A TEACHING strike “could close every school in Bradford”, warned a union boss after teachers in the National Education Union (NEU) voted to go on strike.

Across England and Wales nine out of 10 teacher members of the union voted for strike action.

The turnout was above the 50 per cent minimum needed for the walkouts to go ahead.

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

Tom Bright, the Bradford branch secretary of the National Education Union, said: “When there is a strike, it could close every school in Bradford.”

With more than 200 schools in the district widespread closures would have a massive impact on both children and their parents.

“This isn’t about disadvantaging children or their parents,” he said. “We don’t want to strike.

“Let’s make a plea for proper government funding of education. Teachers have lost 20 per cent in terms of real pay in the last 10 years, and in the last 12 years there’s only been one above-inflation pay increase.

“It’s a sad place to be, but this is not just about pay. This is how the country values education.

“I’m not surprised by the strength of feeling. People are leaving the profession because of working all the extra hours they have to put in.

“Teachers technically work five days a week, but I don't know a teacher who doesn't work six days to prepare lessons for the next week.

“Teaching is a very rewarding but I feel the teachers are buckling under the pressure put on them.”

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

In Wales, 92 per cent of NEU teacher members who voted in the ballot backed strikes, with a turnout of 58 per cent.

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

Meanwhile, school leaders in Wales are set to take industrial action, but headteachers in England will not stage walkouts after the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) union ballot failed to meet the legal threshold. 

Support staff in schools in Wales are also set to go on strike in the dispute over pay after 88 per cent of balloted members backed action, with a turnout of 51 per cent.

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

Mr Bright said support staff had received a £1,925 per year pay increase backdated to April 2022, which he said "was a sizeable pay increase".

However, he did say inflation costs are still making it difficult for support staff and warned the government in 2023 if they are not awarded a pay increase in 2023 it could be "another powder keg waiting to happen".

 

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