Education

Education

• Herd from the hub: a frontline dispatch

  

  What happens when precarity and key working meet head-on in a pandemic, Andrew Emerson reports

• Protest shut the schools, now demand mass testing - CounterBriefing 18 March

  

  In the first CounterBriefing, Katherine Connelly responds to the government's u-turn on school closures after pressure from below

• Teachers in New York forced schools to close; we need to do the same

  

  Don't play dice with people's lives. Close schools now, argues Shabbir Lakha

• The struggle for education: reports from the UCU strikes

  

  We are into the third week of strikes. UCU negotiators are reporting that there has been progress but have counselled us to keep up the pressure. Here is a series of reports of the strikes from different parts of the country

• Young people didn't vote for Boris and they will stand against him

  

  Young people fought for Corbyn but will now face another Tory government. We need to channel our anger into activism, argues Lucy Nichols

• The lecturers are fighting back: reports from UCU strike day 1

  

  As lecturers at 60 universities around the country began eight days of strike action, Counterfire activists reported from picket lines on day one of the strike

• Labour's plan is what schools need

  

  Labour manifesto promises for education are worth fighting for, writes Alex Snowdon

• Chicago teachers wield collective bargaining as weapon against austerity

  

  Teachers in Chicago are building on the successes of 2012 to create an inspirational campaign and win important victories, reports Kate O’Neil

• Oxford Union violently ejects blind, black student from debate

  

  The Oxford Union demonstrates that it remains at heart a racist, conservative institution, argues Josh Newman

• University staff set to strike on pay and pensions

  

  Now is the time to fight against the marketisation of universities, argues Des Freedman 

• Sixth Form teachers are striking against years of devastating cuts

  

  Andrew Stone, secretary of Wandsworth NEU and a Sixth Form teacher in London, spoke to Counterfire’s Katherine Connelly about why teachers are taking strike action

• Education is a key front in the battle against climate breakdown

  

  At a climate emergency conference organised by the National Education Union, teachers and union activists discussed how to build the movement against climate change, reports Orlando Hill

• University unions build for an autumn of discontent

  

  Industrial action is the only way to improve conditions in higher education

• Johnson's schools revolution? Beware the hype

  

  New promises of more spending in schools reflect enormous popular pressure on the Tories but do not match what is required, argues Alex Snowdon

• Jo Grady victory: all change at the top of UCU

  

  Jo Grady has been elected General Secretary of UCU in a victory for the left, now the rank and file need to get organised argues Graham Kirkwood

• Tsunami da Educação: students stand up to Bolsonaro

  

  In their millions, Brazilian students and workers protest against education cuts, reports Orlando Hill

• Counterfire statement on UCU election for general secretary

  

  Voting starts this week for a new general secretary for the UCU, following the resignation of Sally Hunt. Counterfire members in the union have agreed this statement:

• Knife crime and youth violence: poverty, powerlessness and a way ahead

  

  A commission has found that austerity has played a central role in creating the conditions for the spike in knife crime around the country, reports Kiri Tunks

• Climate strikers: ‘capitalism is ill-equipped to deal with the crisis’

  

  School students spoke to Feyzi Ismail at the second Youth Strike 4 Climate in London on Friday. They are informed, defiant and resolute

• Peak inequality: Britain's ticking time bomb - review

  

  Danny Dorling’s Peak Inequality provides powerful evidence of the damage that rising inequality has had across housing, education, health and demography, finds Sean Ledwith

• Learn to conform or learn to transform?

  

  School students have common ground with teachers in finding this government their main enemy, whether it comes to the value of their learning or climate chaos, argues Dean McAndrew

• From toy drones to real ones: the arms trade and education

  

  By allowing the arms trade into schools, colleges and universities, we are teaching children that innovation for the sake of destruction is acceptable and desirable, argues Lucy Nichols

• Essex got SOLE: library campaigners launch 'book raids' and protests against closures

  

  A vibrant campaign to save Essex libraries is gaining traction. Jean Quinn, teacher and National Education Union member, reports on how they are organising to stop the mass closures

• Miseducating for the Global Economy - book review

  

  Miseducating for the Global Economy exposes the neoliberal push to package education for the sake of corporate rather than social interests, finds Phil Armstrong

• Student protests in France and Albania: could Britain be next?

