Schools: Teacher prepared to strike despite feeling guilty

A teacher said she was ready to go on strike despite feeling guilty about students who could lose their education.

Denbighshire’s Lowri Lewis Williams said strikes were necessary to “secure the future of teaching”.

It comes as teachers in Wales and other parts of the UK are being asked to vote on industrial action after being offered pay rises below inflation.

This could lead to strikes in the New Year after unions rejected a 5% wage offer from the Welsh Government.

Union leader Neil Butler said the offer was “not good enough” and amounted to a 5% drop given inflation.

Education Secretary Jeremy Miles said the unions’ demands were reasonable but a bigger increase was prohibitive.

The two largest teachers’ unions will start sending out ballots to members this week, with more to come.

“Over the last 12 years, inflation has eroded teachers’ salaries,” said Mr Butler of the NASUWT teachers’ union.

“In fact, teachers’ salaries have dropped by up to 25%, they’ve lost a quarter of their salaries in the last 12 years, enough is enough.”

In July, the Welsh Government accepted recommendations from the independent Welsh Pays Inspectorate that teachers should receive a 5% pay rise this year, with the possibility of a further 3.5% rise next year.

This would mean starting salaries for new teachers would rise to £28,866 before rising to at least £30,000 next year.

Teachers’ pay will depend on their experience and the additional duties they take on – salaries for more experienced classroom teachers would rise to £44,450.

An analysis by Luke Sibieta of the Institute for Fiscal Studies found it was a 3% pay cut after inflation and a 10% cut since 2010.

“[Morale] is extremely low. And teachers aren’t just worried about their own position, they’re worried about the future of education,” added Mr Butler.

“We think our request is extremely reasonable, let’s sit down and say, if you can’t afford 12%, what are you going to offer? Because frankly 5% is not good enough.”

Helen Johns, a teacher and union representative for Rhondda Cynon Taf, said her salary has declined in value over the past 12 years.

“I firmly believe that enough is enough,” she said.

“The system wouldn’t work if it wasn’t for the good will of the teachers – and I think our good will has been taken advantage of.

“Young people don’t get into the workforce.

“If we don’t get up now, I think we’ll sell teachers down the drain in the future.”

Using a different measure of inflation, she said the actual fall in real terms is closer to 20%.

Andrea Jones, a secondary school teacher from Abercrave, Powys, said several teachers she knew have recently left the profession for lower-stress, higher-paying jobs.

“We’ve got people bringing in breakfast for kids, we’ve got people bringing in clothes and they just can’t afford it.

“But they try to do what is best for the people in their care.”

With inflation currently at 10%, NASUWT, representing Helen and Andrea, said the 5% salary offer would result in “more financial misery for hard-working teachers”.

The National Education Union, which is also due to start elections this week, said members have been “undervalued for too long”.

Headteachers, represented by the National Association of Headteachers, are also being asked if they want to take industrial action for the first time in their history.

They said the system is at a breaking point because of major education reforms like the new curriculum, coupled with problems recruiting and retaining staff and underfunding of schools.

Most unions agree with members on the possibility of strikes and industrial action just before a strike, which could mean that only contractual obligations are met.

They said strikes were the last resort. The last major strike action took place in 2008.

Cardiff-based parent Andrew Couvret said he hoped the pay dispute would be settled soon.

“My daughter is 13 and with all the time she’s been with Covid I don’t think it’s the best time for it.”

He said he reckoned the rising cost of living was having an impact, “but I don’t think it’s in the children’s best interests”.

The importance of teachers should be recognised, according to Amy Owen, also from Cardiff.

“In order for them to do their job properly and feel valued, they need to be paid appropriately.”

The Education Secretary wrote to unions saying expecting wages to rise with inflation was “perfectly reasonable” but impossible without a large increase in the Welsh government budget.

“It’s a shame that the UK government has left us in such an impossible position,” Miles wrote.

In response, the Treasury Department said responsibility for funding public services had been transferred.

“We have given the Welsh Government a record £18 billion a year over the next three years – the highest spending review agreement since decentralisation,” a spokesman said.

The unions insist that any salary offer should be funded entirely by the government and not come from individual school budgets.

It is not clear to what extent funding for the salary offer will fall directly to the schools rather than the councils.

Mr Sibieta said “school finances will be extremely tight”, with additional costs to pay on top of higher energy and food prices.