Critics have accused Britain’s biggest teaching union of spreading pro-Palestine propaganda after coaching members on how to bring the ‘Palestinian struggle’ into schools.
The National Education Union (NEU) encouraged teachers to hold a day of action at schools on Thursday to highlight ‘the Palestinian struggle for freedom’.
They are also holding a workshop next month to train members in how to ‘advocate for Palestine in our schools’.
However, critics have warned that the events could breach legislation banning the promotion of biased political views in schools.
The workshop will be run by Makan, an educational group that works towards ‘adopting educational approaches that capture the history of the Palestinian struggle’.
Their workshops provide ‘foundational knowledge on key issues like the Nakba, settler colonialism, imperialism, and apartheid’.
Critics fear that teachers who attend the event in Liverpool on June 14, will be encouraged to spread one-sided information about the conflict in Gaza.
The legal charity UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) has called on the Department for Education and local councils to crack down on what it says is the promotion of pro-Palestine and anti-Israel propaganda in schools.
Mat Milovanovic (pictured), a maths teacher at Northolt High School in west London, has boasted on an NEU election leaflet that he is ‘proud to have built solidarity actions in Ealing schools and on the demonstrations in support of the Palestinians’
The National Education Union (NEU) encouraged teachers to hold a day of action at schools on Thursday to highlight ‘the Palestinian struggle for freedom’
‘The NEU appears to be defying government guidelines on political impartiality in schools, by persuading teachers to brainwash children into supporting the Palestinian cause,’ Caroline Turner, director of UKLFI, told The Telegraph.
Liverpool city council responded saying it will remind teachers of the ban on the promotion of bias content.
Reena Bhogal-Welsh, Liverpool’s director of education and inclusion said she would be writing to all schools and academies in the city but added that ‘teachers are free to attend protests outside of school’.
The Nakba day of action on Thursday marked the 77th anniversary of what is regarded by Palestinians as the time they were driven from their homes by the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.
The day encouraged teachers to organise lunch-time meetings and after-school film screenings ‘to educate colleagues about the Palestinian struggle’.
Several leading figures in the NEU are active members on the pro-Palestine movement.
One of their executive members Louise Regan is director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
A Department for Education spokesman said: ‘For any pupil to feel unwelcome or intimidated in their school is completely unacceptable. At a time when Jewish students are experiencing a surge in appalling anti-Semitism, teachers should consider the message they are sending to children and young people when taking part in these activities.
Several leading figures in the NEU are active members on the pro-Palestine movement
‘It is a legal duty for teachers to be politically impartial, and schools should be a place of safety for all children – no matter their faith or background.’
The NEU defended its members taking part in actions of support of the Palestinian cause.
The NEU said: ‘The NEU is proud to be one of many unions that supported the TUC workplace day of action on the 15 May.
‘The Day of Action is explicitly for school staff and is not for students to participate in. Where it is taken up, it will consist of activities such as lunch time/ evening meetings for staff or writing to their MPs highlighting the urgent need for a ceasefire in Gaza. At no point does it mention pupils and students, nor badges and lanyards.
‘It is not accurate to say it’s designed to indoctrinate children and young people. What needs to be under the spotlight is Israel’s breaches of international law and the wholly disproportionate retaliation against a whole civilian population, including vulnerable children’.