  

  Dragan Plavšić looks at spreading student protest and where it could go next

• French high school students rise against Macron in 'Black Tuesday' protests

  

  Opposing Macron's neoliberal education reforms and police repression, tens of thousands of students are out on strike, vowing to join up the struggles, reports Jack Hazeldine

• Students protest in Albania: internationalist alternatives in the Balkans

  

  Students in Albania are protesting, and the solidarity pouring in from across the Balkans shows the possibility for internationalist alternatives, argues Kevin Ovenden

• Jeremy Corbyn joins teachers to demand an end to education cuts

  

  The National Education Union organised a march and rally in Westminster on Tuesday, declaring "enough is enough" and launched an indicative strike ballot

• Is austerity over? The picture from the North East shows it isn't

  

  Theresa May recently said that austerity was coming to an end. Tony Dowling from the People's Assembly North East explains why this isn't true

• The Tories are destroying our schools, we need a socialist education policy

  

  The campaign against school funding cuts has attracted a lot of attention, but a socialist education policy can do much more than solve the funding crisis argues Judy Cox

• Why summer holidays are a time of dread and not joy for many families

  

  We are not a poor society, and should not be failing our children like this, argues Kelly Grahan

• The Cynical Educator - book review

  

  Today’s education system may be making professionals into Cynics, but the answer is collective struggle, not ancient philosophy, argues Dominic Alexander

• Countering Extremism in British schools? - book review

  

  Countering Extremism, an account of the Birmingham schools ‘Trojan Horse affair’, is a devastating critique of government and media Islamophobia, finds Judy Cox

• UCU: we are the union

  

  The annual UCU conference has begun and the leadership, unwilling to accept criticism, has acted anti-democratically and with contempt of its members reports Des Freedman

• Kentucky school teachers: why we're walking out on strike

  

  As school teachers walk out across the US, in Kentucky they're storming the state Capitol and making big demands, reports striking teacher James H. Miller

• University workers' statement on UCU ballot result

  

  The strike is over: our fight is not

• The case to vote 'no' in the UCU ballot and how we can win

  

  As university workers vote in a ballot on UUK's latest offer, Lee Jones explains why they should vote no and how the campaign to reject the deal can win

• Vote NO: university workers call to reject proposed deal

  

  Lecturers and supporters met at a national activists meeting today to discuss the campaign to reject UUK's proposed deal

• Newham says no to academisation

  

  The fight against academisation in the East End is on, with three schools taking strike action

• We're not going to take it any more - statement from precarious staff at the University of Kent

  

  Following the UCU strike against pension cuts, precarious staff at the University of Kent release a statement demanding no pay cuts for strike action for already poorly paid staff

• Lecturers' strike update: no capitulation

  

  Des Freedman and Vladimir Unkovski-Korica explain why the deal between UCU and UUK is bad one and should be rejected

• Lecturers' strike update: together we can win

  

  As the lecturers' stike enters its final week, a lecturer explains what we have achieved and what we still need to do

• Lecturers' strike update: students at Reading University begin occupation

  

  Joining a wave of student occupations that look set to escalate this week, students at Reading University have begun an occupation in solildarity with striking lecturers

• Student Occupations Live #OccupyUUK

  

  Live updates of students occupying university buildings in solidarity with striking lecturers. #UCUstrike #StrikeForUSS

• Lecturers' strike: interview with a QMU striker

  

  A UCU striker at Queen Mary University speaks to Katherine Connelly about the ongoing dispute

• Lecturers' strike report: students show their support

  

  On the 5th day of the UCU strike, picket lines stayed strong despite the weather and students came out in force to show their support

• Europe: why retreat must not turn into defeat for the left - weekly briefing

  

  Lindsey German analyses Jeremy Corbyn's speech on Brexit, as well as the importance of the UCU strike and the growing movement against the NRA in the US

• Lecturers' strike updates: Striking to win

  

  As the UCU strike carries on into its 4th day, we put together some short reports from picket lines around the country

• Bristol leads the way in supporting striking university staff - photos

  

  After a huge mobilisation to support striking lecturers on the first day of the strike, Bristolians took to the streets again to show solidarity reports Jack Hazeldine

• Solidarity with striking lecturers - resolution

  

  Resolution to submit at your Union branches/CLPs/elsewhere in solidarity with UCU members going on strike from Thursday

• Why we strike: why lecturers need your support

  

  As university staff are set to take strike action, two lecturers, Des Freedman and Vladimir Unkovski-Korica explain why you should support the strike

• Toby Young: How deeply has the rot set in?

