Teach-Primary-Issue-20.1

picture of him to illustrate ‘extremism’ – defined as activities which ‘reject British Values’. Interestingly, the polling organisation, YouGov, found that in the 2024 general election Reform UK ‘did significantly better amongst those with a lower level of education’ ( tinyurl. com/tp-YouGov2024ed ). Maybe they’re just planning to knacker education to maintain their vote? In my own experience – actually having worked in schools for 40 years as opposed to just chatting bollocks about them down the boozer – teachers are studiously even-handed when discussing politics, or steer clear of it altogether, having a legal duty to be impartial (sections 406-407 of the 1996 Education Act, if you’re interested? No, I thought not.) Many politicians (not just Farage) might struggle to comprehend impartiality, let alone practise it. Farage has successfully cultivated the image of a no-nonsense, straight-talking, good old boy from your local to whom facts are disposable. B race yourselves, schools, Nigel Farage has declared Reform UK will “go to war against the teachers’ unions… they are poisoning our kids… dividing us, not uniting us. They are feeding this negative culture” ( tinyurl.com/ tp-GuardianNEUReform ). Pot / Kettle!? This is dog-whistle politics from a world-class disruptor, designed to appeal to those who already hear him and keep stirring the bubbling pot of discontent. Why does this matter to schools? Because current opinion polls show Farage on track to be the next Prime Minister, albeit the next election is four years away. Of course, before then we might have been wiped out by a giant asteroid. Swings and roundabouts. To be fair (though Farage sees no need), slanging matches are a two-way street. The general secretary of the NEU said Farage, “would be a disaster for education and children”. Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, understandably complained when staff at the Orion group of academies in London used a If you were stood next to him in your local you’d move. Move pub, probably. Brazenly, in spite of his privately educated stockbroker millionaire background, he rails against the ‘metropolitan elite’ as though he is neither metropolitan nor elite. It’s magnificent politics, and you have to take off your flat cap to how brilliantly he does it. Supporters lap up things like his airily dismissive response to questions from respected journalist, Mishal Hussein; “Listen love, you’re trying ever so hard” ( tinyurl.com/ tp-BloombergFarage ). He has taken the liberal slur of ‘male, pale and stale’ as a badge of honour and found there are votes in it. Importantly, Farage speaks fluent human, in stark contrast to Badenoch and Starmer, who orate like overly detailed training videos on the best way to watch paint dry. If he were in Celebrity Traitors (he’s already done Big Brother ) the others would be banished or killed in short order. But as to teachers purportedly telling children to be ashamed of our country, when was the last time Reform had anything positive to say about it? Where are the visions of hope, the sunlit uplands, the Brave NewWorld? The truth is, populists rely on perpetuating a fiction of a Britain that has gone to the dogs in order to foment the discontent that might see them elected. Reform have said little about education beyond the above declaration of war. Their 2024 manifesto promised a ban on transgender ideology in schools, 20 per cent tax relief on private school fees, and the introduction of a ‘patriotic’ curriculum. But what does that mean? DT – how to affix flags to lamp posts (more able extension activity – how to fix them the right way up); MFL – none of that, love, speak English or go home; mathematics – how to make random promises of expenditure and tax cuts add up; science – return to English Newtonian physics (none of this Einstein relativity nonsense, far too German); art – cancelled. Too woke; music – appreciation of the dog whistle; English – too bloody right, love, and proud of it. Ultimately, the trouble with disruptors is that that is all they’re good at. Stirring up disaffection is all very well until, inevitably, faced with actually solving problems in government rather than simply complaining about them in opposition, the disaffection turns on you. Watch this space. TP Kevin Harcombe is former headteacher of Redlands Primary, Fareham. Kevin Harcombe Apparently, we’re poisoning our children... VO I C E S Farage’s ‘war’ against unions could just be a bark with no bite, but the potential damage is very real... www.teachwire.net | 13