15th October 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Thousands of schools have closed as England's two biggest teaching unions have called strikes in a row over workloads, pay and pensions. The actions involves 49 education authorities in the Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, and forms part of an on-going campaign of regional strikes organised by the NUT and NASUWT which will take in various parts of the country. 2,500 schools have closed their doors as teachers have walked out to protest working conditions, pay and pensions. The NUT have defended the strikes, releasing a statement to say that teachers and schools cannot stand by while the profession is systematically attacked and undermined by the government.
The unions involved went on to say that strike action is never a step that teachers take lightly, that that they were extremely aware of the anxiety the action may cause parents and students. However, when the various changes the government has made to the exam system, including a series of high profile fiascos over exam marking, it is time to stand up for themselves and their students. They added that the government is attacking education at its very core, not only teachers’ pay and pensions, but the whole education system in a way which would be devastating to students. Teachers assembled en masse at various locations around the country, with many commenting that their jobs should be about ensuring the best education for their students, not about pay and meaningless targets. A key concern is the new policy which encourages head teachers to spend the pupil premium fund, meant to support poorer students, on performance related pay for teachers.
Education secretary Michael Gove criticised the mass action, saying that the strikes would disrupt pupil’s education and inconvenience parents. He also commented that the profession would be damaged in the eyes of the public, as parents struggled to find childcare for their children on the days the strike action took place. Analysts have remarked in particular on the fundamental disparity between the government and teachers’ understandings of the right way to educate children in England. Unless the government shows signs of listening to the feedback that they have received from teachers, heads, and academics, it is unlikely that an accord will be reached.