World Teachers’ Day: Empowering teachers, building sustainable societies

From Education International

On 5 October, World Teachers’ Day, Education International, with its affiliates and partners worldwide, will highlight the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals, and the crucial role teachers will play in ensuring it is implemented.

“Every year on World Teachers’ Day, we celebrate educators and the central role they play in providing children everywhere with a quality education,” says a Joint Message on the occasion of the World Teachers’ Day (WTD) signed by UNESCO, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), UNICEF, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and Education International (EI).

“Today, as the global community comes together to support the new 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals, that central role has never been more significant”, according to the global organisations.

Education goal

The new global education goal, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, which is at the heart of the Education 2030 Agenda, calls for inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all.

The global organisations underline the fact that “realising this goal is critical to achieving all our global development targets … for strong societies depend on well-educated citizens and a well-trained workforce”.

This agenda can only be realised if society will “invest in recruiting, supporting, and empowering teachers”, they add. But around the world today, “far too many teachers are undervalued and disempowered”.

Quality teachers

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics further estimates that countries will need to recruit 12.5 million primary teachers to achieve the goal of universal primary education by 2020. Over four million new lower secondary teacher positions also need to be created to achieve universal lower secondary education by 2020.

Now, by committing to the Education 2030 agenda, the UN Member States agree to substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers. This will be done through various measures including international cooperation around teacher training in developing countries, especially the least developed countries and small island developing states. This is an important step and, now, “we must live up to these commitments”.

Governments should “redouble efforts to engage in dialogue with teachers and their organisations”, and “intensify efforts to provide sufficiently qualified, well deployed, motivated and supported teachers to every school, every community, and every child”, the organisations declare.

Quality conditions

The global organisations also insist that teachers should be empowered through the provision of decent working conditions, well-resourced, safe and healthy working environments, trust, professional autonomy, and academic freedom.

The organisations reiterate that the ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers (1966), the UNESCO Recommendation concerning on the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel (1997), and the ILO Policy Guidelines on the Promotion of Decent Work for Early Childhood Education Personnel (2014) are essential international standards and benchmarks for the teaching profession.

That is why, on the first World Teachers' Day of a new education agenda for global development, the organisations appeal to the international community to value, support, and empower teachers globally: “For it is they who will educate a new generation of children who, in turn, will carry forward all our goals to build a better world for all”.

EI affiliates celebrate World Teachers' Day

Last but not least, this year’s WTD in the context of SDG 4 will be celebrated in diverse ways by EI’s many affiliates across the world.
http://news.ei-ie.org/interspire/link.php…

The case presented by Friends of Barham Library to lease Barham Park Lounge for community library

October 6th: Lyon Park Infant and Junior Amalgamation Consultation

From Brent Council

Brent Council in partnership with the governing body of the Lyon Park Infant School and Lyon Park Junior School is consulting about proposals to amalgamate the schools to form one primary school.

If the proposals are agreed the two schools, which are on the same site, would amalgamate to become Lyon Park Primary School from April 2016 - an all-through primary school for 80 nursery pupils and 840 children.

Lyon Park Infant School in Vincent Road, Wembley, is at present a community school providing 360 school places for children aged from four to seven; there is also a nursery with 80 part-time places.
Lyon Park Junior School, also a community school, currently has 480 school places to boys and girls between the ages of seven and 11.

Two consultation meetings are taking place for parents, staff and residents to attend and discuss the amalgamation proposals. They will take place on 6 October at 3.30pm, and 7pm in the junior school hall.

For more information, call 020 8937 1061 or email judith.joseph@brent.gov.uk. The consultation closes on 9 November.

Details

Fly-Tipping in Brent - Has the Task Force addressed the important issues?

Scrutiny Committee will be deciding the scope of the Fly-Tipping Task Force at its meeting on October 8th.  I get more complaints about fly-tipping than any other issue in Brent as do most councillors.

Does the Scoping Report cover the most important aspects of the problem?