  

  The allegations of sexism and homophobia are piling up, and his time is running out

• White working class boys: aspiration's not the issue

  

  All working class children in Britain, not just white working class boys, have been affected by generations of educational apartheid, argues Kevin Ovenden

• Toby Young: may contain offensive material

  

  The views of Toby Young have no place in society, let alone education. Sack him now, argues Judy Cox

• Educational Justice: Teaching and Organising Against the Corporate Juggernaut - book review

  

  Educational Justice provides a clear view of the corporate program to deform schools, and turn education into a profitable production line, finds Adam Tomes

• Reactions to Budget 2017: resisting Foodbank Britain

  

  Despite heavy opposition and protests, Philip Hammond's budget continues with austerity. A short round up from Counterfire of some of the reactions.

• Teaching assistants: the results of resistance

  

  As teaching assistants in Durham accept a new pay offer, Megan Charlton debunks the myths about the dispute, and Bridget Yuill explains why she voted for the deal

• Theresa May's government is busy doing nothing, but we're still suffering - weekly briefing

  

  The ruling party of the ruling class may be in limbo but our side has no time to lose, argues Lindsey German

• No level playing fields at Eton

  

  Private schools are incompatible with ideas of equality and opportunity, writes Judy Cox

• Are books in schools for reading or for balancing?

  

  Bridget Yuill from the Durham Teaching Assistants campaign looks at some of the wider issues raised by cost cutting in education

• Mayor of Bristol to lead protest against austerity

  

  The move by Marvin Rees provides a significant opportunity for the anti-austerity movement

• Carnival against the school cuts

  

  Many gathered over the weekend to oppose education cuts, reports Orlando Hill

• Education spending: austerity continues

  

  Justine Greening's spending announcement provides no comfort for schools, argues Judy Cox

• Durham Teaching assistants: Behind closed doors? Or out in the open?

  

  The Durham Teaching assistants campaign is a lesson in organised resistance

• Hungary: the end of democratic illusions

  

  The government-sponsored attack on the Central European University (CEU) represents one more step in the country’s authoritarian drift

• High school students across France mobilise to reject the pseudo-choice between Macron and Le Pen

  

  Just before the final round of France’s presidential election, lycéens (high school students) are continuing to provide the sharpest and most combative opposition to the two contenders

• NUT conference: from the Lions of Durham

  

  The Durham TAs' experience - struggle builds confidence; the more we fight, the stronger we become 

• NUT conference: united to fight

  

  As NUT delegates met at the union's final annual conference, immense feelings of unity and defiance were tangible, writes Tony Dowling

• The movement is growing: teaching assistants on the front foot in Durham

  

  Durham teaching assistants brought together people from across the country in a huge show of solidarity

• Value us: the Lions of Durham keep roaring

  

  Saturday March 25 saw a County Durham Teaching Assistants national march and rally, Dawn Warcup was there to report

• Durham teaching assistants: an open letter to a Labour councillor

  

  Dear Labour Councillor, don’t blame me if you are now being held to account for your decisions…

• The great academy rip off

  

  The free market in education is a disaster, and children are paying the price, writes Judy Cox

• Is Technology Good for Education?

  

  Neil Selwyn’s careful critique of ‘ed-tech’ is grounded in a humane commitment to education for a more equal and just society, finds Alex Snowdon

• The Capitalist University: The Transformation of Higher Education in the United States since 1945

  

  Henry Heller’s The Capitalist University shows how higher education has served capitalism for over a hundred years, finds Orlando Hill

• What's going on with the Teaching Assistants' strike action?

