Education on the line: Fire and rehire

Teaching Assistants at Woodfields School in Brent returned to picket lines on Tuesday, continuing their dispute after ACAS mediation failed to resolve the issue. The school’s management proposed a ‘fire and rehire’ policy on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis, which the union rejected, leading to an additional 23 days of strike action until late July. Pickets will continue on Thursday and Friday from 7:30 AM, with further dates available on the union’s event page. Woodfields specializes in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision, where Teaching Assistants play a critical role in supporting students. Despite their expertise, the union reports that management has organized a limited play scheme using scab labor during the strike, which the NEU is legally challenging. This dispute is part of a broader wave of industrial action across education, including strikes at Brick Lane School in Tower Hamlets and the Great Ormond Street Hospital School, which has called a march and rally in Camden on Thursday. The NEU frames these actions as part of a deliberate government strategy to cut wages, increase class sizes, and reduce funding, particularly targeting SEND schools where Teaching Assistants are undervalued. The NEU has criticized the government’s 6.5% pay deal—spread over three years with only a 2% uplift this year—as a real-terms pay cut, given inflation. The union plans to launch a campaign in autumn to reject the offer, urging members to vote against it in an upcoming ballot. The crisis extends to universities, where funding cuts and declining overseas student numbers have forced restructuring. Over 50 universities risk closure in the next year, threatening jobs and local communities. At Goldsmiths University, 147 lecturers suspended for an exam boycott triggered an indefinite UCU strike starting Monday, June 8, as part of broader opposition to austerity measures in higher education.