Teachers' strikes - how will schools in St Helens be affected

How will schools in St Helens be affected?

NEU member have seven days of action planned but the union says “only four will impact on schools in St Helens”, February 1 and 28, and March 15 and 16).

Patrick White, secretary of St Helens NEU, stressed “teachers do not want to strike” and said “for many this will be a very upsetting but necessary action”.

It is expected “the vast majority of schools” in St Helens are to be affected in some way by the actions.

The Star understands individual school head teachers in St Helens are to inform parents and pupils in the next week whether there will be closure, or if they remain “partly open”, depending on the numbers of NEU members in each school.

‘A huge drop in the value of salaries’

Mr White said the strikes are taking place because “like many other public sector workers, teachers have seen a huge drop in the value of their salaries since The Tories came to power nearly 13 years ago”, of “around 20 per cent”.

He added “young people are failing to see teaching as a rewarding career to go into” and cited “difficulties there are in recruiting suitable candidates on to teacher training courses”. He added “retention of teachers is also an issue with 30 per cent leaving within five years of starting -a huge waste of talent”.

‘Fighting for better funding’

He also said, in addition to pay, there are “unsustainable workloads which seem to keep growing as the years go by” which “has left schools struggling to both appoint and retain teachers which can only impact on the education of our children. Schools cannot deliver the level of education our children need without quality teachers who are not beaten down by excessive workloads.

“In addition, part of the dispute is also about fighting for better funding for schools. Many schools continue to struggle with their budgets which means they cannot provide everything that is needed. Issues such as larger class sizes, lack of equipment, reducing the broader elements of the curriculum are all victims of this and the only people who suffer are our children.”

For the healthy future of our country we need well educated young people and this is reliant on a well resourced education system with well paid teachers and support staff at the heart of it.

“Anything less and we are doing a disservice to our children.

“We have seen an upsurge in NEU membership in recent days and it is expected that hundreds of NEU teachers will take strike action starting next Wednesday, February 1.

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Strikes will impact on schools (Image: PA)

'We want parents on board'

Mr White added: “Obviously, we want parents on board for this action as NEU members are taking this action not only for themselves but for the pupils they teach and the future of the state education system.

“We are still hoping that this Government will listen to reason and sit down and negotiate a fair pay settlement but recent experience of strikes on the trains and in the health sector show that this is not likely at this present time

“There is a conscious decision by this Government that to sort out the economic mess they will do it by keeping public sector pay low. This of course then has a direct impact on the public who rely on these services”.

The government earlier this month 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.”