  

  The Durham Teaching Assistants' dispute has been going on for some time now, Tony Dowling speaks to Megan Charlton to find out what it's all about

• Boiling point: the crises created by neoliberalism

  

  The crises facing the NHS, London Underground and housing are just a few examples of the results of austerity and privatisation argues Lindsey German

• Pride, solidarity, anger and hope: 2016 for Durham Teaching Assistants

  

  Durham Teaching Assistants' year of resistance is summed up by Megan Charlton

• Durham Teaching Assistants: the fight goes on

  

  With further strikes by Durham Teaching Assistants soon taking place, Megan Charlton reports on the highs and lows of the campaign

• Unionising university workers - extract

  

  In the third extract from The Capitalist University, Henry Heller writes about growing resistance to the corporate university

• The assault on universities: the 2016 version

  

  Ahead of the education protest called by the NUS and UCU on 19 November, Des Freedman and Feyzi Ismail explain why staff and students should join it

• Striking to defend the education of their communities

  

  The Durham Teaching Assistants ratcheted up their campaign with two days of strike action last week. Megan Charlton was there to report

• Universities and the Cold War - extract

  

  The second extract from Heller's The Capitalist University describes intellectual and political conformity that dominated academia during the Cold War

• The Capitalist University

• Universities, corporations and class - extract

  

  We republish the first of three extracts from Henry Heller's new book The Capitalist University, which resonates with the marketisation of HE in Britain

• Defend the Kinsley School cleaners

  

  The small disputes, which appear separate, are coming together to form a movement, argues says John Westmoreland

• Solidarity with Durham Teaching Assistants: what comes around, goes around

  

  Thousands took to the streets of Birmingham last weekend to protest the Tory Party conference. Megan Charlton of the Durham TAs was there to participate and report

• Durham Teaching Assistants: enough is enough

  

  Teaching Assistants in Durham won't accept a pay cut imposed by the council, writes Lizzy Anderson

• Teaching Assistants: showdown with Durham County Council

  

  Durham County Council may have bitten off more than they can chew in challenging their local Teaching Assistants, reports embedded campaigner Megan Charlton 

• Back to Bash Street? May's grammar school myths

  

  As Theresa May tries to take us back in time, Sean Ledwith and Adam Tomes take a look at the grammar school debate

• Chilean student movement: back in the streets for free education

  

  As the Tories announce plans to remove the cap on tuition fees, Hector Rios looks at how Chilean education was marketised, and how students are resisting

• Against Capitalist Education

  

  Against Capitalist Education is a striking call for education to be freed of the straightjacket of the capitalist market, finds Phil Armstrong

• The Tories and academies: a coup against democracy

  

  As the Tories plan to turn every school into an academy, Alastair Stephens takes a look at the motives behind the drive

• Teachers prepare for confrontation with government

  

  The NUT conference captured the angry mood among teachers over the Tories' academies plans, reports Tony Dowling

• Easy as ABC: teachers resist academies

  

  Is the Tories’ forced academisation programme the final straw in their assault on public education?

• Academies: stop the Tory assault on our schools

  

  The academies programme is a political attack on state education, writes Alex Snowdon

• We can be heroes: remembering David Bowie with a purpose

  

  Philosophy Football's Bowie shirts are a fitting memorial for the late artist, writes Mark Perryman

• Education targets: the need for a radical rethink

  

  A culture of target-chasing has become all pervasive in our schools. Phil Armstrong looks at the issues

• Preventing Prevent: Students are not suspects

  

  Students need to unite against the Prevent strategy, which is only meant to spread division, argues Shelly Asquith

• Five years on from Millbank, who are the real vandals?

  

  Des Freedman argues that the government’s new green paper signals an even more deregulated, profit-driven HE sector

• No talking in class: Prevent in schools

  

  Nick O'Brien on how the Prevent strategy has already started to make our schools places where students are afraid to discuss important and topical issues

• Infected by the Germ: Baseline Testing

  

  Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts writes Kiri Tunks

• Gateshead teachers strike on May Day to save jobs at Thorp Academy

  

  NUT members at Thorp Academy in Gateshead took strike action on Friday in defence of colleagues threatened by compulsory redundancy - Tony Dowling reports

• #OccupyUAL: our creativity none of your business

  

  Students were taken to court by University of the Arts London for occupying in protest against cuts to further education and Foundation degree courses. Anna Dakin reports

• Working together, winning together

  

  Tony Dowling reports from this week's NUT conference

• #OccupyUAL: only option is to escalate

  

  A series of student occupations against university cuts is underway and look set to escalate. Dan Poulton went along to Central St Martin's college where free foundation courses face the axe

• 'Whose school? Our school!'