Brent 'mini-Cabinet' to decide on Friends of Barham Library building bid

Paul Lorber with Volunteer Library supporters and users

The saga over the letting of part of the Barham Park Building Complex is due to reach a conclusion on October 8th when the Barham Park Trust Committee will decide which of the two short-listed applicants will be chosen to occupy Unit 4, the Lounge.

The Committee is not quite as neutral as it sounds as it is peopled entirely by Brent Cabinet members Pavey, Denselow, Hirani, McLennan and Southwood. In essence it is a 'mini-Cabinet'.

The applicants who would pay £7,000 per annum for up to 15 years are Pivot Point Community Development Fund and the Friends of Barham Park Library.

The Trust's Property Adviser has recommended Pivot because of its strong record of community engagement but this needs to be set against the Friends of Barham Library who have been successful in running two community libraries in Sudbury and Wembley High Road and gaining support from the local community.

The full report is HERE.

Former Brent Liberal Democrat leader Paul Lorber has been an active member of the campaign against library closures since the closure decision was made by the Ann John administration and is a major force behind the Friends of Barham Library.

In the circumstances the Trust's decision will be under intense scrutiny for transparency and objectivity.

It appears Brent Council recognises the issues involved as this note on the Forward Plan indicates:

Decision maker:  Barham Park Trust Committee

Decision due:   8 Oct 2015

Lead officer:  Richard Barrett

Notice of proposed decision first published: 30/09/2015

Reason for urgency:

It is impracticable to defer the decision until the usual Forward Plan period, i.e. 28 days, has expired because it was only recently decided that, in the interests of openness and accountability, the delegated authority given to the Property Advisor to the Trust Committee and the Chair of the Trust Committee to select a successful bidder should not be exercised and instead the decision should be made by the Committee itself. As it is in the best interests of the Trust and the prospective bidders that this decision is made as soon as possible, providing the full Forward Plan notice is impracticable.

Have your say on Brent NHS services: October 7th

From Brent Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)  LINK
 

You are cordially invited to attend our next Health Partners Forum, The Big Brent Health Debate that will take place on:

Wednesday, 7^th October 2015 @ Sattavis Patidar Centre, Forty Avenue, Wembley Park, Middlesex, HA9 9PE

Buffet will be served from 5.15pm with the evening’s discussion starting at 6.00 – 8.30pm.

Brent CCG’s vision is to improve the quality of care for individuals, carers and families by empowering and supporting people to maintain independence and active lives.

·      How do you want NHS services to be delivered in Brent?

·      What services matter most to you?

·      Is there anything you would change if you could?

Come and find out more about our draft commissioning intentions for 2016/17 and our key priorities for next year at the Health Partners Forum.

It is your opportunity to have your say on helping to shape the healthcare priorities for the year ahead.

Your opinions will help GPs decide what services work well, what doesn’t work so well and where we need to make improvements to healthcare services in Brent.

To RSVP and for more information please email: brentccg.engagement@nhs.net  or call 020 8900 5376.

You can also register for the event by visiting: https://hpf-oct2015-brentccg.eventbrite.co.uk

Please provide own translator if required. There will be live captioning for the hearing impaired.

We therefore look forward to seeing you on the 7^th October 2015.   Please share this communication with your family members, friends, neighbours and community.

Let’s work in partnership to make our 2015 Health Partners Forums rewarding events for us all.

The beginning of the end of partisan politics?' message for Labour from Brighton Greens

The article below was jointly written by Caroline Lucas MP, Cllr Phelim  MacCafferty (convenor of the Brighton Green Groupof councillors) and Tom Druit (Chair of Brighton and Hove Green Party) on the eve of the Labour Party Conference. Their focus is ways in which  Greens and Labour could work together on a local basis in terms of common commitments.

The article was first published  in the Brighton and Hove Independent LINK
 

Jeremy Corbyn’s election as the leader of the Labour Party is good news for progressive politics. For the first time in living memory, the Labour Party is led by someone willing to challenge the political and economic consensus. It’s particularly encouraging to see a Labour leader in place who rejects the so-called “logic” that says everything around us should be bought and sold on the free market.

