Dates for teachers’ strike: Teachers in England and Wales are on strike over pay

Nine out of ten National Education Union (NEU) teachers voted for industrial action, passing the 50 percent statutory election.

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

However, each individual school was only affected by four of the days, she added.

Teachers in England and Wales voted to strike over pay (PA) (Image: PA)

When are the teachers strike dates in England and Wales?

The strikes begin on February 1 and are expected to affect more than 23,000 schools in England and Wales, according to the NEU.

Here is the full list of proposed strike days:

• 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 the 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

How did teachers in England and Wales vote on strikes?

In England, 90% of the NEU teachers who voted supported strikes, with a turnout of 53%.

Meanwhile in Wales, 92% of the NEU teachers who took part in the vote supported strikes, with a turnout of 58%.

🚨 The results are in! 🚨

In our poll, NEU members voted overwhelmingly to go on historic strike for a fully funded pay rise above inflation. We must save our schools.

— National Education Union (@NEUnion) January 16, 2023

A total of 300,000 teachers and support staff across England and Wales were asked to take part in the NEU vote.

After a vote by support staff in schools in Wales, 88% of elected members backed an action amid a dispute over pay, with a turnout of 51%.

However, the re-election of support staff at sixth form schools and colleges in England did not meet the statutory 50% turnout for action.

The NEU result comes after a vote by NASUWT members last week failed to reach the 50% turnout threshold.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) will also announce its strike vote on Monday.

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

However, the NEU calls for a fully-funded, above-inflation salary increase for teachers.

Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, joint NEU general secretaries, said: “We have repeatedly expressed our concerns to successive education secretaries about teacher and support staff pay and funding in schools and colleges, but instead of trying to solve the problem, we have they sat at their hands.

“It is disappointing that the government is choosing to talk about even more draconian anti-strike legislation rather than working with us to address the root causes of strike action.”

NEW LIVE – PayUp! voting results

— National Education Union (@NEUnion) January 16, 2023

Union leaders added that historic real wage cuts for teachers had created an “unsustainable situation” amid a cost-of-living crisis, adding that staff were leaving the profession “in droves”.

“This is a scandalous waste of talent and taxpayers’ money, but the government doesn’t seem to care about the conditions it is allowing schools and colleges to fall into,” they said.

dr Bousted and Mr Courtney added: “It remains the intention of the NEU and its members that this dispute can be resolved without a strike.

“We regret that we have to go on strike and are ready to start negotiations anytime, anywhere, but this situation cannot go on.

“We met with Gillian Keegan last week and would like to do so again, but no specific suggestions were made on teacher or support staff pay.”

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

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

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

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We will continue to urge teachers not to strike as we know the significant damage done to children’s education during the pandemic and we certainly do not want this to happen again.

“We would hope that instead of depriving children of education, they would continue to raise their concerns with us.”

Striking teachers in Scotland?

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

School children in Scotland will also miss more classes this week as members of the EIS begin 16 days of continuous strike action.