Page 6 


Upfront


 


NUT secures £460,000 for teacher paralysed by pupil


The NUT has won compensation of almost £460,000 for a member seriously injured by a nine-year-old pupil.


Caroline Knight (left) was working at a Southwark primary school when she was assaulted by the child in January 2002. She attempted to prevent the boy, who had emotional and behavioural problems, from hitting another child with a metal ruler. He pushed her so that she fell against a metal filing cabinet, damaging three vertebrae and suffering a prolapsed disc. Her injuries caused nerve damage that paralysed her right leg and left her bladder and bowel unable to function properly.


Now a wheelchair-user, Caroline has suffered increasing mobility problems and incontinence. Over the past eight years she has had 12 operations and has developed bowel cancer, thought by doctors to be linked to her injuries.


Before her accident, Caroline was aiming to become at least a deputy head. The compensation reflects the significant earnings and pension she has lost through absence from work, inability to apply for promoted posts, and being able to work only part-time.


Caroline continues to teach, currently working part time with special needs children at Kelvin Grove Primary in Lewisham. Her husband has given up his civil service career to be her carer.


“I would like to thank the NUT for keeping this case going over so many years, my current head and colleagues for their backing, and also my husband and three children for their brilliant support,” Caroline told The Teacher.


NUT solicitor Judith Emmett said: ”Caroline has dealt with her appalling injuries with amazing courage and fortitude. I am pleased that the compensation awarded by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority of nearly £460,000 reflects the severity of what she has suffered and will give her a measure of security as she resumes her career.”






Academies: the fightback begins


The joint campaign against academies gathered momentum on 24 June when over 200 people packed into Methodist Central Hall in London for a public rally organised by the Anti Academies Alliance.


The event brought together teachers, parents and school governors in a show of opposition to the government’s proposals. The presence of NUT general secretary Christine Blower, ATL general secretary Mary Bousted and senior officials from NASUWT and Unison, alongside leading parent representatives such as journalist and broadcaster Fiona Millar, reinforced the unity of the education unions in opposing academies.


Paramjit Bhutta, head teacher of Stepney Green Maths and Computing College in Tower Hamlets, spoke strongly about the mutual support between the borough’s schools and their local authority. He warned that this relationship, which was invaluable to schools’ success, would be lost to any that moved to academy status.


Carel Buxton, head of Redbridge Primary School, was cheered as she told the meeting that the parent governing body at her school had unanimously decided not to transform into an academy.


With speakers queueing to contribute their views, the strength of feeling against academies was clear. This concerted joint campaign is determined to defend comprehensive state education and will make the case against academy status in every interested school.


For more about the new government’s academy proposals, and the education unions’ opposition to them, see pages 4-5, 12-13 and 22.






GTCE clears BNP teacher


A British National Party activist who posted racist comments online while working as a teacher has been cleared of racial intolerance by the General Teaching Council for England – a decision described by the NUT’s general secretary as “perverse” .


Adam Walker was a technology teacher at Houghton Kepier Sports College in Tyne and Wear in 2007 when he used a school laptop to post comments describing immigrants as “savage animals” and “filth” on an online forum. He resigned from his post after the school investigated his internet use.


The first teacher to appear before the GTCE accused of racial and religious intolerance, he was cleared of this offence, but was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct for making personal use of a school laptop during lessons.


Delivering the GTCE committee’s verdict, its chair Angela Stones commented: “We do not find that the postings themselves were suggestive of intolerance.”


Christine Blower said: “We do not believe that a teacher with BNP membership could remain in the classroom without being racist in some way. That is why close monitoring and awareness of racist attitudes is vital.


“The growth of far-right organisations is of grave concern to the NUT, particularly when their representatives act as school governors or councillors.”


The NUT is fundamentally opposed to racist and fascist ideologies and reserves the right to take disciplinary action against members guilty of conduct that gives expression to racist or fascist views.

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