Former schools minister Jonathan Gullis has suggested schools don’t want to employ him because of his political views, saying it is a “damning indictment on the profession”.
The ex-teacher today opened up on the “scary” uphill battle to find work after he lost his Stoke-on-Trent North seat to Labour in the general election in July.
Gullis, who has previously called teachers “woke warriors”, told Times Radio he had applied to return to the classroom.
He said: “I’m a father of a four-year-old and a two-year-old, I’ve got a wife who’s extremely supportive but of course is worried about the bills.”
“I was a teacher before and obviously I’ve applied for a few jobs and sadly not even had an interview yet, so actually I think the days when being an ex-MP was something that was wanted or desired is no longer. I think we’re now seen as a problem and so that’s a challenge.”
‘Woke agenda entrenched in classrooms’
Asked whether the teaching profession has a problem where being an ex-Tory MP specifically counts against him, Gullis added: “I’ll be perfectly frank with you, when I entered teaching it was always slightly more centre-left leaning but I always felt that it was fair.
“When I left the profession to enter parliament I felt being a Conservative was something that was treated with disdain.
“And I do think, there’s a lot of schools that will see who I used to represent and maybe my views which they may not like and because of that, not because of what I can do as a teacher, but because of that I won’t even be given an interview.
“And I think that’s a damning indictment on the profession that I do love and do care about.
“But sadly if you’re going to have too many activists in the classroom, which I do think we have at this time, then politics is going to sadly determine who’s allowed to work in that profession.
“Which is not good for pupils, it’s not good for parents, but particularly pupils because they need teachers to be coming to deliver high-quality education, not pursuing the very rapid woke agenda that sadly has entrenched many of our education sectors.”
‘Potshots’ criticised
Gullis did not want to provide an on the record comment.
But it is understood that he’s been applying for a mixture of senior leadership school jobs and also for private sector roles.
His apparent difficulty in securing a teaching job comes amid a recruitment and retention crisis, and despite a pledge by the Labour government recruit 6,500 additional teachers.
His comments have irked unions.
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the ASCL union, said: “Schools are not full of activists, but rather high-quality teachers and leaders who work incredibly hard and with great professionalism.
“They deserve support rather than potshots from former MPs.”
‘Snub says more about his MP career’
Daniel Kebede, the NEU’s general secretary, added: “I don’t think Gullis not being able to get a job teaching is a poor reflection of the profession – there is a deep recruitment and retention crisis – It says more about his career as an MP.”
Government guidance issued in September 2022 – the same month Gullis became schools minister – encourages schools to trawl the social media of would-be employees as part of their due diligence.
Legal experts have said schools should search online profiles for things like inappropriate or offensive behaviour, discrimination and drug or alcohol misuse.
During a House of Commons address in 2023, Gullis called former NEU leaders “Bolshevik [Mary] Bousted and Commie [Kevin] Courtney”.
In response to a Labour MP’s question about 200 missing migrant children in January 2023, he also allegedly heckled “well they shouldn’t have come here illegally’.
He’s also called for asylum seekers to be housed in tents and called his constituents scrotes and scumbags.
The former humanities teacher and head of year has admitted in interviews he was known as “Grumpy Gullis” during his teaching career because he never smiled.
He also described completing a day’s teaching as feeling like he’d done “10 rounds of boxing with Anthony Joshua”. During his first job, he was often in his head of department’s office “crying my eyes out over how bad my lesson was”.
According to those who trained with him at IoE and those who worked with him subsequently, Jonathan’s employment difficulties during a recruitment crisis, are solely related to his talents (or lack of). It is quite ironic to think about how he would react if he heard anyone else making this claim. Schools are desperate for teachers …… but not THAT desperate.