Teachers walkouts planned this week risk further harming pupils’ education
STRIKES planned by teachers this week risk further harming pupils’ education, the schools’ watchdog chief has said.
Pay disputes between the government and teaching unions must be resolved quickly to avoid more disruption, according to Ofsted boss Amanda Spielman.
Some classrooms will close on Thursday as the National Education Union stages a walkout, with another planned for May 2.
When asked if she was concerned, Ms Spielman said: “Well, of course. Children have missed a great deal over the last few years.
“It is so important that their education continues and is interrupted as little as it possibly can be.
“I hope the disputes can be resolved rapidly and constructively because we know that children need to be at school.”
She also said thousands of children have slipped through the net since the pandemic and were not in school enough.
Speaking on BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Ms Spielman said: “It’s clear that some children have fallen out of the system and it’s really hard to know what’s going on.”
Ms Spielman, who leaves the role after seven years later this year, also accepted there was a culture of fear that exists around Ofsted’s school inspections.
It came after Reading-based primary school head Ruth Perry took her own life in January while awaiting an Ofsted report.