Tory MP has Commons evidence free rant about political impartiality & history teaching
Michael Rosen wrote in the Guardian on 5th March about the range of existing legislation there is on political impartiality in schools, mentioning a question he himself was set as school homework, a few years ago, on the failure of Chartism. His later father Harold Rosen had questioned whether it had failed.
It’s a tricky area requiring careful thought which professional teachers do routinely. Below however is a rant a Tory MP had on the matter in the Commons today. The thing about Mr Gullis’s rant is that it is 100% assertion and completely free of evidence. A Tory Dave Spart
Political Impartiality in Schools
Debated on Monday 14 March 2022
Jonathan Gullis
(Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)
21. What steps his Department is taking to help ensure political impartiality in schools. (Unique identification number 906056)
The Minister for School Standards
(Mr Robin Walker)
The Government are committed to ensuring that children and young people receive a balanced education. The Department has recently published new political impartiality in schools guidance, which will help support teachers in tackling sensitive issues in the classroom in a politically impartial way.
Jonathan Gullis
A minority of woke-warrior teachers think it is acceptable to push extremist nonsense on to pupils, such as white privilege, and try to cancel important historical figures, such as Sir Winston Churchill. However, these teachers are also aided and abetted by some trade unions, such as the Not Education Union. The failed and disgraced NEU demanded that the welfare state was reformed before approving of pupils going back to school with its ridiculous 100-point plan, and its president blames NATO instead of Vladimir Putin for the illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine. Will my hon. Friend outline how we will hold politically motivated trade unions to account and prevent them from using teachers as a gateway to push their far-left agenda?
Mr Walker
I have to say that my hon. Friend always speaks out bravely from his own personal experience as a teacher, and I see that he has done so in his Telegraph article today. Pupils must form their own political views, and schools should not indoctrinate or encourage children to pin their colours to any particular political mast. The new guidance will help schools to make good decisions about working with external agencies and ensure that any engagement does not breach their legal duties.
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