Members of the National Education Union have voted to accept a 6.5% pay settlement, ending proposed strike action. The vote, which closed on Friday, saw 86% of teacher members accept the progress and end industrial action. This means strikes planned for the Autumn Term will not go ahead. Back to school…

This morning the National Education Union is levelling for a slice of the strike pie – currently all the rage with their fellow public sector comrades. Ahead of a meeting between her and the Education Secretary today, Joint General Secretary of the NEU Mary Bousted popped up on the Today Programme to argue “Children are being harmed every day by the crisis of the workforce shortages in our schools”. When challenged about potential strike action, Bousted told listeners that harming children’s access to education because of strikes is the “last thing we want to do”. A seemingly new-found view within the NEU…

In the dying days of the pandemic – October 2021 – the union was still calling for the reintroduction of school bubbles and other practices that would restrict children’s access to the classroom, a time well after the final peak of the virus when deaths were down to 120 a day. A Bousted flush of a policy…

Two months later in December 2021, the NEU called for a ‘plan B’ for schools, which would have forced those with Covid contacts to isolate:

“Children who have a sibling or other household member with covid-19 should not attend school/college until they have had a negative PCR test – as in Scotland – in addition to the Government guidance of 10-day isolation on close contacts of confirmed or suspected Omicron cases.”

“Government to issue guidance to all schools and colleges on safe organisation of gatherings and meetings, including options for social distancing or virtual events, based on factors including local case rates, outbreaks in the school/college itself, quality of ventilation and space available.”

In January 2022, Bousted argued “The danger is we lift restrictions too quickly before the effects of returning to school are clear”. In other words, just this time last year the NEU’s attitude was to favour as many restrictions as possible on kids’ access to the classroom – far from such policies being “the last thing we want to do”. Forgive Guido for not buying the current line…

While Gavin Williamson was up before the education select committee today, discussing their latest report into white, working-class boys, the National Education Union wasn’t taking the legitimate concerns of Tory MPs quite so seriously. The Nottingham branch of the union last night tweeted:

The Tories expressing concern for the education of working class children is like Dr Harold Shipman claiming he cared for his patients. Robert Halfon MP, together with his select committee, should do one. https://t.co/VODTXNwTe6

— Notts NEU (@NottsNUT) June 22, 2021

As new MP Brendan Clarke-Smith retorts, “You are unfit to represent teachers or to be involved in any way with the education of our children.” 

The NUT isn’t the only one downplaying the plight of working class white boys. the UCU’s General Secretary Jo Grady yesterday took to Twitter to claim MPs’ concerns are about “whipping up racism”, not educational outcomes for children. Meanwhile neither unions have proffered any solutions of their own to deal with the scandal…

The NEU has been contacted for comment.

UPDATE: Rob Halfon has intervened after being targetted by the NUT tweet, telling Guido “it’s a pity the NEU seek to compare me with Harold Shipman”, and “I think they should do better than that”. 

He also points out this isn’t his first run-in with the loony left NEU; in 2015 Guido reported on a green party candidate standing in Halfon’s constituency who said the Tories are not the party of workers, “unless u mean it like Hitler meant it”. At the time, the candidate targeting Jewish Halfon was general secretary of the Harlow NEU branch. He’s since been promoted to a National Executive Member of the union…

UPDATE II: The NEU branch has finally deleted the offending tweet and offered an apology:

Earlier today we made a tweet in very bad taste. We have deleted it. But we would like to apologise to everyone who was offended by it - and to our members for the mistake we made in tweeting it in the first place.

— Notts NEU (@NottsNUT) June 23, 2021

With all the noise Labour is making over today’s exam results, Guido was surprised to see the usual teaching unions have not been plastered across the airwaves today. The largest teaching union, the NEU, has sent just three tweets so far – and it turns out they are attempting to perform a screeching U-turn.

The exam body Ofqual originally consulted widely on the way it would grade this year’s students without exams. The enormous number of consultation responses included 78 responses identifying as a ‘teacher representative group or union’. And the system the consultation shaped received approval from unions, even ASCL and the NEU…

In April the NEU, praised Ofqual’s proposed system, stating that “We are pleased that the Department for Education and Ofqual both recognise the professionalism of teachers… In any qualification system, but particularly one created in these circumstances, it helps with consistency and fairness to have moderation and oversight from the regulator.”

Yesterday evening the General Secretary of the ASCL union, Geoff Barton, was strident in supporting the system as devised by the original consultation, telling Channel 4 News “I’m not convinced we needed any new measures in England”. Interesting to see these unions now try to avoid the heat for a system they helped create…

Despite calling for schools to not return this week, the National Education Union is also insisting that summer holidays go ahead as planned. Perhaps they should change their name…