Teachers prepare to strike in England and Wales

Teachers in England and Wales are preparing to walk over pay in the first nationwide strikes since 2016.

More than 100,000 could go on strike Wednesday, the National Education Union said — along with university staff, civil servants, train and bus drivers.

However, some schools may not decide whether to close fully or partially until the morning, as it depends on how many staff join the strike.

The Minister for Education said this means “great uncertainty for parents”.

Gillian Keegan said the strike will have “a significant impact on children’s education”.

But Schools Minister Nick Gibb later said he expected the “majority” of schools to be open “in some ways”.

Some 500,000 workers are expected to take part in walkouts across a range of sectors in what the trade union congress says is the largest strike in more than a decade. Downing Street said mass action would cause “significant disruption”.

In Wales, auxiliaries help striking teachers, while members of the National Association of Head Teachers take action on the eve of a strike.

Teachers are also on strike in industrial action in two parts of Scotland – Clackmannanshire and Aberdeen.

5th grade teacher Helen Butler will join a picket line in Portsmouth for the first time in her 26-year career. She has voted against strikes in the past – but this time it feels different.

“We now have some teachers who go to food banks,” she said, adding that her salary has fallen in real terms over a decade.

Ms. Butler said she loved her school, where she is a NEU representative, but there were not enough resources and her workload had increased.

“We get 10 glue sticks for a class of 30 because it’s expensive. I ended up buying my own,” she said.

“I don’t know any teacher who doesn’t work during the holidays.

“What other job do you expect to work during your vacation?”

Most state school teachers in England and Wales had a 5% pay rise in 2022. But inflation means this is actually a cut, unions say. And they want to make sure it’s not paid for out of the school budget.

Wednesday is the first of seven national and regional NEU strike dates.

Schools have been advised to open to vulnerable students, children of key workers and people taking exams.

Some are only opened for certain classes.

Children can be tasked with remote work – but striking teachers don’t have to.

Paula Arnold, who works at a Poole law firm, said she would not know until Wednesday morning if her daughters’ schools would open.

“I don’t know if I’m coming in or out [of the office] or working from home or being unable to work,” she said. And working from home with kids wasn’t easy — especially when they didn’t have jobs.

“I’d like to say that my children are angels,” she laughed. “Children are children. They need to be fed. I don’t want to just…put them in front of devices and go for it.”

Ms Arnold said she wanted to continue supporting striking teachers but needed more security to schedule childcare.

“I end up just tearing my hair out because it’s just so difficult to juggle everything,” she said.

Sam Done, the headmaster of Hillcrest Academy primary school in Leeds, is unsure how many staff are working and how many pupils could be accommodated.

“We’ll have to wait and see what happens until almost 11 hours the night before and the morning of the industrial action,” he said.

Schools in England will strike for four days each:

Just over 53% of the NEW England teachers voted in the election – 90% of them supported a strike.

A Cambridgeshire secondary school teacher who asked not to be named said she understood why her colleagues were striking but could not afford to lose her salary.

“It just doesn’t suit me morally,” she added.

“The children have suffered so much from Covid and I just feel like going on strike and missing them another four days of school is not going to help anyone. You are so far behind already.”

In Scotland, teachers are already on a nationwide strike – and the action is ongoing. Most teachers in Northern Ireland will be out for half a day on February 21st.

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