Teachers union NASUWT on Wednesday slammed a report on military academies for ‘promoting National Service for the poor’.
NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates condemned the report titled ‘Military Academies – Tacking Disadvantage, Improving Ethos and Outcomes and Revitalising our Armed Forces’, produced by the think tank, ResPublica.
This calls for academies run by the military to be set in areas of deprivation.
Keates said: ‘The report is based on a cynical misuse and misrepresentation of the causes of the riots in the summer.
‘There is no evidence of either the widespread involvement of people from deprived, working class communities in the riots or that they instigated them.
‘The proposal amounts to nothing more than the disgraceful, unjustified vilification of whole communities, promulgating the view that if you are poor and working class you must, therefore, be inclined to criminality and anti-social behaviour.
‘Like many of those in government, ResPublica appears to have no understanding of the complex and deep-rooted causes of poverty and the issues which led to the riots.
‘ResPublica’s proposals amount to nothing more than a crude simulation of army life through, what is in effect, national service for the poor.
‘The answer lies not in this report but in the abandonment of the& fundamentally flawed economic and social policies of this government which are disempowering, alienating and disenfranchising young people.’
In a separate statement, Keates expressed concerns in the wake of reports of Education Secretary Gove’s proposals for ICT (Information and Communications Technology) in schools.
She said: ‘Given the rapid nature of developments in technology it is right that what is taught in schools is regularly reviewed.
‘However, the NASUWT rejects the notion that ICT in schools is of poor quality and dull.
‘Such assertions are based on a deliberate misrepresentation of the evidence which in fact demonstrates widespread good practice which needs to be built upon.
‘People listening to the Secretary of State may think that he is being constructive and progressive.
‘In reality, he is once again removing any notion of curriculum entitlement for all children and young people.
‘For many children and young people, a direct consequence of the “free for all” the Secretary of State is promoting for ICT in schools will be that, in yet another aspect of education, they will be short-changed.
‘For many specialist teachers their jobs are now at risk.
‘Schools are being handed over to the mercy and monopoly of multi-national companies, while national support frameworks, which provide value for money for schools and taxpayers and much needed impartial advice and expertise are removed.’
Later, commenting on Gove’s speech about ICT in schools, Keates added: ‘Having read the details of the speech, it is clear that this is a slap in the face for ICT teachers.
‘There is no evidence for the sweeping assertion that ICT teaching is dull, uninspiring and poor quality.
‘ICT teachers, like all other subject specialists, want to see their subject grow and develop and for pupils to achieve even higher levels of attainment.
‘This isn’t achieved by simply abolishing the national programmes of study.
‘ICT was left out of the EBacc and therefore like all excluded subjects its future status was already at serious risk. This latest development downgrades ICT even more.
‘There is now a real risk that schools will marginalise ICT completely, reduce dramatically its share of curriculum time and put the jobs of specialist teachers at risk.
‘This is no way to promote the value of a subject that is critical to education in the 21st century.
‘The NASUWT will be responding to the consultation announced today.’
l Meanwhile, also on Wednesday, senior elected representatives of the Public and Commercial Services union, by far the largest union in the civil service, confirmed a rejection of the government’s planned cuts to public sector pensions.
A meeting of the union’s national executive committee unanimously agreed that further co-ordinated industrial action should be organised if the government continues to refuse to negotiate on the key issues of forcing public sector workers to pay more and work longer for a worse pension.
The NEC also agreed that if the government follows through on its threat to exclude the union, which represents 250,000 civil and public servants, from future discussions it would consider taking legal action and ask the TUC to back a challenge to the move.
A PCS statement said: ‘Across the public sector – in the civil service, education, local government and health – unions representing around one million public sector workers have already either rejected or refused to sign up to the government’s “heads of agreement” offer.
‘While making some limited concessions, this offer confirms contributions would rise from April, the retirement age would be linked to the rising state pension age meaning people would have to work up to eight years longer, and the imposed switch in indexation for pensions would remain – amounting to a cut in the value of pensions of around 15 per cent to 20 per cent.’
The PCS executive also agreed that it would reconvene for a special meeting next Thursday (19 January) to consider the positions of the other public sector unions, which will be reported at this Thursday’s (12 January) meeting of the TUC’s public sector group, and the possibility of further industrial action.
The union says: ‘There has been no movement on the core issues since the two million-strong public sector strike on 30 November, with Treasury minister Danny Alexander stating in the House of Commons on 20 December that the government had met all its objectives “with no new money” since the offer on 2 November that was immediately rejected by all the unions.’
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: ‘From the very start ministers have quite obviously tried to suffocate the pensions talks, to bully and mislead, and to impose their will on millions of civil servants, teachers, council staff and health workers.
‘We have consistently called for proper negotiations on the key issues of paying more and working longer for less.
‘But the government has refused at every point, leaving us with no choice but to oppose what is nothing more than a political attempt to make the least culpable pay the highest price for the failings of the banks.
‘We have told ministers we expect to be included in any future discussions.
‘But we are clear that, with no significant movement since two million public servants took strike action together on 30 November, further co-ordinated industrial action will be necessary to stop these unfair and entirely unnecessary plans.’
