Teachers’ strikes: NEU accuses government of refusing to negotiate

Teaching unions have accused the government of stonewalling and refusing to enter into negotiations, as teachers in England and Northern Ireland start a fifth day of strikes on Thursday.

Dr Mary Bousted, the co-head of the National Education Union, apologised to parents facing another day with their children not in school, but said teachers were striking for the future of education. She added that there were strike exemptions for vulnerable children, and children in Years 6, 11, and 13 who were preparing for exams.

“I apologise to the parents and say that this is not what the National Education Union wants to do, it’s not what its members want to do,” she said on the BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme. “But I think parents have to consider that every day, now, there is an ongoing crisis in our schools.”

She added: “This is not an education service which is able to function properly any more because of the ongoing crisis in our schools. Members would not be taking strike action, when they’re already inadequately paid, if they felt there was any alternative. We want to negotiate. We want to end this dispute.”

Bousted said class sizes in secondary schools were the highest on record, while those in primaries were the highest in 40 years. Heads were also facing a staffing crisis, with teacher vacancies 37% higher than they were last year and 93% higher than in 2019, she said. Children’s lives and health were being put at risk in “deteriorating and dilapidated school buildings”, she added.

“It’s not any longer a question, actually, of fairness for teachers. It is a question of supply and demand – and we have lost teacher supply,” she said.

The government has offered teachers in England a one-off payment of £1,000 and a 4.3% pay rise, and the starting salary for teachers in England is due to rise to £30,000 a year by September. All four teaching unions have rejected this offer and more strike action is planned in the coming weeks.

Bousted said unions wanted to negotiate, but the government was refusing to come to the table.

“We’ve asked for an above-inflation pay rise, but we’d be prepared to negotiate a decent pay rise for teachers,” she said, adding that unions would consider a multiyear deal. “Let’s look at teacher workload. Let’s look at the role of inspection. Let’s look at terms and conditions […] It’s all up for negotiation. All we have to do is get in the room, negotiate [and] that’s what the government’s not doing.”