Teaching union chief apologises for 'pig-ignorant' remark
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Your support makes all the difference.The leader of the country's second-biggest teaching union today apologised for comparing classroom assistants to "pig-ignorant peasants".
The remark, made by Nigel de Gruchy, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, who is to become president of the TUC next September, infuriated his trade union colleagues.
Unison, the union that represents classroom assistants, said it was "appalled at the language used to describe hardworking, dedicated staff". It demanded an "immediate and unreserved" apology from Mr de Gruchy for his comments.
Today Mr de Gruchy told Radio 4's Today programme: "Obviously I'm very sorry and I'm more than happy to offer my apologies to any classroom assistant," adding that his words had been "misinterpreted."
Unison produced figures yesterday which showed 6 per cent of its classroom assistant members had university degrees, 20 per cent had A-levels and 35 per cent had some form of professional qualification.
"Nigel de Gruchy's remarks are outrageous," said Dave Prentis, the general secretary of Unison. "Classroom assistants have a wealth of experience and play a vital role in educating our children."
David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, described Mr de Gruchy's remarks as "outrageous", adding: "Many primary school headteachers rely on classroom assistants to help them get by."
Mr de Gruchy, directed the comment at Estelle Morris, the Secretary of State for Education, as she outlined plans to increase the responsibilities of classroom assistants in a speech to the Social Market Foundation. He said the phrase had been misinterpreted.
"I said you could not have pig-ignorant peasants supervising classes but you needed people of good education with appropriate training," he said.
"Far from dismissing classroom assistants I went on to say to Estelle Morris that there was evidence that they were working well with pupils to raise standards but that this did not of itself solve teachers' excessive workload problems."
The Government has employed an extra 44,000 classroom assistants in schools since taking office in 1997 and plans to hire another 20,000 during its second term of office.
The plan to extend their duties to cover standing in for teachers where work has been set for pupils is expected to be outlined in new legislation published next Friday.
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