MP: Union leaders ‘are looking for excuses why teachers should not do their jobs’

Sammy Wilson, himself a former teacher, made the comments after the Ulster Teachers’ Union (UTU) launched a strongly-worded attack on his DUP colleague Peter Weir.

The UTU accused Mr Weir of displaying a “scandalous lack of leadership” over the issue of re-opening schools as the Province emerges from coronavirus lockdown.

The UTU leadership made the comments in a statement which it issued after around 400 members took part in a video conference with Mr Weir.

A small number of pupils are being taught in classroom right now, with the Department for Education requesting they cater for “those children who absolutely need to attend” – particularly children of “key workers”.

Mr Weir has been keen to begin reopening schools to general pupils from August 17.

The UTU has around 6,000 members and is one of a handful of unions representing teachers in the Province.

It dubbed yesterday’s online encounter between Mr Weir and its members as a “crisis conference”.

The UFU had previously voiced concern about the August 17 return date, saying they “were previously assured by the Department for Education that attendance from August 17 would be voluntary on the part of schools and teachers”.

They said a compulsory return date of August 17 “raises significant questions around the implications on teachers’ contracts and any holidays booked”.

In the post-conference statement, the UTU said: “One Co Down principal said she had done doorstep food drops to families who rang her in desperation with nothing to eat, while another said her phone would regularly ping with messages from pupils at three, four and 5am.”

UTU president Stephen McCord said Mr Weir’s “attitude towards his profession” was “scandalous”, adding there had been a “lack of leadership” and “no engagement”.

The UFU statement does not make any specific reference to the return date of August 17, but said “unlike [with] the health minister, who stood up and said he would not allow any worker in the NHS to be put in danger, we feel we have been totally disregarded”.

Mr Wilson, DUP MP for East Antrim, who formerly taught economics until the turn of the millennium, told the News Letter last night: “If you’re talking about leadership, the leadership given by the UTU has been nothing short of scandalous.

“They want to avoid doing the job which they’re paid to do, which is to teach the children. They’ve engaged in what I can only describe as political manoeuvrings to try and avoid doing their job, and in doing so they have disparaged all of those teachers who worked very hard during the lockdown.

“I don’t believe the teachers’ union are representing the real feeling of many teachers out there.”

He said the fact teachers are continuing to provide lessons via the internet was “no substitute” for supervising children directly.

He added: “If nurses and shop workers and bin men and all of the other people who provided services for teachers had taken the same attitude as teachers’ unions have taken about going back to work, the country would be in chaos.”

As far as putting measures in place for children returning he pointed to the example set by other countries in terms of testing children, for instance.

He mentioned Sweden in particular as a potential example, which had kept primary schools open throughout the Covid-19 crisis.

Mr Wilson referred a number of times to a recent report from University College London which looked into how schools are coping in the crisis.

It found that just under 20% of lockdown pupils in Northern Ireland spend “four or more hours on homework per day”.

This was the fourth highest of all 12 UK regions looked at.

The report also found about 26% of NI pupils get “four or more pieces of offline homework per day” and around 4% of NI pupils get “four or more pieces of online homework per day”.

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