Challenge 'skill speak' says UCU president at inaugural Welsh conference

The shortfall in funding in higher education in Wales, the review of further education and the failure of universities to implement a nationally agreed pay deal are some of the issues to be debated by lecturers and academic-related staff from both further and higher education institutions in Cardiff.

Around 100 delegates will also discuss the new union's approach to lobbying and campaigning following devolution, the creation of a Wales Assembly Government and the different approach now being taken in terms of education policy.

UCU joint president, Dr Dennis Hayes, will argue that: 'The New Labour government's policy legacy to further and higher education in the UK, after 10 years in power, is that it has left us 'skill crazy'. Through the obsession with skills, the very idea of education has been undermined and few people have really challenged the assumptions that are allowing the politicians and policy wonks to do away with education.

'It's time to challenge the sophistries that are promoted about skills - that they drive the economy; that education is all about skills; that poor literacy skills are holding back growth; that young people need different skills for a changing world; and, worst of all, that many young  people are now not capable of learning certain skills.

'It's accepting the sophistries implicit in 'skill speak' that provide the basis for education on the cheap.'