(Downloadable PDF version of this letter available here)

Background

• The management team of the Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies Department (STaCS), have launched an unprecedented attack on the part time staff of its highly successful BA Degree in Applied Social Science, Community Development and Youth Work (BAASSCD&YW) – the only remaining full time community and youth work degree in London 2016-17.
• Over the past two years the programme has recruited increased numbers of students and as a result, has generated a substantial increase in levels of income.
• Under the guise of a ‘staff restructure’ management are proposing to use these resources to replace a diverse group of up to 6 part-time staff with 2-3 full time staff who are either engaged in doctoral level research or who have completed a PhD, in order to meet departmental research priorities, in particular to improve grant capture and REF ratings.
• The BAASSCD&YW course, which has a student cohort of 81% BME students, is being singled out as these departmental research priorities are not being applied across the department.
• The students are outraged, as they are already challenging management for cutting their contact hours from over 200 hours to 120 hours per year.

 BA programme strengths – values and ethos

The Programme was thoroughly revised last year and has also undergone internal reviews and external National Youth Agency reviews this year – all have highlighted that academic rigour, equality and social justice and relevant professional practice are embedded in the programme and praised the existing diverse staff team, for example;

• ..changes will strengthen what is already a well-regarded BA Programme…The continued commitment of the teaching staff will be vital in ensuring its future (BA Review Final Report, 2016)
• The programme team were praised for their academic, community engagement, current practice (NYA Validation Report 2016 section 7, p9)

Both past and present students, also appreciate the diversity of the current staff team’s academic expertise and interests along with their up to date and relevant professional practice.

• NSS results 2016 show; overall satisfaction (95%); the course is intellectually stimulating (95%); staff are enthusiastic about what they are teaching (95%); staff have made subject interesting (100%).

Students comments about the programme:

‘I have enjoyed the passion the lecturers have shown for their subjects and the support they have offered. Intellectually prompting lectures,…would recommend this course to everyone and anyone.

The group training has helped me to develop both personally and practically. Lecturers are passionate about teaching and about their own continued work within youth and community.

The CD&YW course has really challenged me to think differently and equipped me with skills to be an effective practitioner.

The tutors have been very supportive.’ (NSS, 2016)

Potential impact

STaCS restructure proposal departs from Goldsmiths organisational change policy – management refuse to job match as staff are not on teaching and research contracts and they are not trying meaningfully to mitigate against redundancy. The restructure is being vigorously challenged by academic staff, students (via the college Student Union) and Goldsmiths University and College Union (GUCU) members – industrial action is likely.

• Management have presented a flawed rationale and no evidence that the recruitment of such staff on this professionally endorsed degree programme will improve the quality of teaching and learning, or enhance students’ overall experience.
• The imposition of this untimely and totally unexpected management proposal will disrupt the progress of existing students and those students entering the revised programme
• It will have an overwhelming negative impact on BME staff and BME students who comprise 81%
• It disregards long-standing, highly regarded academic and professional skills and expertise of existing staff
• It represents a trend in HE which must be resisted.

Support Requested from Stakeholders

We urge the BAASSCDYW wider community of stakeholders, who have supported the programme over several years, to write to the Warden, (Patrick Loughrey, email: warden@ gold.ac.uk) expressing concern that part time staff are unnecessarily under the threat of redundancies and the potential impact on the programme, recommending that the existing staff (who have been repeatedly refused time to pursue research activities), should be supported to pursue research activities and should be valued and retained. We would also ask that you send a copy and messages of support to gucu-admin@gold.ac.uk.

Keep up to date with news and further actions:

https://goldsmiths.org @Goldsmithsucu #fightelitism #standwithcdyw

Campaign Materials:

PDF copies of this campaign letter are available here

Fight Elitism Campaign flyers are also available – email gucu-admin@gold.ac.uk if you would like us to send you some

UCU members packed into a very well attended emergency meeting today (Thursday 13 June 2017) to discuss defending members and jobs in the Department of Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies (STACS).  This is a response to the proposed restructuring of the BA Applied Social Science Community Development and Youth Work – a highly successful course run by an excellent and experienced team of staff some of whose jobs are now at risk. At the meeting GUCU members passed the following motion unanimously.

Potential redundancies in STACS

Motion passed unanimously at GUCU EGM 13 July 2017

Goldsmiths UCU branch wishes to express its concerns about the ongoing consultation over the proposed restructuring of the BA Applied Social Science Community Development and Youth Work in the Department of Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies.  This is a highly successful programme, with experienced and dedicated staff, which has been praised by internal and external reviews in the last 12 months. Yet the restructure is likely to lead to redundancies of several part-time staff.

We do not consider this process to be an example of meaningful consultation as in college policies related to managing organisational change.

1. The original rationale for the restructure that was communicated to the SMT has now changed. In any case the UCU officers and at-risk staff consider both the initial and revised rationales to be flawed and lacking in evidence.
2. The consultation process has departed from agreed procedures for organisation change.
3. There has there been, up to this point, no effort to avoid or mitigate the risk of redundancies.

We therefore urge management:

1. To halt this restructure proposal in the best interests of the programme, students and staff;
2. To give assurances that all the colleagues currently employed will remain in post to teach on the BA with increased hours where necessary;
3. To also provide colleagues, as appropriate, with increased hours for opportunities to engage in research and to undertake PhD study.

