Home Office minister Jess Phillips has sparked potential controversy by openly encouraging teachers to complain more about their excessive workloads, directly challenging the education sector's current climate.
'Whinge More' Plea to Overstretched Teachers
Speaking at the Girls' Schools Association annual conference in London, the outspoken minister risked tensions with Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson by stating that schools are being asked to do too much and that teachers haven't been properly thanked for their expanding responsibilities.
Mrs Phillips, who holds ministerial responsibility for tackling violence against women and girls, told assembled heads from both private and state schools that educators in her Birmingham Yardley constituency are performing tasks far beyond teaching, including washing clothes for children living in temporary accommodation.
'I can't stress enough how I think that teachers should be allowed to teach and enrich the lives of young people,' she emphasized, highlighting that nearly 40 per cent of children in her constituency live in poverty.
The 'Birmingham Binman' Reference and Strike Warning
In her most provocative comments, Mrs Phillips advised teachers to adopt the approach of Birmingham refuse workers, who took industrial action this year, telling them to 'be more Birmingham binman' - though she quickly added the caveat: 'Don't go on strike.'
Her comments arrive during a particularly sensitive period for education, with teaching unions having threatened strikes over pay and workload issues that have bruised Mrs Phillipson's department.
The minister, whose father was a teacher, acknowledged that 'schools get asked to do too much' while remaining crucial to 'raising brilliant safe individuals' and reducing domestic violence.
Broader Educational Concerns and Curriculum Pressure
Mrs Phillips expressed concern about the constant addition of new responsibilities to the school curriculum, questioning when core subjects would be taught amid growing expectations.
'I sometimes feel like we just think that all solutions to all problems in society is just to say teachers are going to have to teach everything,' she noted. 'You're going to be teaching people about mortgages, you're going to be teaching people about terrorism.'
Her remarks follow Mrs Phillipson's recent announcement that primary schools will teach financial literacy through compulsory citizenship lessons - a move that shadow cabinet member Laura Trott questioned might come at the expense of fundamental skills like mathematics.
The Association of School and College Leaders has previously warned that the burden on schools and teachers has never been higher, adding context to Mrs Phillips' comments about excessive expectations.
During her wide-ranging speech, Mrs Phillips also addressed violence against women and girls, noting a 'huge and worrying' rate of domestic and sexual violence within teenage relationships that threatens girls' academic achievements.
She further warned that excluding boys and men from conversations about sexual harassment, particularly during the #MeToo movement, had caused harm by making them feel 'labelled rapists' and leaving them vulnerable to extreme online influences.
