Unions and headteachers have hit out at school leaders who have “thrown colleagues under the bus” by naming striking teachers in letters to parents or employing agency staff to keep classes open on strike days.
As teachers across the country prepare to strike again this week, local union branches are reminding any staff who are being pressured by unsupportive heads or trust chief executives that they do not have to declare whether they are striking in advance. The National Education Union (NEU) condemned “naming and shaming” those taking action as an “appalling” attempt to put pressure on teachers not to make a stand on pay.
Vic Goddard, co-principal at Passmores academy in Essex, said: “It is unfathomable to me why some leaders have done this. Why would you throw colleagues under a bus, knowing that if you name teachers they will be dragged through social media by some parents?”
Goddard voted for industrial action himself and stressed he did not receive a single complaint from parents about the first day of strike action earlier this month. He said: “I can’t stand by and watch education funding being cut, children being made more vulnerable and being taught by staff without the right qualifications due to teacher shortages. Enough is enough.”
