Education Secretary Gillian Keegan says she is prepared to meet teachers union (Victoria Jones/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)The Education Secretary today told teachers “you don’t have to strike to get my attention”, as she expressed her disappointment at planned walkouts.
Gillian Keegan said she hopes as many schools as possible will stay open during the strikes by members of the National Education Union.
The NEU — the largest teaching union — announced the results of its ballot yesterday with 90 per cent of those who voted backing walkouts.
The first strike will take place on Wednesday, February 1. Ms Keegan said today: “You don’t need to strike to get my attention, I will meet with people, I will be as constructive as possible but we do need to be fair.
“The number one thing we need to do is tackle inflation – we need to halve inflation.”
Asked on Sky News what her message would be to a single mother on a zero hours contract who has to take time off work because she cannot send her child to school, she replied: “It’s deeply disappointing... I am disappointed in the one union that has decided to go on strike. Our children don’t deserve it, to be honest. We do need to keep teachers and children in school.”
Ballots by the NAHT and NASUWT education unions failed to meet the legal threshold for strike action. But NEU members will walk out over seven days in February and March. The union said any individual school would only be affected by four of the days, but 23,000 schools in England and Wales are expected to be hit.
Ms Keegan added: “The number one reason teachers leave is workload and flexibility – they want more flexibility, job shares, part-time, that kind of thing. They are the things we need to focus on. Teachers are doing a brilliant job. They are helping our kids catch up from the pandemic… but we need children in school.”
The NAHT and NASUWT are considering re-running their ballots amid fears postal disruption affected the results. The ASCL school leaders’ union may also ballot for a strike.
The NEU will meet again with Ms Keegan tomorrow for negotiations, as joint leaders Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney said they want to correct “real-terms pay cuts.”
