Teachers on strike over pay, pensions and workload
Thousands of schools across England and Wales face disruption and closures as teachers stage a national walkout in an ongoing row over pay and conditions.
Photo: Teachers and demonstrators in Bristol take part in a national strike in October 2013
The strike, called by the National Union of Teachers, has been condemned by the Department for Education (DfE) who say it will disrupt parents’ lives and damage children’s education.
NUT members are expected to join picket lines in England and Wales, and the union is also holding a number of rallies.
Michael Gove’s policies are exhausting and demoralising teachers and that’s very bad and disruptive for education Kevin Courtney, NUT
The ongoing industrial action is about three core issues: changes to pay, pensions and workload. Speaking ahead of the walkout, NUT deputy general secretary Kevin Courtney said that the strike was a “last resort”.
“We have been trying to persuade Michael Gove to change his mind, he is unwilling,” he said. “Michael Gove’s policies are exhausting and demoralising teachers and that’s very bad and disruptive for education. Thousands of good people are leaving the profession, we are building up to a teacher shortage and our children deserve energetic and enthusiastic teachers not demoralised and exhausted ones.”
Mr Courtney added that the union wants the education secretary to change his policies on school accountability, which the NUT says is leading to “enormous” workloads for teachers, performance related pay and pensions.
Strikes will ‘disrupt parents’ lives’
The DfE has said that parents will “struggle to understand” why the NUT was pressing ahead with its strike. One website, Emergency Childcare, said it had seen a 50 per cent rise on the number of bookings it would get for an average Wednesday, which it said showed the impact of the walkout on families.
A DfE spokesperson said: “They called for talks to avoid industrial action, we agreed to their request, and talks have been taking place weekly.
“Despite this constructive engagement with their concerns, the NUT is taking action that will disrupt parents’ lives, hold back children’s education and damage the reputation of the profession.”
Mr Gove has written to seven union bosses, setting out the progress he believed had been made in an ongoing programme of talks between the DfE and these teaching unions. In it, he said he wanted to underline his commitment to the talks process.
But the NUT said that the letter showed how little progress had been made in the talks.
The NUT has been embroiled in its current dispute with the government for more than two years, and staged a series of regional strikes with the NASUWT teaching union last year. Between them they represent the vast majority of teachers.
A proposed one-day national walkout in November by the two unions was called off and the NASUWT has decided not to take part in the walkout.