  

  Hundreds of protesters marched through Norwich city centre to show their opposition to a prominent high school becoming an academy.  Nick O’Brien reports

• Cameron’s Free School scam

  

  Cameron’s announcement of 500 free schools was a blatant attempt to take the focus off his cuts to education argues John Westmoreland

• More Than a Score. The New Uprising against high-stakes testing

  

  More Than A Scoreis a collection of articles that show the creative anger of those defending public education against the relentless, neoliberal, corporate assault, writes Adam Tomes

• SOAS staff and students demand Justice for Cleaners

  

  SOAS Justice for Cleaners (J4C) re-launched their campaign this year with a series of successful events over the past week - demanding the cleaning staff are brought in-house

• Challenging the pay and working conditions of hourly-paid and fractional staff

  

  Staff at Queen Mary’s have launched an anticasualisation campaign demanding pay for all hours worked at London Living Wage and contract uniformity. Isabelle Leach reports

• Pessimism and rage in the higher education pensions dispute

  

  We have seven weeks in which to raise the temperature and to inject some hope into the battle to defend pensions says Des Freedman

• They’re back: Free Education march takes London by storm

  

  Against the odds, regardless of the absent NUS and a bullying police force, the student movement has announced a triumphant return to the UK’s political scene writes Jack Brindelli

• Greece: wave of school occupations against the new ‘class’ educational reforms

  

  Thousands of students, teachers, and parents have been taking part in a national student demonstration reports Marina Prentoulis

• Hands off our pensions!

  

  Des Freedman, Brian Alleyne and Tom Henri on why staff at 69 universities have started a marking boycott to protest against proposed changes to pensions

• Hey Wilshaw! Leave them kids alone!

  

  Ofsted head Sir Michael Wilshaw’s ideas about ‘discipline’ have much in common with Victorian methods and little to do with real education writes John Westmoreland

• Student Loans not for sale after Cable's U-turn

  

  Student campaigners are celebrating victory after Vince Cable announced that the Lib Dems have pulled the plug on the planned privatisation of Student Loans

• Selling our schools - Gove's Trojan Horse

  

  Gove may have gone but the covert privatisation of schools he initiated continues writes Clare Sambrook

• Social trade unionism can break the corporate juggernaut

  

  For trade unions to fight back and win we need to tap into the massive political anger and idealism that is running right across society argues John Westmoreland

• Gove's last lesson

  

  John Rees looks at the meaning of the Cabinet reshuffle

• Defend John Westmoreland: History teacher and UCU activist

  

  A campaign has developed at York College against management attacks on John Westmoreland, a popular History teacher and leading trade union activist

• How should World War I history be taught in schools?

  Should we emphasise the heroism and courage of a 'just war' in a 'noble cause', as education secretary Gove wants, or highlight imperialist war as the worst form of barbarism?

• Cops off campus - a victory for students

  Keeping the police off campus means building the biggest possible movement against the attack on education, and against austerity

• Cambridge: teachers' unity against Gove

  'Gove has achieved what once seemed impossible - uniting NUT and NASUWT. And you know what? We like working with each other. Unity is strength, and if Gove doesn’t listen, it will be his downfall'

• Striking back against Gove

  This October will see the launch of a concerted campaign by teachers, students and parents to stop the human wrecking ball of education known as Michael Gove

• Clapham to Brixton march against education cuts

  A demonstration from Clapham Common to Windrush Square in Brixton on the 15th June 2013 protesting against the government's austerity measures meaning hard cuts to Lambeth college

• Michael Gove: holiday snatcher

  Michael Gove's determination to demoralise and destroy public sector education appears to be boundless

• Gove's education factories

  Far from improving schools, the education secretary is trying to divide teachers and make the education system more viable for private sector providers, writes Martin Copson

• The case of the Halesowen Four

  The sacking of four Trade Unionists at Halesowen College in highly controversial circumstances sets a dangerous precedent argues Adam Tomes

• Resisting Gove's education counter-revolution

  Gove wants the deregulation of education and the increased privatisation of schools writes John Westmoreland

• NUS: breaking with the union won't build the movement

  The failure of the NUS leadership to build student protests has led to calls from some activists to break up the NUS and create alternative structures – a mistake argues James Meadway

• Why the student movement needs to stop devouring itself

  Austerity has been a disaster for students as it has been for so many people. But the student movement is not responding adequately to the crisis. Katherine Connelly explains

