General election

12 April 2010

Commenting on the Labour Party's general election manifesto, which was published today, Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers' union, said;

"We welcome the government's continued commitment to extending free school meals for the poorest, and their aspirations for universal free school meals. They are also right to protect frontline services.

"I am disappointed, however, that the manifesto includes references to the licence to practise for teachers. The licensing proposal was unceremoniously and rightly thrown out by Parliament last week after over 25,000 NUT members and supporters signed our petition against the licence.

"I find it bizarre that the Party that has legislated to halve the budget deficit over the next four years would want to push ahead with the expensive and untested experiment that is the Academies programme.

"I do not believe Gordon Brown can honestly say, with hand on heart, that the parents he meets are clamouring for Academies. Neither can David Cameron provide evidence of droves of parents clamouring to start up their own 'free schools'. When I talk to parents they tell me they want their child to do well and be happy at a good school down the road.

"The Labour Party would have done far better to revive their 1997 pledge on class size. In the NUT's recent survey of the teaching profession, conducted by YouGov, teachers said that the top priority of the next government should be reducing class sizes. The NUT believes that class sizes of 20 by 2020 are the best way of ensuring a world class education for all our children."