. For instance, the Collective Power Tent engaged people with powerful discussions on Palestinian solidarity, sexual violence policies and education as liberation. The Transforming Education Tent explored issues like the hostile environment within higher education, tuition fee refunds, and free education. The NUS Walk Out drew substantial support from student communities across the UK, allowing conversations and dialogue that wouldn’t have otherwise been possible.

Demonstrations like these serve as a wake up call that it is necessary to transform higher education for the benefit of staff and students. The massive support that the Walk Out garnered was indicative of the desire for much-needed change. 

The power of this strike action came from its strength in numbers. Speaking to a UCU member about how university leaders will be feeling about the turn out of the strikes: “I think they’ve probably been very surprised by the strength of student and staff solidarity. I imagine that this student walk out actually surprised them, and probably worries them.”

It is important to understand that the welfare of the academic community is intrinsically linked to the well-being of the student community. Not offering enough employment security to younger members of staff like PGTAs, early-career researchers, increasing workloads and decreasing pay is detrimental to the quality of teaching for students. Jo Grady, the UCU general secretary, reiterated this criticism too when speaking at Torrington Place: “Investment in staff is an investment in students.” 

Additionally, the Department for Education recently announced a new threshold for repayment of student loans that would increase economic pressure on graduates. It lowers the salary threshold for loan repayment while simultaneously increasing the write off period from 30 to 40 years. 

This not only increases financial pressure on students but also disproportionately impacts low to middle-income graduate students. Student-staff solidarity is essential to prevent the devaluation of university education.

The latest round of UCU strike action began on 21 March. UCL staff are striking over pay and conditions only.

Education lacks real representation from the global south, marginalised groups, women, communities of colour, LGBTQ+ communities, and more. According to HESA statistics, only 18% of academic staff with known ethnicity were from Black and Minority Ethnic groups. When considering just professors, the figure was even less at 11%; Education still operates through a western-centric colonial lens with token representation to satisfy the need for performative activism. For instance, student supporters of LGBTQ+ groups do not feel that the key to achieving real representation is displaying the LGBTQ+ flag and rainbow posters around campus: they want to see more actions and representation by the university. Furthermore, UCL’s decision to withdraw from Stonewall was seen as a disregard for student concerns by LGBT+ groups. 

The March 2 Teach In can be construed as a reflection of what a reformed system should prioritise. The NUS vision aimed to reinvent education so it can better serve the university community. Given the grave inequalities that persist within the education system, these demonstrations by staff and students had become necessary to force universities to the negotiating table. 

One of the concerns of striking staff was the increasing casualisation of education. A UCU member stressed the importance of staff and student solidarity to achieve change: “Students and staff make the universities, and if we’re not in sync and if we’re not supporting each other, it's not going to be working well.” Upon being asked about increasing student fees one staff member told me: “We have members who have paid these highest levels of fees, who are postgraduates and early-careers who are now teaching on zero-hours and hourly pay jobs with no security.” 

Furthermore, people with disabilities are much more likely to be casualised. While speaking to the UCU member they also told me about their frustrations with the pay disparities between staff: “There’s literally no excuse for that.” Currently, there is a 9% pay gap for disabled staff, 17% pay difference between black and white staff, and a 16% gender pay gap. According to UCU statistics, the ethnic minority pay gap within Russell Group Universities stands at 26%.

The problem isn’t the lack of financial reserves. Given how much students pay it is clear that there is money in the sector. It’s just not making its way to the right people.

For the 2020-2021 financial year, UCL reported a surplus of £128.3m. This was considerably higher than the operating surplus of £53.5m for the previous year. The pandemic caused a large-scale disruption within the education sector but generated larger profits for universities. Academic staff are striking for fair pay and students are paying tuition fees for a hybrid model of teaching that consists of online pre-recorded material being reused from previous years. Meanwhile, these institutions are sitting on large monetary reserves. 

We discussed in length the issues of overworking, understaffing, and the mental health crisis at universities, talking about how students and services aren’t being supported properly: “They [universities] aren’t investing in those things [counselling, and other forms of support], and the staff who run those services are struggling.” The mental health crisis was exacerbated by the difficulties of the pandemic and stress due to growing economic pressures, which is leading to a crippling effect on mental wellbeing.

While UCL students have access to psychological services, waiting lists are long, which is impractical if you need immediate support. Additionally, a report by Education Support recorded that over half of academic staff in the UK show signs and symptoms of psychological disorders such as depression. The rising workload and antagonistic work conditions are hurting the student and staff communities alike. 

It takes time and energy to organise and mobilise individuals and to deliver such large scale events, not to mention the financial sacrifice staff make for every day they strike. All of this energy should be being channelled effectively into academia, research, and overall growth of higher education in the UK. But, when these communities are at breaking point and continue to be dismissed by employers, it is understandably impossible to do so. Casualisation has hurt the people who build and sustain the field of education: academic staff and the students.

If these problems are to be solved, there must be open and constructive dialogue between employers, employees and student representatives.