Police go back to school the whole affair.
The case is not simply one of victimisation of 'left' teachers. It is closely connected with a power struggle which has been going on in Islington Labour Party for some time. A petition which alleges "deteriorating standards' at the school has been circulating in local schools and Council meetings -ed and abetted by several well known right-wing Labour councillors.
Islington is one of the few inner London boroughs which has its own Education Advisory Committee. Such a body could be useful for developing links between the locality and the ILEA. The right, however, see it as a stepping stone to a separate education authority for Islington. They wish to see education in Islington being run along the lines proposed by Tory MP Rhodes Boyson and the reactionary authors of the Black Papers on education, as opposed to the more 'progressive' policy of the ILEA.
The same Labour councillors who On Monday 22 September the headmaster and teaching staff at the William Tyndale Junior School in Islington, London went on strike. Accused by right-wing Labour councillors of 'politically indoctrinating' the children, and witch-hunted in the national press, the staff are demanding an independent inquiry into the managers of the school, Labour Party involvement in attacks on staff, and the role of the Inner London Education Authority in want Islington schools run by Islington people' have also been circulating a petition demanding 'House Ishngton First'. As part of their campaign aid- against squatters, they are opposed to the Council rehousing homeless families, unmarried mothers and anyone who is not.a lifelong resident of the London Borough of Islington.
TANSCER Students returning to their colleges at the start of another year Both the anti-squatting' and "anti-progressive teaching' policies of these right-wing Labour councillors pose big dangers, opening workers up to even more reactionary dog mas. In fact the housing policy of the so-called 'rebel' councillors who have resigned the Labour whip is so right-wing that the National Front has invited them to join, as their policies on housing are identical.
At William Tyndale all requests for an independent inquiry have so far been rejected. Instead the ILEA is going ahead with an inspection at the request of the managers. The inspectors went into the school on 22 September - and the teachers CaliC OUL Next day ILEA leader Eric Briault, who masterminded the attempted victimisation of militant London teachers earlier this year, warned the Tyndale teachers that not to co-operate with the inspection was contrary to the 1944 Education Act. Under the Act the teachers could be liable to a fine of £20 on first conviction, and £50 and three months imprisonment on second or subsequent conviction.
tember with 13 inspectors teaching the children, but only half of the latter attended. Despite pressure from some parents, several kids bunked off with the remark, 'we're not going to be taught by those Kojaks...
Throughout the period leading Strikers and supporters on the picket line last week men's grant was abolished, some discretionary awards were made mandatory (namely the Diploma of Higher Education and the Higher National Diploma) and the grant level was raised. But the Labour Government refused to reverse the cutbacks, now reaching the £400 million mark. Instead, Wilson and The school reopened on 24 Sepof education for all! William Tyndale headmaster, Terry Ellis up to the strike the National Union of Teachers executive refused to places sanction any strike action and simply recommended that the teachers co-operate with the ILEA inspection. Last week Communist Party member Max Morris, executive member and former president of the NUT, went on television to attack the striking is a need for support from all workparticularly as the ILEA will attempt to bring in other teach ers to break the strike. Pickets-will be maintained at 8.30 every morning outside the school in Upper Street, Islington N1. Donations should be sent to 12, Twisden Road, NW5. Further information can be obtained from 01-359-4545 SOCIALIST TEACHERS CONFERENCE now on 25-26 October For further details write to: Bernard Reagan, 24 St Agnes Close, London E.9. forge with the trade unions must no "rock the boat' in terms of the present Government. But the present Government is in fact preparing its own downfall by its attacks on work ing class living standards and jobs. Local government workers and workers in the NHS have already begun to challenge these policies. Newcastle and Liverpool Trades Councils are organising conferences on unemploy ment. Such-initiatives must be given full support by all students if they wish to forge real links with workBut students must also be pared to build a movement that is not afraid of rocking the boat that fights for demands like the sliding scale of grants, of wages and for the full restoration of all the cuts as an alternative to the traitorous policies of the present Labour Govenment. These demands can mobilise students and workers together in an all-out fight to defend workers wages, workers' jobs and the social services. IMG students will be fighting for these policies in the colleges as the only way in which student struggles can gain the political direction that they have lacked over the
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INSPECT THE MANAGE NOT THE SCHOO