Goverment accused of hypocrisy by teaching unions over state school closures

Education unions have accused the Government of “hypocrisy” over threats to take legal action to stop schools closing before Christmas after Eton College switched to online learning

Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, was on Saturday night facing a backlash from two of the country’s most senior teaching leaders after senior Department for Education sources warned they could apply for injunctions to stop state schools closing early.

Hitting out at the move, Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), pointed out that Eton had been forced to revert to remote teaching until the end of term due to a Covid outbreak among pupils.

Pointing out that ministers had not commented on the decision publicly, he told The Telegraph: “If it was good enough for the Prime Minister’s former school, why on earth are they wheeling out regional school commissioners to take action against state schools?”

His comments were echoed by Mary Bousted, general secretary of the National Education Union, who added: “Does Gavin Williamson think that parents who send their children to Eton have more rights than those that send their children to state school?”

The row erupted after The Telegraph revealed that a multi-academy trust in London had confirmed it would switch to online learning from Tuesday and end term the next day.

Meanwhile, a number of other headteachers have signalled they will authorise absences for children whose parents are concerned about them being at school so close to Christmas, when they are likely to come into contact with grandparents and elderly relatives.

There are also concerns that high absence rates among staff is making it difficult for some schools to remain open.

However, in response, a number of regional schools commissioners, who work on behalf of Mr Williamson, are understood to have threatened action to ensure that schools remain open.

Under powers conferred to him under the Coronavirus Act, Mr Williamson has the power to make a temporary continuity direction to force schools to ensure that pupils attend full-time.

On Saturday night, Mr Barton said he was aware of at least one incident in the West Midlands where a school had been forced to cancel plans to allow pupils to end face-to-face teaching early following threats from the regional school commissioner.

In contrast, he revealed he had been contacted by an independent school head last week who had decided to switch to online learning following concerns raised by parents.

“Parents were so concerned their Christmas may be affected they trusted the school to move to online learning, so they closed on Friday, just like Eton did,” he added.

“I would have thought that if it was good enough for the Prime Minister’s former school, why on earth are they wheeling out regional school commissioners to take action.

“You could argue that parents shouldn’t be given that entitlement, but given we are in a global pandemic, this is probably the season we want goodwill more than any other year.”

Ms Bousted added: “Resorting to the law when parents and staff in schools are quite legitimately afraid that the situation they are working in is unsafe...and to go against the professional judgment of the headteacher, is unacceptable.

“If these schools are closing, then heads are not making these decisions easily. They know how important access to education is. If they are making the decision to close, they are doing so because they are desperate and short of staff.”

Approached for comment, a Department for Education spokesman said: “It is a national priority to keep education settings open full time, and it is vital that children remain in school until the end of the term.”

“Schools, colleges and early years settings across the country have worked tremendously hard to put protective measures in place that are helping reduce the risk of the virus being transmitted and our regional school commissioner teams continue to support local authorities and school trusts to remain open and help resolve any operational issues.”