Many schools in England are likely to close on Wednesday as teachers drop out again over overpay.
It is the sixth nationwide strike by members of the National Education Union (NEU) in England since February – with another planned for Friday.
In addition to lessons, final events such as sports days, concerts and school trips could also be affected.
And as more strike votes take place, schools brace for more disruption in the new school year.
It’s been more than five months since teachers first went on the picket line in woolen hats and gloved hands holding take-out coffee.
For 2022-23 they received a 5% increase.
This time they are asking for increases above the rate of inflation, as well as additional funds to ensure that any salary increases do not come from the schools’ existing budgets.
The weather may have improved since the first strike on February 1, but relations between the two sides in the dispute remain as chilly as ever.
No talks are taking place between the unions and the Department of Education (DfE) and there is no obvious solution in sight.
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There have been sticking points in the last few months.
After intense talks in March, the government offered teachers an additional one-off payment of £1,000. A 4.3% pay rise was also offered for most teachers next year – with starting salaries reaching £30,000.
The NEU and three other unions involved in the dispute rejected the offer – the one-off payment is thus off the table.
As the schools returned for the summer term, all four announced they would join forces to coordinate future strike action.
Since then there have been further strikes.
The most recent May 2 strike affected more schools than before – less than half, just 45.3%, were able to fully open.
Some teenagers we spoke to at the time were concerned that review classes would interfere with exam preparation. The NEU has said it has done everything in its power to ensure that school runs as normally as possible for the graders taking exams this summer.
Two things will determine what happens next.
The first is the announcement of how much teachers will be paid next year. The matter has been examined by the Independent Payroll Inspectorate and its recommendations are currently being considered by the government.
We don’t know when there will be an announcement about payment. Based on past years, we can expect this to be the case at the end of July as the children prepare to separate for the summer holidays.
The results of the strike votes that are currently taking place in all four unions can also be observed.
It is the second time that members of the NEU, the teachers’ union NASUWT and the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) have been asked if they would be willing to go on strike over pay. Last time, only the NEU received enough votes to take industrial action.
In addition, the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) – another union of school leaders – is also electing members for the first time in its 150-year history. Principals told the BBC they were concerned about the pay’s impact on staff recruitment and retention.
As these polls will end in mid to late July, we could see some brisk activity in the coming weeks.
The online tool Teacher Tapp surveys thousands of primary and secondary school teachers in both the public and private sectors about their daily experiences in the classroom. A recent survey found that nearly four in 10 sixth graders had booked visits to their new secondary schools on strike days this week.
These could well be disturbed.
And if enough union members vote to continue the strike action, those same students could see their new seventh-grade teachers resign in the fall semester as well.
dr Mary Bousted, deputy general secretary of NEU, said that Education Secretary Gillian Keegan’s “refusal to resume negotiations” had “united the teaching profession in their anger at a government that fails to recognize the serious challenges that need to be addressed. “our educational system”.
The DfE has not yet responded to a request for comment, but previously said its salary offer was a “fair and reasonable offer” and schools would receive an additional £2.3billion over the next two years.
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