If management refuse to suspend the consultation, then the branch will consider what action is appropriate to defend members’ interests.

1. This branch will support industrial action in defence of its members.
2. This branch will Instigate a campaign to inform wider stakeholders and the student body

GUCU is postponing the General Meeting on the 12th June because of the staff training that Goldsmiths has organised (please see below).

We will keep you up to date with any rescheduled dates.

Location: RHB 309

Please see below for information on the London Weighting campaign, as well as a link to the survey. Please circulate widely, thank you.

Survey link: 

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GoldsmithsLW

Joint statement – Unison and UCU:

The current rate of London Weighting allowance at Goldsmiths is £2825 across all spine points.  While it is increased annually in line with the nationally agreed pay rise (1% for the year 2015-16) there has been no substantial increase in the basic amount since 2004.  Yet, as we all know, the costs of living in London in comparison with the rest of the country are rocketing upwards year upon year.

As a result of unions’ campaigns in pre-92 universities like Kings College, Birkbeck and University of London our colleagues there are receiving around £3500 as their London Weighting allowance. Additionally, post-92 universities like London Metropolitan University have paid their staff £4,437 since 2014 and University of Greenwich values London Weighting at £4,546 for support staff. Taking this into account we believe that a request for an increase to £4000 for Goldsmiths staff will be both reasonable and affordable.

During the past 18 months, UNISON and the UCU have made two approaches to College management to ask them to consider an increase, but have been refused.  So now we feel it’s time for everyone to have their say.  Please take a few minutes to complete this survey and tell us just how the rising costs of living in London are affecting you.

Answers will be completely anonymous, no individual can be identified from any of the answers given.  We will use statistical data and information gathered to prepare and launch a campaign for London weighting and present a claim for an increase to College management.

We need as much information from as many of Goldsmiths staff as possible, so please forward the link to non-union colleagues.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us (UNISON members and enquiries e-mail s.stead@gold.ac.uk tel 020 7717 2264; UCU members and enquiries e-mail gucu-admin@gold.ac.uk tel 020 7919 7474)

Thank you for your help, we look forward to hearing from you!

On behalf of UNISON and UCU joint campaign

Suzanne Stead                                                                    Marian Carty

Branch Secretary                                                                President

UNISON Goldsmiths College Branch                               Goldsmiths UCU

Dear all,

We have ONE  WEEK left before the end of term, so the idea is that we flood this now and get as many signatures as we can. To do so, idea is that:

1. We all sign up to talk with students on campus about the Gold Paper, the Petition and gather analogue signatures.

2. Staff should try and talk to students in every class in the next 1/5 weeks about the petition, and students should bring it up if staff don’t. For staff, here is a PowerPoint slide attached and a lower res jpeg of the petition for you to show in lectures. Maybe 5 minutes can be taken for students to discuss/ sign at the end of classes?

The Petition: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/gold-paper-petition

— and in the meantime for ’taking points’/ further info —The Gold Paper for background reading: https://goldsmithsucu.org/the-gold-paper/

1. MENTAL HEALTH:

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/sep/23/university-mental-health-services-face-strain-as-demand-rises-50

2. Housing: 

Goldsmiths UCU and Goldsmiths Students’ Union pledge our support for the boycott of the National Student Survey (NSS) launched by the National Union of Students. We believe that the NSS is a methodologically flawed instrument for measuring teaching quality and that it provides an incomplete picture of the student experience. Furthermore, evidence shows that quantitative student evaluations like the NSS encourage gender discrimination in Higher Education and exhibit bias against BME staff.

The NSS is a key metric for the government’s proposed Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) which will allow universities to increase fees depending on their TEF scores and whether they are rated Gold, Silver or Bronze. We believe that this will further entrench market forces inside Higher Education and distort the sector by privileging subjects that are focused, above all, on employability and popularity rather than those that highlight experimentation, creativity and critical thought. NSS scores will now be used in a framework that will devalue our degrees, especially the arts, humanities and social sciences programmes that we specialize in here at Goldsmiths.

Goldsmiths UCU and Students’ Union are committed both to protecting the quality of our education and to addressing issues that may be undermining this experience. We do not believe that the NSS – especially when it is linked to funding and fees – should have a role to play in this although we are more than happy to develop and participate in forms of evaluation that allow students to reflect on teaching quality and the wider academic experience in meaningful ways.

If even a handful of institutions refuse to participate in the NSS, it will damage the ability of the government to claim that the TEF is a fair and representative way of evaluating teaching quality. A boycott will protect the reputation of a Goldsmiths degree and make it harder to justify higher tuition fees and increased debt.

As part of the boycott, we are asking:

• Third year undergraduate students NOT to answer any of the 27 questions of this year’s NSS that runs in the Spring term 2017.
• All students who wish to support the boycott to help publicise the action – for example, taking part in lecture shout-outs – and to contact the Students’ Union as soon as possible.
• UCU members to share materials in support of the NSS boycott, to upload a slide advertising the boycott to Powerpoint presentations in lectures and to allow students, where possible, to discuss the reasons for the boycott.
• UCU members NOT to undertake any additional voluntary duties in relation to the NSS. Operationalising the NSS is not, except in a handful of cases, a contractual duty.

Our degrees are too precious to be distorted by the government’s determination to commercialise Higher Education and to see tuition fees rise ever higher. Boycotting the NSS is a hugely important first step to winning back control of our education.

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