Teachers lambasted for strike over boy

Teachers who have voted to go on strike in a dispute over a disruptive 13-year-old boy were criticised by politicians from both main parties yesterday.

Appeals for staff at Glaisdale School, in Nottingham, to remain at their positions came from Gillian Shephard, the Secretary of State for Education, as well as a spokesman for the Labour Party.

Twenty of the school's 38 teachers will go on all-out strike from Friday if agreement cannot be reached at a meeting today between Nottinghamshire County Council, the school's headteacher and the boy's family. The rest of the staff may also decide to refuse to teach the boy.

Richard Wilding was permanently excluded from the school in February after allegedly being involved in 30 incidents of violence and disrup- tion since last September.

The decision was supported by the county council but was overturned by an independent appeals panel.

Staff at the school objected to his return to classes, saying he had both learning difficulties and emotional problems and that he should be in a special unit. He is now being taught separately from other pupils by a supply teacher.

Yesterday, Mrs Shephard blamed the local authority for the dispute with members of the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT).

Speaking at a local election press conference, she said that the Government intended to introduce legislation to reduce such incidents.

"What is Labour-controlled Nottinghamshire doing about this matter? It does seem clear that the right place for this child has not yet been found," she said. "It is the duty of the LEA to find appropriate education for that child."

It was never right for teachers to strike and to harm children's education, she added.

Labour's deputy leader, John Prescott, agreed with Mrs Shephard that striking in these circumstances was wrong and called on all parties to "get round the table" to reach a solution. But he blamed government legislation and accused the Secretary of State of using the issue as a "political pawn" during local elections.

"I'm more concerned about the parents involved in this and the children who are worried about the extent of violence in their schools and I think the Nottingham authority should be given all the power to deal with it. Unfortunately, Mrs Shephard's legislation makes it very difficult for them to deal with," he said.

The boy's mother, Rita Wilding, has said she is considering legal action. "I think it is disgusting to strike over my son. It has all been blown up out of proportion.

"Richard is not as bad as they make out, and if he is given the right support he can cope with mainstream schooling. There are children far worse than Richard in Glaisdale," she said.

The general secretary of the union, Nigel de Gruchy, spelled out the mood of his members yesterday when he said: "With this boy, we have come to the end of the road.

"NASUWT members had the support of the headteacher, the school governors and the local education authority in saying this boy should be permanently expelled. The appeals panel sent him back. We won't have him back."

He added: "There might be an argument for giving the boy one more chance. But it's a tall order ... teachers at any receiving school would have to be consulted about this. And at the first sign of any trouble they would expect the education authority to back them and turf the boy out on his ear."

The NASUWT has been involved in a growing number of cases in which staff have refused to teach a difficult child. There were 52 such cases last year and about six each month this year, but strikes are rarer.

In 1991, staff at the Bishop of Llandaff school in South Glamorgan threatened to strike after three boys who had sexually assaulted a girl were returned to school, but their parents withdrew them.