Thousands of teachers across England and Wales have voted in favour of strikes in a dispute over pay.

Nine out of 10 teacher members of the National Education Union (NEU) voted in favour of industrial action, passing the 50% ballot turned out required by law.

There will be seven days of walkouts in February and March, according to the largest education union in the UK.

However, any individual school will only be affected by four of the days, it added.

The Herald: Teachers in England and Wales have voted to strike over pay (PA)Teachers in England and Wales have voted to strike over pay (PA) (Image: Danny Lawson/PA)

When are the teacher strike dates in England and Wales?

The strikes will begin on February 1 with more than 23,000 schools in England and Wales are expected to be affected, the NEU has said.

Here is the full list of proposed strike days are:

• Wednesday, February 1: all eligible members in England and Wales

• Tuesday, February, 14: all eligible members in England and Wales

• Tuesday, February 28: all eligible members in the Northern, North West, Yorkshire and The Humber regions

• Wednesday, March 1: all eligible members in the East Midlands, West Midlands, and Eastern regions

• Thursday, March 2: all eligible members in London, South East and South West regions

• Wednesday, March 15: all eligible members in England and Wales.

• Thursday, March 16: all eligible members in England and Wales

How did teachers in England and Wales vote over strikes?

In England, 90% of NEU teacher members who voted in the ballot backed strikes, with a turnout of 53%.

Meanwhile, in Wales, 92% of NEU teacher members who voted in the ballot backed strikes, with a turnout of 58%.

300,000 teachers and support staff in England and Wales were asked to vote in the NEU ballot overall.

Following a vote of support staff in schools in Wales, 88% of balloted members backed action amid a dispute over pay with a turnout of 51%.

However, the NEU’s ballot of support staff in schools and sixth-form colleges in England did not achieve the 50% ballot turnout required by law for action.

The result from the NEU comes after a ballot of members of the NASUWT teachers’ union last week failed to reach the 50% turnout threshold.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) is also due to announce its ballot result for strikes on Monday.

It follows the Department for Education (DfE)'s 5% pay rise offer to most teachers for the current school year. 

However, the NEU is demanding a fully-funded above inflation pay rise for teachers.

Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, joint NEU general secretaries, said: “We have continually raised our concerns with successive education secretaries about teacher and support staff pay, and its funding in schools and colleges, but instead of seeking to resolve the issue they have sat on their hands.

“It is disappointing that the Government prefers to talk about yet more draconian anti-strike legislation, rather than work with us to address the causes of strike action.”

 

The union leaders added that historic real-terms pay cuts for teachers had created an “unsustainable situation” in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, adding that staff were leaving the profession “in droves”.

“This is a scandalous waste of talent and taxpayers’ money yet the Government seems unbothered about the conditions they are allowing schools and colleges to slide into,” they said.

Dr Bousted and Mr Courtney added: “It continues to be the aspiration of the NEU and its membership that this dispute can be resolved without recourse to strike action.

“We regret having to take strike action, and are willing to enter into negotiations at any time, any place, but this situation cannot go on.

“We met with Gillian Keegan last week and would be happy to do so again, but no concrete proposals on teacher or support staff pay were put forward.”

On Monday, Ms Keegan told the Commons that she plans to meet with education union leaders later this week.

The NEU said teachers in sixth-form colleges in England, who have already been balloted and been on strike in recent months, will also take part in action on the strike days between February 1 and March 16.

Downing Street urged teachers not to strike   and inflict “substantial damage” to children’s education ahead of the strike ballot results on Monday.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We would continue to call on teachers not to strike given we know what substantial damage was caused to children’s education during the pandemic and it’s certainly not something we want to see repeated.

“We would hope they would continue to discuss with us their concerns rather than withdraw education from children.”

Are teachers striking in Scotland?

Schools across Scotland were shut last week as members of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), NASUWT, Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) and AHDS took strike action.

Schoolchildren in Scotland will also miss more lessons this week as members of the EIS are beginning 16 days of rolling strike action.