Heads have ‘no confidence’ in education policies

Tim Gallagher, proposing the motion, said: “Enough is enough. This motion’s intention is to send the strongest message possible to this government that many of their education policies are failing our children, their parents and the very fabric of our school communities.”

The NAHT is the first headteachers’ union to pass a vote of no confidence in the government’s education reforms.

The UK’s three biggest teachers’ unions, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the NASUWT passed similar votes at their Easter conferences.

At times it feels as though we are at the whim of some kind of fanatical personal trainer, constantly urging us all to go faster, faster, higher and higher. Bernadette Hunter, NAHT president

The latest vote of no confidence is a further sign of the worsening relations between the government and the teaching profession.

Mr Gove is expected to defend his education reforms when he takes part in a question and answer session with headteachers at the conference later this afternoon.

Gove ‘not a champion of education’

Heads are becoming tired of constant change to the education system, and believe it is being dismantled before their eyes, according to Bernadette Hunter, president of NAHT.

Ms Hunter will say she believe that Education Secretary Michael Gove is not a champion of education, and liken the minister to a “fanatical personal trainer” urging headteachers to go “faster, faster, higher and higher”.

She is expected to tell delegates at the NAHT’s annual conference in Birmingham that schools should be places of enjoyment and pleasure in learning.

But she warns: “Many seem to have lost their sense of humour, buried under piles of data and spread sheets. Let’s make sure that our staff and children are not brow-beaten and bowed down under the weight of paperwork and targets.”

Headteachers must make sure that schools remain “beacons of hope in the current gloomy educational landscape”, Ms Hunter will warn.