NUT walkout
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Today teachers are staging a one-day walkout in protest against government cuts to education.
The National Union of Teachers held a ballot on strike action and an overwhelming 91.7% of the vote meant that teachers would leave the classroom in order to hold the government to account. Kevin Courtney, the union’s acting leader, said in an editorial for the TES that teachers “have been left with no option” but to take action.
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has said this morning that the strike is both “harmful” and “unnecessary”. In a letter to Mr Courtney published on the government’s website, Ms Morgan stated that it is “disingenuous” to say that school funding is not a priority.
Regional marches and rallies have been organised by the NUT as teachers, pupils and members of the public argue that government spending cuts are resulting in increased class sizes, less one-to-one individual attention and a narrow curriculum for pupils. The strike also aims to highlight the increasing workload placed upon teachers which many believe drives them out of the profession.
Tomorrow education will return as normal when the focus will most likely be on KS2 SATs results, in which nearly half of pupils have failed to reach the expected national level in the more rigorous and difficult tests sat in May.