GREEN Party leader Natalie Bennett has offered her party’s support for today’s NUT strike.
Speaking in solidarity with those striking, Bennett said:
“The hashtag for today’s strike, #investdontcut, sums up very well the intention behind today’s action.
“Teachers are striking in defence of the education their pupils, and future pupils, receive.
“Schools that I visit up and down the country tell me they are struggling to maintain the quality of education in the face of slashed funding. Some are being forced into making teachers and support staff redundant, which means a poorer education for pupils. Others are resisting that at the cost of spending on building maintenance, spending that can’t be postponed indefinitely.”
Bennett added:
“The deregulation of the pay and condition of teachers follows the disastrous introduction of performance-related pay, which is pushing teachers to ‘teach to the test’, at the cost of the broader education and support that their pupils need and deserve.
“Deregulation is showing further disrespect to the critical role that teachers play in preparing our future generations for life in the unstable, uncertain, difficult world we’re leaving them - disrespect we, and our children, cannot afford.
“An ideologically driven focus of taking schools from local authority control and handing them over to increasing privatisation has, over successive governmentS, become increasingly chaotic and increasingly damaging to our children, our teachers and our schools.
“Turning schools into exam factories has damaged our children, and their futures. We must change direction towards an education that prepares young people for life. Passing Green MP Caroline Lucas’s PSHE bill would be a good first step.” (1)
Notes:
1. https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/caroline-lucas-to-present-pshe-bill-to-parliament.html