Protests at Ealing college on Friday in row over axing of A-levels

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) will be demonstrating outside the college from 12:15pm at the Ealing Green campus of the college in Ealing. Students were informed in a letter last week of the college's decision to stop teaching A-levels this summer. 

That move means around 50 students, who have already started their A-levels, will have to find a different college in the summer if they wish to continue their studies. As well as protesting on Friday, staff have warned that they will ballot for industrial action if the college tries to make compulsory redundancies.

UCU branch secretary and A-level English teacher Matthew Cookson said: 'The decision to stop A-levels in the summer will leave around 50 students halfway through their studies and stranded if they cannot find somewhere else to study.

'It will undoubtedly be difficult for some students to find a college offering all their subjects and we believe the college has a moral obligation to allow these students to complete their A-levels at Ealing.'

The college currently offers A-levels in 18 subjects, including English Literature, Maths, History and the sciences. No other part of Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College offers A-levels. This is the second department shut by the college in the past 18 months following the closure of the department of performing arts at the Hammersmith site in November 2015.