Teachers across England and Wales are going on strike on Wednesday after a decade of meagre earnings in a state-funded school system that has seen many take up second jobs or leave the profession altogether.
The National Education Union (NEU), which is organising the teachers’ strikes, has asked for an above-inflation pay award funded fully by the government, so that schools can also cover other costs, from stationery to textbooks.
With inflation reaching double digits last year, teachers have seen a 23% real-terms pay cut since 2010, the union says.
The NEU which has planned seven days of strikes in total – says one in four teachers leave the profession within three years of qualification, impacting the education of children.
“I can’t remember when we had enough staff to comfortably cover the school,” said Sydney Heighington, 33, an assistant head teacher at an east London school.
“At the moment, you’ve got teachers just absolutely leaving in droves,” he added, noting that some of his support staff colleagues had been forced to go to food banks because of rising bills and others had simply left to find work at supermarkets
The government, which has held unsuccessful talks with the NEU, has called its one-year, 5% pay award for teachers the highest “in a generation” and says it is investing 4 billion pounds in schools over the next two years.
PRIME TIME NEWS gathered that Hundreds of thousands of other workers including rail staff and civil servants will also walk out on Wednesday, making it Britain’s biggest day of strikes in several decades when measured by the range of industries it will cover.
Credit: Reuters
