On Thursday 22 January, Lincoln’s Member of Parliament, Karl McCartney MP, hosted a visit to Lincoln by the Secretary of State for Education, the Rt. Hon. Nicky Morgan MP, during which they held a 'Teacher Direct' Q&A Session for the City’s school teachers at The Priory City of Lincoln Academy on Skellingthorpe Road.The event provided an opportunity to Lincoln’s teachers to raise with their local Member of Parliament and the Secretary of State a whole range of issues from teachers' workloads to OFSTED and phonetics as pupils learn to verbalise their reading.Karl McCartney MP said: “I am very grateful to the Secretary of State for Education, the Rt. Hon. Nicky Morgan MP, for taking the time to come to Lincoln to meet and take questions from many of our City’s teachers representing nearly all of our City's schools. I am also very grateful to Mrs Hopkinson, Mr. Steve Penney and, indeed, everyone at The Priory City of Lincoln Academy for allowing us to hold the event at their School.“My thanks must also go to all of the (up to 100) school teachers in Lincoln who came along and helped to make this a stimulating and informative Q&A session.“I know there are many teachers across Lincoln and the Country devoting many hours over and above the statutory requirements with the sole motivation of improving the life chances of our children and young people and I have the utmost admiration for them. This event gave the Secretary of State for Education and I an opportunity to remind the teachers present that the Department for Education, and our Government more generally, places enormous value and trust in their professionalism and skills. Nicky also assured the teachers that we are committed to reducing the bureaucratic burdens upon teachers to enable them to focus on what really matters in the classroom: teaching and learning."- ENDS -For further information, please contact Karl McCartney MP at [email protected] / 020 7219 7221.