We all agree there can be no return to normal post Covid-19, but what kind of changes need to take place? What tools does education give us to build a better future?

Join us for this exciting online event where we explore what education is for; start to transform our knowledge and communities and build a society that works for everyone.

With Jo Grady, UCU general secretary and Dave Ward, CWU general secretary.

Special guests: Billy Bragg, Sonia Adesara, Grace Blakeley, Dalia Gebrial, Charmaine Brown, Ann Pettifor, Faiza Shaheen, and Gary Younge

Watch back:

You can also watch on Facebook

Running order:

6.00-6.10:

Introduction by Jo Grady, UCU general secretary

6.10-7.00:

Building for better: Covid-19, BLM, and the climate crisis 

Chair, Vicky Blake, UCU president

Grace Blakeley, Ann Pettifor, Dalia Gebrial, and Charmaine Brown:

We all agree there can be no more return to normal, but what kind of changes need to take place? Not just to educate and re-skill our students and communities, but to also build a better post-covid world for ourselves. What tools does education give us to build a better future? Education is not just something that happens in the classroom, but the ideas we learn there can help. In this session we want to explore the role of activism informed by feminism, economics, urban geography, and decolonisation have to transform our knowledge and transform our communities and society and build for a better future.

7.00-7.30:

A new deal for workers 

Dave Ward (CWU) and Jo Grady (UCU)

7.30-8.00:

Jail Guitar Doors Music featuring Billy Bragg

Chair: Janet Farrer, UCU president-elect

Billy Bragg and Justin Boreland will discuss the importance of music in prisons and UCU’s joint initiative with Billy, Jail Guitar Doors Music

8.00-8.50:

Empower and Educate: delivering social justice

Chair: Jo Grady

Faiza Shaheen, Sonia Adesara and Gary Younge

Education develops people’s capacities, challenges them, communicates values, and creates lifelong opportunities. It is a source of dignity and community. But the system we work and study within is eroding those ideals. Much like healthcare, education is being turned into a dysfunctional consumer market, and the people who provide it into a cost to be minimised. But students are not units of production for the workplace.  And education is not a product. In this session we will explore what is education for? Is the current system maximising social or even economic progress, Who is the current system actually working for, and what type of post 16 education system delivers social justice while educating the public to flourish, and creating a working environment that is healthy for staff.

8.50-9.00: Summary and close with Jo Grady.