At a special meeting of the national executive of the National
Education Union, held this week, the union has agreed to proceed
with a preliminary online ballot of teacher members in England.
This is to gauge the strength of feeling about the Government's
recent recommendation to the School Teachers' Review Body (STRB)
of an unfunded 2.8% pay rise for teachers in 2025/26.
The NEU will commence an indicative ballot of members from 1
March which will close on 11 April.
Commenting on the announcement, Daniel Kebede,
general secretary of the National Education Union,
said:
“Government must face up to the fact that the problems in teacher
pay are far from resolved. Since 2015 pay for teachers in England
has declined by a fifth. The profession no longer attracts enough
graduates to keep up with the soaring vacancies.
“The current proposal of 2.8% is not sufficient to even start to
address the crisis in recruitment and retention.
“The suggestion that an unfunded pay award can be paid for by
making ‘efficiencies' is an insult to a profession who have
already endured 14 years of austerity . No teacher or
leader will be able to identify efficiencies without cutting
staff or resources or both. This is a fact that the
Government knows only too well. After years of cuts to funding
there is nothing left in the coffers.
“Thousands of teachers voted for the change that Labour promised
for education. They promised to invest in education, to recruit
6,500 teachers and to value education and to secure the life
chances of our children. We need to see their commitment in deeds
as well as words. Sentiment alone will not fill the excessive
teacher vacancies nor will deliver the world class education our
children deserve.
“Our indicative ballot will open on 1 March”.
