'It's not about personal pay' - Why teachers are striking for a fifth time

Thousands of teachers have once again taken to the picket line for another strike day. Following previous action last month, staff are walking out today, Thursday, April 27, and again on Tuesday, May 2.

It comes after they rejected the government's latest pay offer, which would give leaders and teachers a one-off payment of £1,000 this year and an average pay rise of 4.5% in 2023 to 2024.

While the NEU says the offer is much too low, the refusal to accept it largely centres on how the increase would be funded.

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Schools are expected to fund 4% of the rise from their own budgets, with the government providing the additional 0.5%. Heads, teachers and unions, say it's a 'wholly inadequate offer', which will result in schools having to make cuts in a bid to make ends meet.

Darren Morgan is head of Kings Road Primary School in Stretford, Trafford, where half of the classes will be closed during the strike. Despite the previous protests having little impact, he says staff are more determined than ever to fight for a better deal.

"I have seen an increase in teachers taking industrial action as a result of the government’s latest pay offer," he said.

"The main issue for school leaders is the lack of investment into school budgets to fund the 4.5% pay offer - the government has offered to support the increase to the tune of 0.5%.

"For me, and many schools, that has tipped us into a deficit budget. I object to the offer on the grounds that schools will have to make support staff redundant in order to address their now deficit budgets."

As the name suggests, those support staff are there to support teaching in schools, including teaching assistants, site staff