Kevin Courtney, NEU Joint Secretary General (center), called Lessons in Organization “excellent.” Photo: Ben Birchall/Pennsylvania.
Britain's largest teacher union called on to tell the truth about its motives for the strike after senior members say they are waging an ideological 'war' against the government.
National Education Union (NEU) union officials said in a new book that it needed to break down the “neoliberal ideology” of the education system, instead of focusing on “narrow” issues such as working conditions.
The organization said it was trying to secure higher pay for teachers, as her strikes force hundreds of schools to close and turn exam preparation into chaos.
At least one of the officials involved picketed on Thursday, the last day of the strike, and declared his “solidarity” with the teachers. Another describes himself as a “militant union troublemaker.”
“The mask is coming off”
A senior conservative source said: “The mask is coming off: in this book, senior NEU leaders explicitly state that getting teachers paid better is a lower priority. task than fighting the government.
“That’s why they called on teachers to drop the salary offer by an average of 8% in 2022-2023 — exactly what they called for last year.
“Children and ordinary teachers become collateral damage in ideological crusade of the NEU leadership.
Despite the fact that the NEU distanced itself from the comments made in the “Lessons of Organization”, published in March, they were supported by Kevin Courtney, one of the union's general secretaries.
The authors complain that the strike “sought to respond to the consequences of neoliberal school restructuring without addressing the causes: the very ideology of neoliberalism.”
They continue: “The destructive nature of neoliberal ideology in the public education system must be openly opposed.” On the contrary, issues such as pay and workload are seen as “narrow issues”.
Relations between the union and successive governments are presented as highly hostile, with the authors claiming it is “a war that has lasted for decades '.
These statements are at odds with the public position of the NEU, in which he called on the government to return to the negotiating table and achieve higher teachers' salaries above the level of inflation. The Education Department insists its offer – a lump sum of £1,000 plus a 4.5% pay rise – is “fair and reasonable”.
Critics have also noted the book's use of Marxist language and concepts. The work is “essentially exploitative” and the teachers are “working class” warriors engaged in a “class war.”
Andrea Jenkins, former education minister, denounced the NEU for promoting “the harmful ideologies of Mao, Lenin, and Stalin.
Working hours of teachers in developed countries
Gawain Little, one of the authors of the book “Lessons of Organization” and a member of the national executive committee of NEU, took a selfie on the picket line on Thursday and declared his “solidarity” with teachers .
Mr. Little has previously criticized conservatives as “greedy Tory bastards” and “parasites” who “cannot be trusted with an education.”
He wrote the book with David Wilson – who ran NEU campaigns for more than a decade and also Ellie Sharp, former chairwoman of the NEU London network. She is described on her Twitter profile as a “militant union troublemaker” and a “socialist”.
MP Ben Bradley, a member of the Select Committee on Education, said: “If most teachers were openly told that they were being asked to wage war on the 'exploiting capitalist class', they might feel differently about strikes.”
“In my experience, most of them are more interested in their pay and in feeling like their work is more rewarding overall. Most teachers are not fanatics of Marxism.”
Alexander Stafford, another member of the committee, said the NEU should stop wasting money on ideological battles that “won't look out of place in East Germany”.
NEU response
The NEU spokesman said: “This is not an official book of the National Education Union. However, we need to discuss the future of education.
“It is the lack of interest shown by the government in education and those who teach in it that has given rise to so many problems.< /p>
“Such problems, how the lack of funding in our schools, the deteriorating wages and working conditions of teachers, and the inadequacy of Ofsted's control system, lead to a significant reduction and lack of resources for the education of children and young people. ”
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