TOP 100 ENGLAND SITES
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| Teacher rebuked for risk of 'insulting' colleagues in Tory conference speech Katharine Birbalsingh, deputy head of failing academy, is criticised by sponsor, Southwark diocese, but can return to workA senior teacher sent home by her headmistress after she attacked the failures of state schools in an impassioned speech at the Conservative party conference has been rebuked by her employers for risking "insulting" her colleagues.Katharine Birbalsingh, 37, the new deputy headteacher of the failing St Michael and All Angels academy school in Camberwell, south London, was ordered to work at home on Thursday and Friday after receiving a standing ovation at the conference in Birmingham when she told representatives that parents had no idea life in most schools was "totally and utterly chaotic". She was particularly critical of what she saw as a lack of discipline in black boys, said the system was "broken" and that it kept "poor children poor".Birbalsingh has been told she can return to work on Monday after the academy's sponsor, the Diocese of Southwark, issued a statement implying criticism of her actions."Some teachers may agree with some of the points made by Ms Birbalsingh and some may disagree," it said. "Our concern is that the position of the academy should not be misrepresented. Generalisations about teachers and schools can be seen as insulting to many teachers who have worked hard to make a difference to the lives of the young people in their care. We and all schools have high aspirations for our young people whatever their backgrounds."Earlier, Birbalsingh said teachers had lost their freedom of speech because schools were scared of losing pupils if they admitted to problems. She previously described the academy as "the Alcatraz of the world of education" but that she found the children astonishingly polite despite their sometimes chaotic lives.Her "To Miss With Love" blog, which she took down this week as reaction to her speech snowballed, said the school had security guards who patted down children for weapons and that three children had been stabbed in the past six months. Another child had her head pushed through a window by two girls, before grabbing a knife and stabbing her attackers. Others were pregnant or have had children. A rival for her job had been knocked down by pupils in the corridor on interview day.Speaking from home, Birbalsingh said she understood the school's decision to send her home in the context of a wider conspiracy of silence about school standards. "I am torn between wanting to do the right thing, which is to speak out about the system, and wanting to do the right thing by my school, which is to shut up. If you speak out you implicate your school because a school's reputation is everything. The teachers inside the school have to make out the school is better than it is."Because of parental choice, the reputation of a school is everything and if you don't have a great reputuation no-one will choose you. Every state school across the country is putting on shows all the time because they are worried about reputation." There isn't any freedom of speech for teachers."The diocese said Birbalsingh had "used pictures of children from our school and made reference to them by name. We are concerned by this and in particular by the way in which the pictures have been used."AcademiesSchoolsConservativesTeachingRobert Boothguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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