Kevin Courtney, Joint Secretary General of the National Education Union, at a rally in Woerstminster on Tuesday. Photo: Yui Mok/PA
Teacher unions have threatened to cause chaos in schools next school year ahead of the general election.
Kevin Courtney, joint secretary general of the National Education Union, the largest union representing teachers, said that coordinated strikes in the months leading up to elections would provide «lever» in a wage dispute with the government.
He was speaking as thousands of NEU members across England walked out on Tuesday for the sixth day of this year, leading to serious disruption in schools, including for A-Level and GCSE students.
About 10 percent of schools not considered fully closed.
In addition to potential three-day strikes from June to mid-July, which were described as «highly likely» on Thursday, the NEU plans to hold a vote among members to extend its strike mandate until the fall.< /p>
Three other major unions also intend to vote for their members. That could mean a coordinated strike campaign of up to 400,000 teachers this fall.
Talking to the LBC, Mr Courtney said: «We're entering an election year.»
«If I were in the place of [government], I would like to solve this problem before they enter this election year, because they would not want principals and teachers to talk to parents, telling the truth about what the situation is in schools where many schools have stopped teaching computer science."
He added that the teachers wanted to resolve the dispute before the fall.
The government offered teachers a lump sum payment of £1,000 for the current academic year (2022/23) and an average 4.5% increase in staff salaries in next year after intensive negotiations with the education unions.
The NEU Executive Director is due to meet this month to decide whether to approve three more days of strike in late June or early July.
Teachers rally in Westminster as 10% of schools are closed on Tuesday. Credit: Yui Mok/Pennsylvania Downing Street Rally
Speaking to striking teachers at the Downing Street rally, he said: «The only way the government can stop this is if they do the right thing and invest in our children.» . We have high moral goals, and we will win."
He continued: "We are crazy as hell. We're not going to put up with this anymore. We demand that this government invest in this generation of children.” However, James Cleverley said a «good offer» had been made to teachers due to salary and workload cuts.
The Foreign Secretary told LBC Radio: «The best way to minimize inconvenience to students is to these teachers were in the classroom.”
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"Many, many students have had very, very problems over the past couple of years due to Covid, and I think that all we can do is helping them start their lives better through education is very, very important&#. 34;
Today's strike comes with measures to ensure a minimum number of employees so that students who are due to take exams can attend classes, although on Monday the NEU acknowledged that it could not rule out disruptions for these groups.
The few schools that need to close completely, probably when striking teachers drive the student-to-student ratio below the legal threshold.
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