A chronology of school pupil walkouts which I have been able to discover in the UK from the 19th century to today.
- October 1889: Thousands of children across England and Scotland walk out in a wave of strikes which sweep the UK against corporal punishment and excessive workloads.
- September 1911: A further wave of pupil walkouts spreads across the UK and Ireland as thousands of children in at least 62 towns and cities take to the streets for shorter hours and no corporal punishment.
- 1 April 1914-1939: Nearly all pupils at the Burston school in Norfolk, England walk out when their socialist teachers were sacked and instead set up rival school funded by workers' movement.
- 1914: Wave of pupil strikes.1
- 1929: Wave of pupil strikes.2
- 1938: Wave of pupil strikes.3
- 27 May 1971: 800 pupils at a school in Stepney, east London, walk out and win reinstatement of a teacher sacked for publishing a book of pupils' poetry.
- 25 April 1985: 250,000 school students across the UK strike against YTS workfare program.
- Thousands of children across the UK leave classes and take to the streets to protest against the invasion of Iraq that day.
- October-November 2010: Over 100,000 schoolchildren join with university students in walking out of classes and marching against government cuts to education.
- June 2015: Around 50 pupils walk out (although it is unclear how long for) at Crown Woods College, south-east London against proposals to become an academy school.4
If you are aware of any more please let me know in the comments below so I can add them in (or edit them in directly if you are an editor: but please make sure you have a credible source).
- 1. Source: When the class war reached the classrooms - Clive Bloom - retrieved on 20/10/2015
- 2. Source: When the class war reached the classrooms - Clive Bloom - retrieved on 20/10/2015
- 3. Source: When the class war reached the classrooms - Clive Bloom - retrieved on 20/10/2015
- 4. Sources: Pupils plan strike to stop London school being turned into an academy - retrieved on 19/10/2015, School students strike against academy plan at Crown Woods College in Eltham - retrieved on 20/10/2015.
Comments
There was a pupils' strike/parents pulling their children from schools protest this week against compulsory testing for primary school kids. Posting this here as a reminder to get something in the library about it and add it to this timeline. If anyone saw any good articles about it anywhere please let me know
One to add: on 3 April 1,000 school pupils, most of them black, came out on strike. They held a rally and march - parading past the local court, the police station, Tulse Hill School, where another 100 pupils joined them, and Brockwell Park'. More info including source here: http://transpont.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/brockwell-three-school-strike-in-1974.html
if someone could edit this in that would be great, otherwise I will do it when I get a chance
There was a planned student strike in 2014 against academisation: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/education/pupils-plan-strike-to-stop-london-school-being-turned-into-an-academy-9459608.html
Also haven't found a primary source but also read about this one on 17 July 1978:
On this day in 1978 the Hackney and Tower Hamlets Defence Committee organised a day long strike against racist attacks, which brought Tower Hamlets to a standstill. They were joined by 400 pupils from the predominantly British Asian Robert Montefiore school in protest against the racist violence in and around their school.