Government urged to 'save our schools' as Wigan teachers take sixth day of strike action

Members of the National Education Union (NEU) held a demonstration outside Deanery High School in Wigan on Tuesday, with banners and flags on display.

They were among tens of thousands of teachers across the country to take part in industrial action for the sixth day.

Wigan Council said there were partial closures at 40 primary schools, 14 high schools and four special schools.

Four unions representing teachers and schools leaders said they could co-ordinate future industrial action after members voted to reject the Government’s pay offer.

The Government offered teachers £1,000 for the current school year and an average 4.5 per cent pay rise next year.

The NEU’s executive is due to meet this month to decide whether to approve three strike days in late June or early July.

NEU senior officer David Hassett told Wigan Today: “The Government’s offer to try and settle this dispute was not only inadequate, it was insulting to everyone who cares about addressing the issues facing education today. The anger generated by the offer was seen when it was rejected by 98 per cent of our members. Since then the offer has also been overwhelming rejected by NASUWT, NAHT and ASCL.

“Alongside that, our members in sixth-form colleges are taking action today and have just voted overwhelmingly to renew their mandate for industrial action.

"The key issues of pay and funding haven’t been addressed and the Government has refused to negotiate further, so our members have been left with no choice but to once again take action. Our members would rather be in school teaching than on strike, but the crisis in our schools and colleges has reached the point where they have no choice but to take this action.

“We’ve served notice on the Secretary of State that we’ll be re-balloting our members from May 15, but there’s still time to resolve the dispute if Gillian Keegan comes back to the table with a fully-funded offer in line with inflation. The Scottish and Welsh governments have resolved disputes there, and we call on the Government to show that teachers and pupils in England are just as valued.

“Schools in Wigan face a £6.2m cut to their funding in 2023/24 and that’s on top of a decade of cuts. Across the borough next year schools will see a cut of £139 per pupil. We are not prepared to stand back and let that happen. It’s time for the Government to act and save our schools.”

Cabinet minister James Cleverly said a “good offer” has been made to teachers over pay and workload reduction.

A DfE spokesman said: “For unions to co-ordinate strike action with the aim of causing maximum disruption to schools is unreasonable and disproportionate, especially given the impact the pandemic has already had on students’ learning.

“Children’s education has always been our absolute priority and they should be in classrooms where they belong.

“We have made a fair and reasonable teacher pay offer to the unions, which recognises teachers’ hard work and commitment as well as delivering an additional £2 billion in funding for schools, which they asked for.”