Gillian Keegan tells teachers to get off their backsides...a day after her four-letter rant

Education Secretary's new row over classrooms

- Sam Lister

EDUCATION Secretary Gillian Keegan was accused of "petulance" yesterday after telling headteachers to "get off their backsides" to tackle the concrete crisis.

She chose robust language just a day after facing criticism for a foul-mouthed outburst criticising people who "sat on their a* while she had done a "f****** good job".

Around 1,000 schools have failed to respond to a Department for Education questionnaire about the safety of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

Ms Keegan said yesterday: "Now hopefully all this publicity will make them get off their backsides.

But what I would like them to do is to respond because I want to be the Secretary of State that knows exactly in every school where there is RAAC and takes action.

"We've written to them quite a few times and we've also set up a call centre to phone them up to ask them to do it and they still haven't. So we have written to them yesterday and given them until the end of the week." Geoff

Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "This is the Education Secretary's second display of petulance in consecutive days albeit on this occasion without the swear words attached - and isn't very helpful.

"Schools have been expected to identify RAAC even though this is a specialist field and are unlikely to have staff who are experts in this area.

Blame