The National Education Union (NEU), at a meeting held this week, has agreed to go ahead with a preliminary online ballot of teacher members in England. This is to gauge the strength of feeling about the government’s recent advice to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) of an unfunded 2.8 per cent pay rise for teachers in 2025-26.
Consequently, the NEU will start an indicative ballot of members from 1st March, set to close on 11th April.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said on the issue: “Government must face up to the fact that the problems in teacher pay are far from resolved. Since 2010 pay for teachers 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 per cent 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.