Teachers brag they ‘saved lives’ in lockdown

TEACHING union leaders have boasted they “saved lives” during the pandemic after urging ministers to prolong school closures.

The National Education Union (NEU) has submitted a motion at its annual conference in Bournemouth, which claims the organisation “saved lives by forcing government to change policy during the pandemic”.

The statement comes despite evidence of huge damage caused to children’s education and life prospects as a result of school closures.

The union urged Boris Johnson to accelerate classroom closures in 2020. In October 2021, the NEU called for the return of bubbles and self-isolation for pupils. In December 2021, the NEU called for a “Plan B” for schools, which would have forced any pupil living with someone with Covid to isolate.

A month later, the union’s leaders warned against lifting Covid restrictions in schools too quickly.

The damage wrought on children’s education by pandemic school closures was laid bare in an international study last year, with progress made in English and Maths before Covid wiped out.

The number of children being referred to the NHS with serious mental health problems reached a record high after school closures.

The number of pupils regularly missing class has also reached a new high, with analysis showing a cohort of “ghost children” are at risk of abuse and more likely to fail their GCSES.

Anne Longfield, the former children’s commissioner, told the Covid Inquiry that closing schools had been “a terrible mistake”.

Arabella Skinner, chief of staff at Usforthem, a parents’ campaign group, said: “Instead of lauding themselves for their role in these unevidenced restrictions, the NEU should be focusing on how they can help our children get out of the educational and developmental challenges that their actions contributed to.”

The motion citing the union’s influence on policy during the pandemic, was submitted by the NEU’S executive board and is expected to be debated at the conference today.

Teachers will also discuss whether the NEU should “build capacity” to deliver national industrial action over pay and funding.

The urgent motion states that members are “prepared to act industrially” if Prime Minister Rishi Sunak or Sir Keir Starmer under a Labour government “fail to deliver” on teachers’ pay.