Friday, March 17, 1978,
Mr Callaghan takes teachers to task By Staff Reporters
As the Prime Minister yesterday criticized teachers for taking protest action after referring their dispute to arbitration, more schools were forced to close because of unruly behaviour by pupils left without supervision at lunchtime.
Mr James Callaghan said in the Commons: “When I was a trade union negotiator it was the principle that when a matter had been referred to arbitration, you awaited the verdict of the arbitrators before you took action.”
Teachers’ refusal to supervise lunches and other school activities has lead to a wave of pupil unrest. In one Warwickshire school, 50 children, including girls, who barricaded themselves in a classroom were each given two or three strokes of the cane yesterday.