Schools closure row deepens as teaching union launches strike app to help shut classrooms during lockdown

Mary Bousted
Joint general secretary of the NEU  Mary Bousted
Bruce Adames

A battle to keep Britain’s schools open during lockdown erupted today as a Left-wing teaching union launched an app designed to help teachers organise strikes and shut classrooms.

The “Escalation App” created by the hard-line National Education Union gives teaching staff a step-by-step guide to challenge head teachers trying to keep lessons running through the pandemic.

It was condemned by the chairman of the education select committee Robert Halfon who said closing schools would “damage children’s life chances”.

Ministers also insisted there was a “moral duty” to keep schools open and the Prime Minister has said his “priority” is to keep young people in education.

The NEU’s bosses have argued that schools are “an engine for virus transmission” and that more than 150,000 teachers and support staff want schools to close for all pupils, except the children of key workers and the most vulnerable.  

However, Tory MP Mr Halfon said that the last lockdown had been a “disaster” for millions of children who were off for up to six months, including holidays.

He told the Standard: “I wish the NEU would provide an app that showed how to keep our children learning and stop an epidemic of educational poverty, potentially damaging children’s life chances forever.

“The NEU seem more concerned about closing schools than keeping children learning. It’s wonderful that so many heads, teachers and support staff have ignored the union and are doing everything possible to ensure that pupils carry on with their education.” 

He added: “Almost every study shows that it is safe to open schools.” 

The Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has called for school closures, saying that without them large parts of the North West will be plunged back into the strict Tier 3 restrictions. 

However, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has put himself at odds with both the NEU and the Labour mayor by insisting that schools should stay open. 

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson told the Standard: “We must put the interests of our children and young people first, especially when the benefits of being in the classroom are so clear.” 

The latest government figures show that school attendance dropped from 89 per cent to 86 per cent in the week ahead of the October half-term break. About 82 per cent of secondary school pupils were in class on October 22, while attendance in primary schools dropped to 90 per cent. 

Mr Williamson has pointed out that the Chief Medical Officer said schools are the safest and best places to be for children — not just for education but for their wellbeing. 

A letter from the UK’s chief medical officers in August said a lack of schooling increases inequalities, reduces the life chances of children and can exacerbate physical and mental health issues. 

Yesterday, the Standard reported how teachers were defying unions to keep schools going as children’s commissioner Anne Longfield said it would be a “disaster” if they were to close when the country goes into lockdown again on Thursday. 

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU alongside Mary Bousted, said: “For as long as schools and colleges remain open, they have to be as safe a working and learning environment as possible. Our new app allows reps to keep a real-time record of concerns and the progress of efforts to tackle them. Most problems can be resolved at school or college level, but when they are not, the NEU Escalation App will enable members to quickly seek outside help.” 

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of NAHT school leaders’ union, said it was likely that more pupils will stay at home as term restarts and called on the Government to remove parental fines for non-attendance in light of the national restrictions. 

He said: “Now we are heading back into lockdown rather than out of it, as many of us had hoped by now, the Government absolutely must take fines off the table.” 

The Department for Education has said fines for parents who refuse to send their children to school will only be used as a “last resort”.