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SINCE 1819
SINCE 1819
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Teachers in Cambridgeshire and at 23,400 schools throughout England and Wales have gone on strike today (Wednesday, February 1) over pay.
The striking teachers are members of the National Education Union (NEU) and have formed picket lines in the morning at schools.
The government has said schools should try to open, but many have announced that they will at least partially close.
See details here of the schools in the Cambridge region that are closing or partially closing
Shelagh Kavanagh, a supply teacher and the president of the NEU Cambridgeshire, said: “We are striking to save education from a major crisis. We are striking for the teachers, students, and parents whose experience of education suffers because of a decade of underfunding. We’re in a cost-of-living crisis and our teachers are using foodbanks. This must end now.”
Thousands of teachers are gathering at Parker’s Piece in Cambridge for a rally from 11am.
They were joined by striking workers from the ASLEF and RMT unions representing railway workers, UCU members from the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin, as well as civil servants represented by the PCS union.
This formed part of the Trade Union Congress’ national ‘protect the right to strike’ day. This is planned to resist the government’s new anti-strike legislation.
In a recent ballot, more than 90 per cent of NEU members voted to strike for a better pay deal. The teachers’ vote was a rejection of the five per cent pay offer made in September.
With current levels of inflation, this offer represented a real terms pay cut of over seven per cent in 2022 alone, on top of major real terms pay cuts between 2010 and 2021.
Helen Brook, the Cambridgeshire NEU joint branch secretary and a primary school teacher said: “The government’s five per cent pay offer is unfunded, it means schools have to dip into their own pockets to provide the pay rise. It is robbing Peter to pay Paul.
“Ultimately, it is the pupils who lose out: there will either be fewer resources or staff made redundant to ‘free up’ some money for this ‘pay rise’ – it is an absolute scandal.”
The NEU suggests decades of underpay are causing a retention crisis in the sector. Over a third of teachers currently leave the profession within five years of qualifying.
Marcella, a teacher in a Cambridge state school said “I’m committed to a career in teaching but the government is making that very difficult. We’re in a cost-of-living crisis and we can’t carry on with another seven per cent pay cut.”
The NEU also argues low pay is causing a recruitment crisis. The government met only 59 per cent of its secondary recruitment target, meaning more than 40 per cent of places were unfilled.
Paula, a teacher at a maintained nursery in Cambridge, added: “Teachers aren’t entering the profession for the simple reason they’re underpaid, with the very high cost of living in Cambridgeshire posing an extra financial barrier. Unless our pay increase is fully funded it is a cut to schools budgets. In maintained nursery schools, this will have awful consequences on resourcing, staffing, buildings and ultimately then children’s learning.”
In Cambridgeshire, further teachers’ strikes will take place on March 1, March 15, and March 16.