gove urges parents into classrooms to break strike
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Gove urges parents into classrooms to break strike

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Gove urges parents into classrooms to break strike

London - Arabstoday

Michael Gove is encouraging parents to break this week's mass teachers' strike by volunteering to turn up and take lessons themselves, The Independent on Sunday has learnt. In an unprecedented step in relations between the Government and trade unions, the Secretary of State for Education said that classrooms threatened with closure could remain open if head teachers used the "wider school community" – including pupils' parents – to teach lessons. Some head teachers have written to parents asking them to consider, if they have been vetted by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), volunteering to ensure lessons go ahead, Whitehall sources claimed yesterday. A spokesman for Mr Gove said the minister thought it was "great" if parents could help out with teaching. But the move triggered concern from the National Union of Teachers, whose members are among 750,000 teachers and other public sector workers walking out on Thursday in a dispute over major changes to public sector pension schemes. The NUT questioned how classes could go ahead because even CRB-checked parents would need to be supervised. The step suggests Mr Gove has pushed the concept of the Big Society to include strike-breaking. Ed Davey, the employment affairs minister, has also been accused of encouraging strike-breaking by declaring that the public would expect "sensible contingency planning" to take place. It came as ministers raised the fresh threat of new strike laws to crack down on future walkouts. It is understood that raising the legal threshold for turnout in a strike ballot is under active consideration. Turnout in the NUT strike ballot was 40 per cent, while for the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) ballot it was 32 per cent. Banning full-time union officials in the public sector from earning a taxpayer-funded wage is also on the table, ministerial sources said. "We have ruled nothing out, although it would be a last resort," a source said. Whitehall officials said there was already "anecdotal" evidence of heads writing to parents asking them to teach this Thursday. Retired teachers are also being asked to volunteer. In a letter to schools last week, Mr Gove encouraged head teachers to use all necessary measures to keep schools open. He wrote that there was nothing to stop head teachers from dropping the national curriculum for a day or increasing the pupil-to-teacher ratio if it meant keeping the school open. He asked heads to consider "the full range of local resources available to you from within your school staff and the wider school community to ensure that wherever possible your school remains open". Asked whether "wider school community" meant getting parents to teach lessons, a spokesman for the minister said yesterday: "It is up to schools how they want to keep themselves open. If they do that kind of thing, we think that is great." But Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT, said: "We are very sympathetic to the problems parents will have on the day. However, substituting CRB-checked parents for teachers won't work, as pupils simply won't be taught." Unison, which is not among the unions striking on Thursday but is planning "rolling" strikes later this year, has expressed support for the action by urging teaching assistants among its membership to resist being drafted in to cover lessons. Thousands of schools across England and Wales, mainly at primary level, are expected to close on Thursday as a result of the 24-hour co-ordinated stoppage. A survey of 18 local authorities by The IoS found an average of 37 per cent of schools will close on Thursday. Local union officials in Lancashire claimed all 580 schools in the county would be closed or partially closed, while 83 per cent in the Neath Port Talbot county council area are expected to shut. Besides the NUT and PCS, workers from the Association of Teachers and Lecturers and the University and College Union are striking over pensions. According to the J30 Strike website, more than 100 rallies, marches and pickets are planned across Britain to show support for the strikes, from George Square in Glasgow to Lemon Quay in Truro, Queens Road in Aberystwyth to Church Street in Dover.

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

gove urges parents into classrooms to break strike gove urges parents into classrooms to break strike

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

gove urges parents into classrooms to break strike gove urges parents into classrooms to break strike

 



GMT 12:47 2016 Thursday ,01 September

'La La Land' musical masterpiece dazzles Venice film fest

GMT 12:42 2017 Monday ,20 February

Dalia al-Behairy begins 'Yawmiyat Zoga Mafrosa'

GMT 19:01 2017 Wednesday ,30 August

Oil prices down as US reels from Harvey

GMT 04:19 2017 Monday ,08 May

National forces attack mercenaries in Taiz

GMT 19:21 2017 Sunday ,07 May

Iranian Film Week opens in Baghdad

GMT 21:33 2017 Sunday ,30 July

Arab Quartet meeting kicks off in Bahrain

GMT 17:17 2016 Friday ,07 October

Aleppo bleeds as US and Russia spar

GMT 12:03 2015 Monday ,21 December

Nepal protester killed in constitutional crisis clash

GMT 09:47 2016 Thursday ,22 December

Trump vows to cut F-35 spending, as leaked memo

GMT 21:44 2017 Friday ,15 December

King establishes Hawar Development Committee

GMT 20:57 2017 Tuesday ,16 May

Naval Forces rescue 23 tourists in Hurghada

GMT 12:56 2017 Monday ,11 December

Lyon leave it late, Balotelli with Nice winner

GMT 06:18 2017 Thursday ,19 October

Russian delegation meets with Julphar chairman

GMT 21:20 2017 Monday ,23 October

Nasr, delegation of London Stock Exchange
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday