The NEU teachers’ union has just announced it is launching a campaign to save education through better pay and funding. This begins at the end of the month and will involve teachers and support staff in state-funded schools and academies in England.

The union recommends voting to reject a proposed unfunded 6.5 per cent increase over
three years for teacher pay and for industrial action to secure an above-inflation pay increase
along with a reduced workload and defend present directed time provisions, including the 1,265 hours limit.

The union says the decline in real-terms pay and laxer rules about workload discourage recruitment to the profession. And long-term underfunding means schools are already running
on empty, which has resulted in crumbling buildings and inadequate SEND provision in particular.

While the government proposed the rise to the School Teachers’ Review Body this is still a real-terms pay cut. Worse, the Government is not offering any extra funding to cover this pay rise, so schools would have to find the money from their already stretched existing budgets.

The “directed time” question, the hours teachers are required to work, is a major concern. It is at a record high and is often cited as the major reason for teachers leaving the profession.

We hope they do better than their north of the border sister union, the Educational Institute
of Scotland (EIS). Last month the EIS organised a ballot for industrial action over workloads.
The result was an overwhelming 93.1 per cent in favour for action short of a strike and 85.94 per cent for strike action, but as they could only inspire 46.57 per cent to vote, it is invalid under present law and it will have to be repeated.