Northern Ireland’s teachers bracing to be on the “frontline” of Brexit’s social fallout | WPN World People News

With Brexit threatening an increase of uncertainty and instability in Northern Ireland, teachers will be tasked with carrying the responsibility to manage the social impact of leaving the European Union.

In a post-Brexit Northern Ireland, teachers will find themselves on the “frontline” amid fears of further attacks on public sector funding and workers’ rights, according to Jim Quigley, Assistant General Secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT). He was recently speaking at the NASUWT Northern Ireland Annual Conference in Belfast.

More difficult for teachers and education

“The remarkable job teachers do, persisting in incredibly difficult circumstances, will only become more difficult in post-Brexit classrooms,” he said. Teachers must “prepare for the attack on public funding and workers’ rights that will inevitably follow” as, across the UK, “polarised politics, instability and uncertainty has allowed prejudice to dominate a mainstream narrative”.

Equality and respect for diversity

But the message of equality and respect for diversity will continue to be at the forefront of all NASUWT actions and activities, Quigley highlighted.

Reminding members that the NASUWT is the only teachers’ trade union in Northern Ireland to be organised on an explicit anti-sectarian platform, proud of welcoming teachers into its ranks regardless of political affiliation or religious belief, he pointed out that “the NASUWT has been, and will continue to be, resistant to bigotry, racism and hate”. He added: “From the classroom, we will persist with our message of equality and respect for diversity in a post-Brexit Northern Ireland.

“The children you teach are reliant on [teachers’] courage and resilience in the face of a rising tide of intolerance and xenophobia and we cannot let them down. Their futures really do lie in your hands.”

Source:　Education International