Teacher strikes: Blackpool and Fleetwood school staff form picket lines in the first day of NEU strike action in North West

South Shore Academy and Fleetwood High teachers joined hundreds of their fellow union members in the first of several national strikes to tackle the under-funding of schools and fight for a fully funded, above inflation pay rise.

Fleetwood High School picket supervisor, Barbara Reeves, said it’s time for Rishi Sunak to ‘get [his] hand in [his] pocket’.

In England, the NEU is looking for a pay rise of 12% rather than the 5% offered so far by the government for most teachers. The unions say teachers’ pay has fallen by about 24% relative to inflation since 2010.

Mrs Reeves told the Blackpool Gazette: "This government is being absolutely despicable saying they are funding teachers pay rises."

The 5% teachers’ payrise will be funded by already stretched school budgets, with no extra government funding.

Mrs Reeves added: “Schools will have to look at restructures because they won’t be able to afford teachers and quality support staff to give the children they so rightly deserve.”

A staffing crisis has seen a third of teachers leaving within five years of qualifying, according to an NEU spokesperson.

And the union said although the Government has met for talks, they fail to recognise their role in this crisis.

John Cartmell, head of creative studies at South Shore Academy, said: “We’re not here just to talk about teachers’ pay, we’re here because we’re not hitting targets for teacher recruitment, and we're failing on teacher retention. The government are is failing to talk to the unions. We’d much rather be in the classroom teaching but this is about the future of education.”

Government must ‘step up’, says union

The National Education Union (NEU) has estimated around 85% of schools in England and Wales have been affected by teacher walkouts. The Education Secretary must “step up with concrete and meaningful proposals” on teachers’ pay to prevent further strikes, union leaders have said.

Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, joint general secretaries of the NEU, said: “This is no cause for celebration, but an indication of the level of anger amongst our members.

“It is a huge statement from a determined membership who smashed through the Government’s thresholds that were only ever designed to prevent strike action happening at all.

“Today, we put the Education Secretary on notice. She has until our next strike day for England, February 28, to change her stance.”

The union leaders warned: “However, be in no doubt that our members will do whatever it takes to stand up for education, including further strike action, if Gillian Keegan still fails to step up with concrete and meaningful proposals.”

What the union says

Peter Middleman, North West regional secretary of the National Education Union, said: “The emphatic result in our recent postal ballot is an accurate reflection of the strength of feeling within the teaching profession.

"Almost 900 members across 130 Fylde Coast schools are expected to provide strong support for the strike days we’ve announced beginning on Wednesday. The Government ought to take this development seriously and recognise the mistakes in their approach to teacher reward which have brought the profession to this point.

"With workloads going endlessly up, our members have indicated that they will no longer tolerate their living standards going in the opposite direction.

"Headteachers and School Governors understand like we do, that with school funding in dire straits, only the Treasury and Department for Education can now resolve this dispute by placing a new value on our schools, and the people who learn and work within them.

"We urge Ministers to reflect on the damage their intransigence is causing to good teaching and learning while our door remains open for any good-faith discussions designed to avoid future strikes this academic term”.

Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, said: “We have said for weeks now that we are willing to meet with the Education Secretary any time, any place, to resolve this dispute, but so far we have seen no positive outcome.

"Although we have met, it is clear this is a Government unwilling to recognise its role in the recruitment and retention crisis which has seen a third of teachers leaving within five years of qualifying.

“The Government cannot expect strikes to be averted unless it brings forward concrete proposals for increasing pay. Experienced teachers have seen a 23 per cent real-terms pay cut since 2010. Given the current cost-of-living crisis and rising inflation, this is clearly an unsustainable situation for our members. The Government appears to have nothing to say to them.

“As well as allowing the profession to haemorrhage talent, the Government has missed its own targets for recruitment by an enormous margin and has done so for many years. Any sensible Government would by now have started to ask themselves why.

“Our members are taking a stand today for a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise, because the profession cannot go on like this. Parents know the consequences of persistent underfunding, both for their school/college and for their child. This strike should not be necessary, and we regret the disruption caused to parents and pupils, but our aims are in the interests of everyone in the education community.”

A full list of dates and locations for England and Wales:

Wednesday 1 February: all eligible members in England and Wales Tuesday 14 February: all eligible members in England and Wales Tuesday 28 February: all eligible members in the Northern, North West, Yorkshire and The Humber regions Wednesday 1 March: all eligible members in the East Midlands, West Midlands, and Eastern regions Thursday 2 March: all eligible members in London, South East and South West regions Wednesday 15 March: all eligible members in England and Wales Thursday 16 March: all eligible members in England and Wales