UK Secondary school worksheet handed to pupils featured the suggestion that jobs were being “stolen” by Polish workers
7332 Mins Read
A secondary school has apologised after a worksheet handed to pupils featured the suggestion UK jobs were being “stolen” by EU workers.
Year 8 Geography students at Walthamstow Academy in north east London were handed a booklet earlier this month titled “essential knowledge”, in which a section about migration implied Polish migrants came to Britain for “free healthcare” and “better schools”.
Listing “problems” caused by Polish immigration, the document stated “pressures on the NHS”, “many languages” in schools, “informal work” meaning the government “does not receive tax” and “unemployment for locals”.
The information on the worksheet is at odds with a government-commissioned study last week, which found that EU migrants pay far more to the public purse on average than British-born residents – at £2,300 more each year in net terms per person.
The research by Oxford Economics found that over their lifetimes, they pay in £78,000 more than they take out in public services and benefits – while the average UK citizen’s net lifetime contribution is zero.
Walthamstow Academy, which has a significant proportion of Polish students, was accused of distributing “Brexit propaganda” and “tapping into prejudices that are not factual” at the risk of “indoctrinating” pupils.
One Polish mother, whose 12-year-old daughter was given the document, said: “I found it deeply shocking and offensive that they targeted only one nation while talking about immigration.
“It is really disturbing that they are giving children biased information that isn’t based on any statistics.”
After receiving a number of complaints, the head teacher at the school apologised “wholeheartedly” for the offence caused and acknowledged that parts of the worksheet were “inaccurate and insensitive”.
Nicholas Hatton, founder of the3million, a grassroots organisation representing EU citizens in the UK, told The Independent it was “really shocking” that the material had been distributed to pupils in the first place, describing it as a “dangerous document”.
