Union leaders representing heads, teachers and school staff have written to education minister Andrea Jenkyns to express “grave concern” over the “obscene gesture” she made to crowds last week.
Ms Jenkyns, appointed to the role of parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for Education on Friday in a ministerial reshuffle, was filmed giving a single finger gesture to crowds outside Downing Street.
Responding to the criticism over the weekend, the minister said that she “should have shown more composure” after making the gesture to what she described as a “baying mob”.
In a statement, she said she had stood up for herself after being subjected to “huge amounts of abuse” over the years, including two death threats in recent weeks, and “had reached the end of my tether”.
“I should have shown more composure but am only human,” she added.
Minister Andrea Jenkyns criticised over ‘obscene gesture’
However, today’s letter from union bosses rejects Ms Jenkyns’ response and calls on her to acknowledge the impact her actions could have on efforts to maintain “common decency” in schools.
The letter is signed by the general secretaries of the Association of School and College Leaders, the NAHT school leaders’ union and the NEU teaching union, as well as the assistant general secretary of Unison.
It says: “Frankly, explanations such as this from politicians are no longer good enough.
“As role models, politicians are increasingly falling short of the standards expected of them.
“Your words would certainly not be an acceptable excuse from a pupil or member of staff in a school or college.
“We believe you should publicly acknowledge the impact that your loss of composure is likely to have on the ability of education teams to maintain common decency in schools.”
Ms Jenkyns has already faced strong criticism by several figures in the education sector, including Chartered College of Teaching chief executive Dame Alison Peacock.
Over the weekend, Dame Alison wrote to ministers to say: “I understand that these are tense, uncertain times in politics. But to proceed with a ministerial appointment of someone who is unable to abide by the principles of public life is sinking to a new low.”
Teachers “expect the very highest standards of behaviour”, she wrote.
She added: “The education sector abides by these principles as part of the DfE teachers’ standards and we should expect the same behaviour from elected officials.”
Meanwhile, Commons leader Mark Spencer said it was up to Ms Jenkyns to “justify” her actions after she was caught on camera making the gesture.
He said: “I don’t seek to condone that at all. I mean, Andrea will have to… justify that for herself.
“But I do understand emotions were running pretty high and they were pretty raw on that day. But I don’t think that was the right thing to do at all.”
The footage, shared on social media on Thursday evening, was filmed shortly before Mr Johnson announced he was stepping down as leader of the Conservative Party and prior to Ms Jenkyns’ appointment.
In response to the video, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson tweeted: “Ministers aren’t expected to be perfect.
“But is it really too much to ask that they don’t treat the public like this?”
And ASCL general secretary Geoff Barton had tweeted over the weekend to say: “In my 32 years as a teacher, 15 of them as headteacher, I inevitably dealt with moments of poor behaviour and inappropriate conduct - from young people and staff.
“I have to say, ‘I’m only human’ was never good enough as an excuse from any of them for any of it.”
You need a Tes subscription to read this article
Subscribe now to read this article and get other subscriber-only content:
