Turnbull criticises Teachers for Refugees T-shirt campaign

Teachers planning to wear T-shirts attacking asylum policy should focus on pupils, not political campaigns, PM says.

A Teachers for Refugees T-shirt.

Teachers planning to wear T-shirts attacking Australia’s asylum-seeker policies should be focusing on their pupils, not their political beliefs, Malcolm Turnbull says.

Teachers in Victoria and NSW are planning to wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “Close the camps - bring them here” in classrooms on Monday, according to the Teachers for Refugees Facebook page.

“It’s absolutely inappropriate. Political campaigning has no place in classrooms and teachers should be focused on teaching,” the Prime Minister told 3AW radio today.

“We’ve seen with the fact that our ranking internationally has gone backwards in maths and science and in the PISA results just this week.

“There is a lot of work to be done in our schools and it doesn’t include political campaigning.”

Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham has reportedly written to NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli and other states’ education ministers demanding they act on teachers “promoting their own personal views in the classroom”.

He urged Mr Piccoli to remind teachers of the “consequences” if they “abuse” their responsibilities, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton also said: “These Green activists parading as teachers should keep their politics out of the classroom.”

“Parents are right to ask what other ideological views are being jammed down the throats of young and impressionable primary aged children.

“Parents want their children to receive the best education possible and at the moment are worried about outcomes around maths, English and science and this small, extreme element of teachers are seeing fit to use limited time in the classroom to impose their own political views.”

A Victorian education department spokesman said in a statement that government school teachers could support causes in their own time but shouldn’t use their professional position to make political statements.

Teachers for Refugees posted on the Facebook page earlier today that they would not be “bullied”.

“State education ministers will now pressure us not to wear the shirts. Let’s have an exponential increase in teachers participating. Get yours before next week!” they wrote.

“As T4R’s Mark Goudkamp says, we’ve got every right as educators to take a stand against this government’s divisive and racist policies. And we have a duty to report abuse wherever it occurs.

“We are not ‘Green activists’, but why is anyone surprised that given the appalling policies of both the major parties on refugees (and NAPLAN and funding for elite schools), that many of us are voting that way?”

- with AAP