‘I am wrong sometimes’: Teachers’ union leader who was overheard making offensive remarks about children admits she is ‘blunt too often’
- Mary Bousted said in a Zoom meeting pupils were ‘mucky, who spread germs’
- National Education Union’s joint general secretary opposes back-to-school plan
- However, Ms Bousted admitted yesterday: ‘I can react too quickly at times’
The leader of a union opposing the back-to-school plans yesterday admitted she gets it ‘wrong sometimes’ after the Mail revealed her offensive remarks about children.
In a Zoom meeting, Mary Bousted said pupils were ‘mucky, who spread germs, who touch everything, who cry, who wipe their snot on your trousers or on your dress’.
The joint general secretary of the National Education Union said this was part of the reason why a June 1 reopening date was unacceptable.
In a Zoom meeting, Mary Bousted, pictured, said pupils were ‘mucky, who spread germs, who touch everything, who cry, who wipe their snot on your trousers or on your dress’
But yesterday she said: ‘I can react too quickly at times. I am wrong sometimes. Blunt probably too often (it’s a northern thing).
‘But callous – I hope not. I do care, deeply, about children, about young people and about those who teach them and care for them in schools and colleges.’
In the online video conference calls with union members, Dr Bousted said the NEU had ‘made the running in this crisis’.
She said Boris Johnson should be made to ‘reap the whirlwind’ in revenge for not consulting her union more closely during recovery planning.
She told union officers last Thursday: ‘The timetable is reckless. The timetable is simply not safe, it is not fair, it is not feasible.’
An NEU spokesman said last night: ‘We want the wider opening of schools when the Government provides the scientific evidence to show it is safe to do so.’