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Press Release

Education Bill will 'wreck state schooling'

10 May 2011

The NASUWT teaching union calls for a "more informed public debate" ahead of the third reading of the Education Bill.

Ministers of all political persuasions are being urged to halt the progress of the Education Bill, due for its third reading in the House of Commons tomorrow.

The NASUWT, the largest teachers' union, wants a more informed public debate about the proposals that could see an end to fair and free access to state education, mean that pupils are taught by unqualified teachers, and give poorer children a second-rate system of schooling.

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said:

"The contents of this Bill could scar education and the futures of children and young people for generations.

"The Health and Social Care Bill has been put on hold because of a recognition that it will irreparably damage the NHS. The provisions of the Education Bill will have the same damaging impact on the lives of children and young people.

"We want MPs to pause, rewind, and eject these proposals.

"Do parents really know that the proposals could mean schools charge for subjects outside the national curriculum? The measure has barely seen the light of day, but it's there in black and white in the Bill.

"Removing safeguards about admissions codes could mean that schools will introduce elitist selection criteria, creating a two-tier system.

"We know that parents are extremely hostile to the idea that their child will be educated by someone who isn't qualified as a teacher. Yet here it is, in the Bill, opening the floodgates for academies to use teachers without Qualified Teacher Status.

"And whilst the duty to provide independent careers guidance remains, there is no money to do it properly.

"The Bill will pander to the interests of privateers and profiteers rather than meeting the needs of all children and young people."



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