Are teachers going on strike in England? When ballots will be … – iNews

Primary and secondary school teachers in Scotland are striking in a dispute over pay.
Four teachers’ unions have planned walkouts in January and February which will force schools to close unless a deal is reached.
Unions are calling for a pay rise more in line with inflation, which is now close to 11 per cent, amid the cost of living crisis.
However, the Scottish Government has said such an increase for all teachers is not affordable within its fixed budget.
Here’s everything you need to know about the strikes in Scotland, and if teachers across the rest of the UK could follow suit and walk out.
Teachers are currently voting on whether to strike across the UK. An NASUWT ballot, covering staff in schools and sixth form colleges in England, Scotland, and Wales closed on Monday 9 January, with an announcement expected soon.
The NAHT union, which represents head teachers and other school leaders in England and Wales, has a ballot closing on Wednesday 11 January.
The NEU – the country’s largest education union – is balloting its members across England and Wales with the vote closing on Friday 13 January, and the result declared the following Monday.
If teachers vote to strike than we can expect widespread school closures across the country.
Teaching unions attended talks with Education Secretary Gillian Keegan on Monday ahead of ballot announcements.
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU, said “no concrete progress” was made in the talks.
“While there is the thought of further meetings, there is no sense of concrete progress as yet. There is no offer, there is no change,” he said.
“There is nothing so far that would dissuade us from taking industrial action because we think these meetings are only happening because of the threat of industrial action. We need to keep that threat up to see if we can move these meetings along further as time goes on.”
Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, said earlier that “children are being harmed every day by the crisis and the catastrophe of the workforce shortages in our schools”.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “If the Government is serious they have to do two things – they have to put more money on the table now, and a one-off payment may sound superficially attractive but that brings all sorts of problems with it. We want a pay rise which is incorporated into pay in a proper way.
“Secondly, they’ve got to commit to proper negotiations, because this is not just a crisis about the cost of living, although that is a crisis.
“This is a crisis which has been building for 12 years, as we have seen teachers leave our schools and children are left without the specialist teachers they need in order to fulfil their potential.”
She added: “If we take strike action it’s a last resort to say this cannot continue.”
She said teachers have “lost 24 per cent of their pay in real terms since 2010” and that “support staff have lost 27 per cent of their pay in the same period”.
A Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said: “There are no great schools without great teachers which is why we are making the highest pay awards in a generation – 5 per cent for experienced teachers and more for those early in their careers, including an 8.9 per cent increase to starting salary.
“We are also investing an additional £2bn in schools next year and £2bn the year after, taking school funding to its highest ever level.
“After two years of disrupted education for young people, strike action is simply not a reasonable solution.”
The department will soon be publishing updated guidance for schools and teachers on what to do in the event of industrial action.
Mr Courtney told Sky News: “If there are exams on, teachers are preparing those children for exams for a long period beforehand. You can have a strike on an exam day and not disrupt the exams.
“In truth, though, we’ve never done that before. So, it would be quite a big step. We don’t want to take it but I’m saying at this point that we’re not ruling anything out.”
Primary school teachers who are members of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) will strike on Tuesday 10 January, with secondary school teachers walking out on Wednesday 11 January.
These strikes will be joined by NASUWT, Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland (AHDS), and Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) union members.
The EIS has also organised 16 consecutive days of action starting from Monday 16 January, that will see teachers strike across Scotland in a staggered fashion.
Here is the full breakdown of dates and locations:
The unions are calling for a fully-funded pay increase of 12 per cent for 2022/23 after rejecting an offer worth up to 6.85 per cent.
Mike Corbett, NASUWT’s national official in Scotland, said: “Members are determined to continue with our campaign of industrial action and will stand together with teachers in other unions to send a united message to the Scottish Government and employers that they deserve a fair pay settlement.
“Teaching is a critical job and one that is uniquely and increasingly challenging.
“Teachers just want pay levels that reflect the years of training they have undertaken, the high level of workload involved and the skill involved in meeting the needs of all pupils.”
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