Teachers In England Vote For Strike Action In July

According to various news reports, teachers in England are set to strike on July 5th.

The strike is about pay and conditions and comes after members of the National Union of Teachers voted 91.7% for strike action to protect pay + conditions.

Kevin Courtney, Acting General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers' union, said the NUT was not taking action lightly but that teachers "cannot be expected to go on without significant change" in the light of "huge funding cuts to schools, worsening terms and conditions, and unmanageable and exhausting workloads".

He added:

"There is already a teacher recruitment and retention crisis in our schools. Without significant change to the pay and working condition of teachers, this will simply deepen. We know that many parents share our concerns."

"At the absolute minimum, schools urgently need extra funding to meet the additional costs Government has put on them through increased National Insurance and pension payments. This amounts to a 5% charge on the teachers' pay bill for schools. George Osborne is freezing the cash per pupil he gives to schools, whilst increasing what he takes from them. For every 20 teachers employed, a school has to find an extra teacher salary to give to the Treasury. There needs to be a guarantee of good standards for teachers' terms and conditions across the board, in all schools. School leaders' attention should be on educating children, not squandering huge amounts of time on negotiating individual staff members' contracts."

How will the proposed strike affect you? Are you a teacher in favour of strike action? We'd love to hear your views on this topic - leave us a comment below or join the conversation over on our Facebook page.