• The fight against Gove: a new mood among teachers

  Education generally and the teaching profession specifically are at the forefront of government attacks. But, writes Martin Copson, teachers are fighting back

• Lessons in liberation: pedagogy of the oppressed

  As Michael Gove intensifies his counter-revolution in the classroom, Sean Ledwith rediscovers the work of a radical educational thinker who influenced ideas about teaching and learning from the 1960s onwards

• Gove Levels: the educational abyss

  Michael Gove’s replacement for GCSEs is an all-out attack on working class kids, argues Adam Tomes

• Vygotsky versus Gove

  The recent furore over GCSE grades has once again thrown into sharp relief the clash between two philosophies of education that underpins most controversies in the sector, explains Sean Ledwith

• Whitehall hit by London Met protests

  Opposition to plans to deport 2,600 London Metropolitan students hit Whitehall today as students, staff and supporters from across London marched on the Home Office and Downing Street

• Market failure: the profiteers behind Gove's exam fiasco

  As the uproar over the exam boards’ manipulation of results continues, a college lecturer looks at the role of the businesses profiting from the chaos

• London Met: a destructive Tory attack on higher education

  The threatened deportation of 2,600 London Met students is an issue for the whole movement argues Des Freedman

• Examining to fail: Gove tries to turn back the clock on education

  Michael Gove has denied thousands of young people a chance to continue their education as exam boards responded to his demands for ‘academic rigour‘ argues Adam Tomes

• Class act: Engels classic brought to the stage

  In the 1840s Engels wrote ‘The Condition of the Working Class in England’, based upon his experiences in Manchester. Ben Metters reviews a contemporary theatrical take on this political classic

• Striking for our future

  Sean Rillo Raczka, vice president of the University of London Union, shares his thoughts on N30, the student movement and the need for more mass action against the government.

• Occupation, injunction and the right to protest: report from the Universitiy of Sheffield

  Henry Parkyn-Smith and Naomi Thompson recount the experience of the recent occupation at the University of Sheffield on N30, and argue for continued protest on campus.

• The Assault on Universities: A Manifesto for Resistance

  Des Freedman, one of the editors of the The Assault on Universities, explains why the Higher Education Manifesto is important, and how we can use it to defend education against marketisation. The book is being launched at Housmans Bookshop on Wednesday, 23rd November.

• Students march to the City on November 9

  ULU vice president Sean Rillo Raczka: Students will be marching to the City this Wednesday 9th November to continue the fight against fees and cuts.

• Free Frank Fernie - end political convictions

  As another anti-cuts activist is sentenced to jail, John Westmoreland laments the loss of caring and committed young activists to political sentences.

• White paper on universities: Putting business at the heart of the system

  The white paper is, in essence, a fairly typical piece of neoliberal ideology that combines an attack on public provision with yet more state intervention, argues Des Freedman.

• Universities: the new profit-chasing factories?

  The disastrous tuition fee rises will hurt part-time students at institutions like Birkbeck in particular, disenfranchising a generation, argues Sean Rillo Raczka, chair of Birkbeck students' union.

• The student movement: results and prospects

  James Meadway analyses the causes of the lull in the student movement, and argues that if the movement was to sustain itself beyond the activist minority, it had to maintain its relationship to the wider mass of students.

• Albion Rose: Susan Matthews on student resistance

  Susan Matthews is the mother of Alfie Meadows, who was seriously injured on the student demonstration on 9th December, and who has recently been charged for violent disorder. This article is her contribution to Springtime: The New Student Rebellions.

• The lifeline that is EMA

  The possible abolition of the Education Maintenance Awards by the ConDem government is yet another nail in the coffin of higher education.

• Jody McIntyre: Account of student protester dragged from wheelchair by riot police

  Jody McIntyre was pulled from his wheelchair twice by police at Thursday's Student protest, this is his account of the day.

• Clare Solomon: The student firebrand behind wave of protests

  

  The nationwide wave of demonstrations against student fees is being led by a woman who applied to be a police officer before changing course and becoming a Marxist revolutionary.

• The Gulf oil spill of education reform

  Lord Browne's review of university funding, published yesterday, is the biggest attack ever launched on higher education in this country. If made into law, it will herald the death of equality of access to learning.

• Universities: big business for companies

  Cuts to universities will mean fewer students with fewer facilities, with more competition for places - but also more companies making a profit out of education.