NEU slams Reform UK’s flags in schools policy as a ‘gimmick’

Reading Time: < 1 minute

'Reform’s narrow view of the world has nothing to offer communities'

Daniel Kebede

The National Education Union has hit out at Reform’s latest proposals for the education system.

The teaching union has called Reform’s policies on schools “gimmicks” that undermine “what makes Britain a welcoming and inclusive place to grow up”.

To mark St George’s Day yesterday, Reform announced that if it wins the next election it would make all schools fly the Union flag, display a portrait of the King and deliver “patriotic” history lessons.

In a broader dig at the teaching profession, Reform said it wants to put an end to schools teaching history “through a progressive lens” that is “retrofitted to justify mass immigration”.

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, dismissed Reform’s “narrow world view” and emphasised that both schools and the teaching union “celebrate difference”. 

Kebede said: “Reform’s narrow view of the world has nothing to offer communities, and diminishes what makes Britain a welcoming and inclusive place to grow up. Schools celebrate difference, as does the NEU.

“A party obsessed with gimmicks has nothing to say on the crisis in living standards, the plight of exhausted workers, or collapsing services. Instead, they and their rich donors would welcome more of the same. In Farage’s world, cruelty is a substitute for policy.”

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

Comments are closed.