Head teachers go on £60,000 trip

Twenty head teachers from one of London's most deprived boroughs were sent on a £60,000 fact-finding trip at the taxpayer's expense, it has emerged.

The teachers, from Hackney, east London, went to Arizona in the US to learn about educating poor children.

Last week's visit was paid for by the head teachers' schools and the Learning Trust, which provides the borough's education services.

The National Union of Teachers said the trip was "crashingly insensitive".

This is a shocking waste of taxpayers' money Matthew Elliott, TaxPayers' Alliance

Mark Lushington, Hackney's NUT representative, said: "You are not going to get public sympathy on this matter if the people don't think public money is being properly spent.

"And why Arizona? I use the immortal phrase 'A long way to throw a hippopotamus'."

He said he doubted the trip was value for money and suggested the teachers could have paired up with teachers from schools in Southwark or Lancashire, which also sent teachers to Arizona.

But Tim Schultz, a spokesman for the Learning Trust, said there was no comparable conference in the UK.

'International practice'

"By learning what works in other deprived areas our heads can improve Hackney schools," he said.

"We encourage them to learn from international best practice and apply it locally."

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "This is a shocking waste of taxpayers' money.

"This money should have been used for educating children in Hackney, and if it wasn't needed then it should have been given back to their parents."

Head teachers from Southend in Essex, Southwark in south London and Lancashire also attended the two-day conference.

After the event, delegates visited 20 schools in Arizona to study their teaching strategies.