{"id":1908,"date":"2025-05-28T10:21:46","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T09:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2025\/dec2020\/?p=1908"},"modified":"2025-05-28T10:21:47","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T09:21:47","slug":"felaconf25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2025\/felaconf25\/","title":{"rendered":"FELA Conference – Looking back and moving forward"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the twelve months since the last FELA conference there have been hard fought victories across our movement, not least a four year pay settlement for college lecturers. The 2025 FELA conference was a chance to recognise some of those wins and to look ahead and set out key campaigning objectives for the year ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Education and Equality<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Andrea Bradley, EIS General Secretary, opened the conference taking stock of EIS activities and industrial actions since the last conference and recognising that with a key pay settlement in place until 2026, this is the time to prioritise education for equality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She noted some of the key societal issues, such as the rise of the far right and deepening inequality and poverty, emphasising the antidote to this can be education. \u201cDecent societies are built on quality education\u201d, she told delegates. \u201dSocieties where there are decent public services, social justice and equality, where there\u2019s decent, fair work and where people matter more than profit; quality education is the cornerstone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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The keynote guest speaker was Jehan Al Azzawi of Educators for Peace, a coalition of Scottish educators campaigning for an end to the educide in the Gaza Strip. Jehan linked the struggles faced by Scottish educators with global justice movements. \u201cFrom Glasgow to Edinburgh, Dundee to Fife, the purple FELA hats have stood out at every Palestinian demonstration,\u201d she said. \u201cYou understand that our liberation is tied to the liberation of Palestine. Everything in education is political.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his address to conference, EIS President Allan Crosbie reminded delegates of their dispute\u2019s impact on all workers. \u201cYour victory over pay has had a ripple effect across the entire trade union movement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Motions<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Debate began at conference, with motions reflecting members\u2019 concerns around workload, equality, governance and mental health. Mike Cowley (Edinburgh College) opened proceedings with a motion aimed at protecting lecturers from excessive workload pressures, particularly where staff reductions are used to justify increased teaching hours. \u201cWith a relentless decrease in capacity through voluntary severance and diminished funding in FE, we must protect our members.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allan Holligan (also Edinburgh College) moved a motion calling for a national policy on recording lessons, warning that audio or video recording of staff can be deeply uncomfortable, particularly for those with additional needs. \u201cAs a dyslexic lecturer myself, being recorded during a lesson makes things even more difficult for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further motions called for a review of GTCS registration requirements, guidance on pre-TQFE, national guidelines on teaching observations, and a reduction in weekly class contact hours from 23 to 21 hours \u2013 a key step in tackling staff burnout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The motion on class contact time, moved by Serena Hay (City of Glasgow), had wide support from delegates. Eileen Imlah seconded the motion saying, \u201cThey (college managements) say they care about staff and student mental health – then give us the time and resources to support them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confronting Hate with Education<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of the most significant debates came with a motion addressing the rise of far-right ideologies including misogyny and anti-immigration rhetoric. Moving the motion, Mike Cowley said, \u201cWe can\u2019t sit back and hope this goes away, we must challenge these ideas and teach our students to think critically.\u201d Following concerns raised by many delegates on this issue, the motion was carried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francis Curran (City of Glasgow) spoke for the majority of delegates when she said, \u201cAll of us have faced this in our classes, if we are to tackle this in real life, then who meets more young working class men on a weekly basis than the lecturers in our colleges or the teachers in our schools?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A related and divisive motion proposed that FELA branches deactivate their Twitter (X) accounts in protest at the platform\u2019s role in spreading hate speech. Supporters argued that leaving the platform sent a strong message against fascism, while opponents warned of self-silencing. After a lively debate, the motion passed narrowly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EIS-FELA members who are making the move away from X can keep up to date with EIS goings-on via our Facebook, Instagram and via our Bluesky account (a recent addition to our social media presence) @eisunion.bsky.social<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other motions focused on student feedback as a reflection tool, lifelong learning, work-life balance and union health and safety training. Eileen Imlah spoke in support of greater understanding of occupational health rights, \u201cA toxic environment is not just unacceptable \u2013 it\u2019s illegal,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solidarity at Home and Abroad<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The conference reaffirmed its commitment to global solidarity with a motion in support of a ceasefire in Gaza. After reflecting on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, EIS FELA lecturers decided more must be done to raise the profile of Scottish Educators for Peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Hamilton, guest speaker and Unite the Union convenor at Grangemouth Refinery, closed the conference with his speech. Speaking of the ongoing campaign to protect jobs at the refinery, he warned against repeating the mistakes of past deindustrialisation. \u201cThis isn\u2019t just about oil and gas,\u201d he said, \u201cIt\u2019s about securing a green and just transition that protects workers and communities alike.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the twelve months since the last FELA conference there have been hard fought victories across our movement, not least a four year pay settlement for college lecturers. The 2025 FELA conference was a chance to recognise some of those wins and to look ahead and set out key campaigning objectives for the year ahead. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2696,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1908"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2800,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1908\/revisions\/2800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/may2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}