NASUWT comments on the Green Party manifesto
Commenting on the proposals for education in the Green Party manifesto, Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union, said:
“The Green Party’s manifesto pledge to increase investment in public services is a welcome antidote to the view that public sector cuts are the only way to tackle the budget deficit.
“Public services are essential to rebuilding the country after the recession and it would be deeply damaging to cut public services any time soon.
“The Green Party commitment to preventing businesses and other bodies running state funded schools will strike a chord with the general public. The recent Ipsos MORI public opinion survey found that 96% of the electorate were opposed to organisations other than national and local government running schools.
“It is unfortunate that a list of some otherwise radical ideas should include a number of well-intentioned but badly thought-out measures.
“The proposal to abolish SATs would do nothing to free up the curriculum. What is needed instead is action to tackle the system of high-stakes accountability in schools.
“The Green Party’s proposal to open more small schools would starve many pupils of an enhanced curriculum offer that is often possible only where there are greater economies of scale.”
ENDS
Ilana Rapaport
NASUWT Press Office
Email: ilana.rapaport@mail.nasuwt.org.uk
Tel: 020 7420 9680 Mobile (and out of hours contact): 07966 195 010
Address: 5 King Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 8SD
NASUWT- The largest teachers’ union
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