A UNION chief for Warrington has slammed education secretary Michael Gove’s recent speech about transforming state schools to be more like private schools and a tougher approach with punishments for bad behaviour.

National executive member for NASUWT for Merseyside and Cheshire, Mick Burrows, said ‘the perception that education is somehow fragile and broken is a myth by the Government’.

He added: “There are issues with behaviour but they are nowhere near as bad as they are portrayed.

“Our education system is in the top ten highest performing education systems in the world.”

Mr Burrows, who has worked as a teacher for more than 30 years, said schools already have deterrents in place such as litter picking and tidying up classrooms and these recommendations by Mr Gove were nothing new.