Why the teachers’ strike could be a long fight

Staff room solidarity suggests Gillian Keegan will need to find a better offer to end the dispute, writes Sean O’Grady

A fresh round of teachers’ strikes could disrupt exams (PA Wire)

Members of England’s biggest teaching union, the National Education Union (NEU), will strike on Thursday 27 April and Tuesday 2 May, after rejecting the latest pay offer. Teachers were offered a £1,000 payment for the current school year, on top of an average 5.4 per cent rise last September, plus an average 4.5 per cent rise next year; starting salaries would also rise to £30,000 from September. The NEU said the offer was “insulting” and had “united the profession in outrage”.

Why are teachers back on strike?

Because the government’s offer isn’t good enough; because they fear for the future of the profession as shortages add to oppressive workloads; and because they sense, after the nurses and railway workers settled, that the government might improve the offer if they keep the pressure up. Given the state of recruitment and retention, especially of shortage subjects, the situation in some schools may become unviable in the medium term, at least according to the unions. Settlements in Scotland and Wales are worth nearer to 8 per cent, and this may have emboldened their colleagues in England to step up pressure.