\n<\/p>\n
Nigel Farage has claimed teachers would go on strike within weeks of a Reform UK election win, and accused them of \u201cpoisoning our kids\u201d by telling them that black children are victims and white children oppressors.<\/p>\n
The Reform UK leader set out his view on British schools in an event for a private US Christian college in Michigan, claiming the \u201cMarxist left\u201d was \u201cnow in control of our education system\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m anticipating a teachers\u2019 strike very quickly after winning the next general election,\u201d he said during a question and answer session at the event last month.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are poisoning our kids. They are telling them to be ashamed of their country. They are telling little Johnny, who\u2019s eight, who is black, that he is a victim and little Oliver, who is white, who is eight, that he is an oppressor. They are dividing us, not uniting us. They are feeding this negative culture in.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response to Farage\u2019s claims, Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union, said the idea the education system was controlled by Marxists was \u201cnonsense\u201d. He pointed out any strikes have to be on the grounds of terms and conditions for teachers, and questioned whether Reform would attack these immediately when entering government.<\/p>\n
\u201cFarage has made his political career out of dog-whistle politics and now, like Trump, he is lining up teachers and their unions for a fight,\u201d Kebede said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s grossly irresponsible. I don\u2019t \u2013 and nor does my union, and nor does the teaching profession \u2013 push critical race theory as he\u2019s suggesting \u2026 Should he become prime minister he would sell out our public services, including education \u2026 and he would be a disaster for education and children.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reform, which is leading the polls by about 10 points, has not set out much detail on a proposed education policy and does not appear to have appointed an education spokesperson.<\/p>\n
However, Farage\u2019s remarks at the Hillsdale College event suggested the party would overhaul the system and the curriculum. He said: \u201cWe have got a massive job to do with education \u2013 absolutely herculean. And, by the way, we can\u2019t do it in six months or a year; it will take us years, years to turn this around.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said gen Z was more open to critical thinking, but millennials were \u201cabsolutely hopeless\u201d.<\/p>\n
Paying tribute to Charlie Kirk, the rightwing activist who conducted debates on US college campuses and who was murdered last month, Farage said: \u201cAll I want education to do is teach critical thinking \u2013 to teach people there are two points of view and you make up your own mind as opposed to what\u2019s happening now and, in too many cases, saying one is virtuous and one is evil. It\u2019s a massive job in both Britain and America.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reform has previously clashed with the NEU, the UK\u2019s largest teaching union, after Kebede called the party \u201cfar right and racist\u201d and dismissed Farage as \u201ca poundshop Donald Trump\u201d.<\/p>\n
Farage has accused Kebede of being a \u201ca self-declared Marxist \u2026 someone who is absolutely determined that our children should be poisoned at school, their minds should be poisoned about everything to do with this country\u201d and has argued the union is trying to indoctrinate teenagers against Reform.<\/p>\n
Almost one million people work in schools in the UK, about half of whom are teachers with the others teaching assistants and support staff. The NEU has about 450,000 members.<\/p>\n
National strikes over teacher pay and conditions in 2023 caused widespread disruption in schools and millions of days of lost learning for children.<\/p>\n
At the US event, the Reform leader also pledged to help spread the online educational material of Hillsdale College in the UK. He said organisations like Hillsdale were \u201cpart of the fightback\u201d, adding that: \u201cI mean this. I will help Hillsdale in the United Kingdom garner hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of young people to your online courses. I make that commitment tonight to you here in this very hall and I\u2019ll do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hillsdale, a small private Christian college, offers free courses. Its website says: \u201cA scientific, literary, theological, political, and moral education is necessary for personal happiness and to perpetuate the blessings of civil and religious liberty. Hillsdale College furnishes these beautiful courses for free to all who wish to learn and to enjoy those blessings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reform did not reply to a request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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