“Children that I have taught have been killed, children that I have taught have killed.
“The reason we are where we are, and it isn’t going to be remedied by the Premier League or extra drama classes, is because we have had millions of pounds’ worth of cuts to preventative early intervention services that are vital for young people in this country.”
That’s what a teacher from London told culture secretary Jeremy Wright on BBC’s Question Time last night.
She was speaking out on the proposals for a “public health duty” from home secretary Sajid Javid, which could result in teachers being held accountable for failing to “spot warning signs” of violent crime among young people.
She said: “The fact that Sajid Javid said that this week - it was on April the 1st, I thought it was an April fool’s joke - because the disregard that our government has for people who are on the ground doing this work, who know why we are where we are, to suggest that teachers and nurses, who already do all of this anyway, could be in some way further responsible for the fact that children are killing each other - because there is nothing left for many of those children in society - is disgraceful, and it says a lot about our government.”
Government ‘not fit for purpose’, says teacher
When Wright attempted to respond, she said: “Our government doesn’t trust us. You can shrug your shoulders, and that’s the point, isn’t it?
“That we’ve got people in government who do, they shrug their shoulders, they tell us what the reality is for us for people who are doing the jobs, and then they come out with soundbites like, ‘Oh, teachers and nurses you can identify people who are at risk and if not you will be accountable.’
“It’s disgraceful. This is why the government is not fit for purpose any more.”
The teacher received widespread support both from the audience and online - hundreds of people commented on the clip to congratulate her for speaking eloquently, passionately and honestly.
The unions, too, have come out against Mr Javid’s proposals.
Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU teachers’ union, said that neither the blame nor the solution for violent crime could be laid at the door of schools or front-line hospital staff. And Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASWUT, said that knife crime could not be solved by putting additional pressures and responsibilities on to teachers or headteachers.
In an exclusive interview with Tes, education secretary Damian Hinds pledged to protect teachers from “unnecessary burdens”.
Asked whether he was happy about teachers being held responsible for knife crime, Mr Hinds said: “Teachers do play an important role in these questions and always have.
“What I will make sure is that we don’t add unnecessary burdens on teachers because I have said many times before, teacher workload is a real issue, teachers are working too many hours, and we don’t want to add to that.”
