Commenting on the passing of Motion 21 at the Annual Conference
of the National Education Union, Kevin Courtney,
Joint General Secretary of the NEU, said:
"It is disappointing that the Government is not taking a holistic
approach to education post-Covid. Instead, it is burying its head
in the sand about the level of disruption experienced by young
people during the pandemic. The coercive effect of new, higher
attainment targets in the Schools White Paper will inevitably be
a rise in exclusions.
"Even before Covid the number of students that were excluded was
high and there is no national strategy on the race and social
class inequalities. This is an indictment of national policies on
the curriculum and assessment, approaches which label and
demotivate students, and on educational under-funding.
“Educational quality and outcomes for students are not improved
by setting new targets on academic attainment. Raising
expectations to a level where many students are feeling like
failures is self-defeating for young people, erodes confidence
and wastes skills. Reducing exclusions requires a joined-up
effort across lots of DFE policy and it's about much more than
behaviour policies. Funding for early intervention is essential.
“To enable teachers to support pupils after Covid we need small
classes, more teachers and more small group work and to adjust
the curriculum content. Tutoring on its own won't be a
significant enough intervention to plug gaps in understanding,
and to achieve the trusting relationships needed for young people
at risk of exclusion.
"Teachers and support staff are deeply worried about the lack of
access to mental health interventions whereby young people often
have to be suicidal before they can be seen by specialists.
Teachers are also calling for a more diverse curriculum offer for
students.”
