Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for her policies of the organising of strikes during the school day by (a) teachers, (b) parents and (c) students in connection with the Israel-Hamas war.

Children should be in school. While the department recognises young people should be able to peacefully express their views, the department does not condone missing out on their education to protest.

Missing school only disrupts lessons and adds to teachers’ workloads. The department will continue talking to the local authorities affected to offer support where needed. Any absence of this nature will be recorded as ‘unauthorised’, and parents may be given a penalty notice or prosecuted as a result. The department also expects teachers to fulfil their contractual requirements. It would be completely inappropriate for teachers to attend such protests during working hours.

Earlier this week the department wrote to schools, expressing our strong support for headteachers and local authorities in setting clear expectations that pupils should be in school and in enforcing them appropriately, including using fixed penalty notices where applicable.

It is the priority of the department that all students and young people learn in a safe and supportive environment. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, wrote to all schools and colleges on 17 October to provide advice on how to respond to the Israel-Hamas conflict in the classroom. To help schools navigate teaching about political issues, the department has also published guidance for teachers and leaders around political impartiality. Now is not the time for divisive, politically motivated rhetoric. Now is the time to do everything possible to ensure that students, staff and young people, many of whom will be personally affected by the ongoing conflict, are supported and feel safe in education settings.

The department will continue to monitor the situation closely.