For us, as local representatives, Corbyn’s election presents us with a possibility to work across party lines for the very best for people in Brighton and Hove. In parliament, there is the chance for Labour MPs to be part of a serious opposition to the government’s pernicious attacks on the welfare state, their short-sighted slashing of renewable energy subsidies, and their economically-illiterate austerity programme.

Locally, there is an opportunity for Labour and the Greens to work together. The flourishing of the People’s Republic of Brighton and Hove shows that the majority of people in this city reject the Tories and yearn for a new start where all progressives work together. By doing so, we can reject austerity, rising inequality, and the relentless attack on the poor – and we can work together towards a fairer, more sustainable society.

As Greens, we won’t hesitate to express our support for Corbyn’s policies when we agree with them. In the face of attack from the mainstream media – and with few friends in the political establishment – he will need all the support he can get when articulating the bold policies upon which we agree.

Our challenge to Labour in Brighton and Hove is to dare to live up to what Corbyn’s win means. When Labour are bold and when they stand up for the voiceless, we will support them. We could start by standing together to safeguard council tax relief for the poorest.

We will stand side by side with Labour in voting to rid our country of nuclear weapons, calling for a fair deal for public-sector workers, and trying to protect people from the spiralling cost of rent. In Brighton, politicians from across the political spectrum should support long-suffering train passengers by calling for the railways to be brought back into public hands.

Politics is starting to change from the ground up. To ensure that change is meaningful and long-lasting, we need to transform radically our democratic structures – redistributing wealth must go hand in hand with redistributing power. In the Green Party, we are committed to leadership as the honest sharing of power, to organising locally, and to working co-operatively. To this end, it is encouraging to see that Corbyn has appointed Jon Trickett to lead for Labour on constitutional reform – and that the trade unions voted last week to support the growing campaign for reform of our anti-democratic electoral system.

Greens won’t always agree with Corbyn’s Labour – and when we don’t we will say so. More important, however, is our role in moving beyond Labour’s policies and calling for the radical overhaul of the political and economic system that lies at the heart of the social and environmental injustices we face. That means working with local communities that are already demonstrating it’s possible and positive to do things very differently, from neighbourhood planning and housing cooperatives to community-owned renewable energy and social enterprises. It means reaffirming our vision of an economy that provides enough for everyone – but doesn’t require people to work all of the hours of the day to stand even a chance of feeding their families.

Greens will continue to act on the belief at the heart of our politics: it’s only by tackling climate change and environmental degradation that we will secure our future prosperity, and security for our children and grandchildren. Recent events, of increasingly-extreme weather events across the globe, flooding in the UK – and the global refugee crisis – show the urgent need for Green policies.

The tide of progressive politics and ideas is surging, and it’s refreshing to see policies that many of the ideas Greens have promoted for decades now being articulated by a leader of the Labour Party. The Green Party will continue to show people that we offer a radical alternative to business-as-usual – but that we’re open to working with others to further our shared goals, and we believe politics is better when we do.

This could be the beginning of the end of partisan politics and the flourishing of a people’s movement that goes beyond political parties. We must not let this opportunity pass us by.

Greens Back Junior Doctors' Industrial Action

Green Party health spokesperson and GP Dr Jillian Creasy has given her party's backing for junior doctors currently fighting health secretary Jeremy Hunt's plans to change their contracts.

Creasy accused the government of 'locking in' the crisis in the NHS with the changes, which could see junior doctors' pay cut by up to 30 per cent, as 'sociable' working hours are extended. Her comments came after talks between Hunt and a junior doctors' leader broke down last night.

Creasy said:

This short-sighted government is constantly expecting the NHS to do more with less. Our NHS is in crisis, and by failing to invest in junior doctors, the government is locking this crisis in for years to come, as more junior doctors move abroad or simply quit.

The Green Party stands with junior doctors, and supports their plans for industrial action over the planned changes to their contracts. These changes would be detrimental to the health of both junior doctors, who already work very long hours, and patients, whose safety will put at risk.

Jeremy Hunt must urgently change his position on this, and listen to the professionals who understand the implications of his politically-motivated plans.