TEACHERS unions said yesterday that the policies enforced by the now ex-Tory Education Secretary Gove, and resisted by hundreds of thousands of teachers and parents, drove him out of office and now his policies must be dumped as well!
Gove was one of twelve MPs to lose their positions in a Tory Party cabinet reshuffle, to try and avoid a defeat in the 2015 general election. Gove has now been demoted to ‘chief whip’ with no role in policy making.
Foreign Secretary, William Hague, resigned on Monday evening before the reshuffle, after serving twenty years in the Tory Party leadership. He is to abandon his political career altogether after the general election.
Gove’s policies of forced academies, school closures, teacher sackings and an all out attack on pay and pensions, led to teachers taking national strike action last week, where the most popular slogan was ‘Gove out!’.
Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said: ‘Teachers are buckling under the pressure of increased workload and the threat of job loss, and morale is at an all-time low.’
Keates added: ‘Whilst some may celebrate the departure of Michael Gove from the office of Secretary of State, the issue for the education service, for teachers, pupils and the general public is not a change of Secretary of State, but a change of policy.’
Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers said: ‘Michael Gove has clearly lost the support of the profession and parents for justifiable reasons.
‘His vision for education is simply wrong. His pursuit of the unnecessary and often unwanted free schools and academies programme, the use of unqualified teachers, the failure to address the school place crisis and endless ill-thought out reforms to examinations and the curriculum have been his hallmark in office.
‘Michael Gove’s search for headlines over speaking to the profession has clearly angered teachers. We remain in dispute over the direction of Government policy, which we believe is undermining the education service.’
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: ‘Public spending cuts have had a profound impact on post-16 education and all parties now need to set out their stall for further and higher education. The introduction of new ministers is an opportunity for government to refocus its education priorities in the run up to the election.’
