Commenting on the Prime Minister’s announcement of a general
election, Kevin Courtney, General Secretary of the
National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers’
union, said:
“This country must have a Government that will invest in
education. In the general election, we will press all parties to
give commitments that if elected, they will invest and not cut
education. At the moment, Theresa May's Government has
taken decisions which mean 99% of schools are going to lose
funding. Teachers and parents will lobby vociferously to put
school and sixth form college funding at the heart of this
general election. Candidates must recognise what will happen to
children's education if we make the £3billion worth of cuts
a year that the National Audit Office has predicted.
“Teachers are working longer hours than nearly every other
country and our children are some of the unhappiest in the world.
We must return a government that will talk and work properly with
the profession so we can bring down teacher workload driven by
excessive and damaging accountability and assessment
measures. This would free up teachers to teach and would be
in the best interests of our children and young people.
“In the sixth richest nation in the world it is disgraceful that
4 million children are growing up in poverty. Child poverty
levels are simply unacceptable. This weekend we revealed how many
children are hungry and going without food. At the general
election each party must pledge a real strategy to reduce child
poverty, with children's centres and sure start in every town to
ensure that every child has the best start in life.
“Wasting money on grammar schools and free schools is nothing but
a distraction from the real issues. This weekend the NUT has
revealed that the current government has wasted £138.5 million on
free schools. UTCs and studio schools that either closed,
partially closed or failed to open. This money should be invested
in the education of all children not just the few.
“There are over half a million teachers in the country.
Politicians cannot afford to ignore their voices and their
passionate ideas about what education needs. The NUT will be
pressing every candidate in every constituency to pledge to stop
cuts to schools in their constituency and elsewhere.”
