Striking Sunderland teachers on the picket line say lack of funding is damaging children's education and 'breaking our hearts'

Schools across the city were either closed or partially closed today, March 15, as members of the National Education Union (NEU) joined around 150,000 colleagues nationally in withdrawing their labour as a “last resort” in a bid to get the Government to take action.

One of those schools was St Robert of Newminster Catholic School and Sixth Form College in Washington which was only open for Year 11 students.

The school is consistently one of the top performing in Sunderland and achieved the city’s second highest Progress 8 score in last year’s GCSE results, but English teacher and NEU representative Jill Bowers felt compelled to strike to secure increased funding for children’s education.

Speaking from the picket line she said: “I’ve been teaching for 18 years and during that time there has been a national decline in staff numbers due to issues of recruitment and retainment and a chronic under-funding of schools.

"As teachers we are all passionate about our jobs. I love teaching and I would much rather be in school with my students. We have been really reluctant to strike, but the state of education at the moment, the lack of funding and what it’s doing to our profession breaks our hearts.

“The profession is going to be destroyed by the Government without adequate funding and fair wages.”

It’s a sentiment shared by fellow English teacher Helen Reed who has been teaching for for nearly 30 years.

She said: “This was an incredibly reluctant decision and there’s always guilt involved in anything which could have an adverse affect on education. However, our students education is already being adversely effected nationally by under-funding of our schools.

"As the NEU has described, the national picture is one of schools having less resources, larger class sizes and being unable to take on additional teaching assistants to support pupils.

"St Robert of Newminster is a fantastic school but it needs to be properly funded and resourced for this to continue. The Government needs to treat our children and future generations with respect and enable education to continue at a standard comparable to other parts of the world.”

The NEU are also demanding a pay increase which is inline with inflation but are stipulating it must be a fully funded increase, unlike previous rises which had to be at least partially funded by current school budgets.

Jill said: “Our schools nationally are at breaking point in terms of funding, yet they had to fund the last increase. There is no way schools can afford to be squeezed any further and so any pay increase must be funded by the Government, to ensure every penny from current school budgets are ploughed into children’s education and resources.”

Jill feels there is room for negotiation which could lead to an agreement as long as the Government is willing to enter ‘meaningful’ discussions.

She added: “If our colleagues in Scotland and Wales can reach an agreement that suggests to me that teaching is an important profession and the Government needs to sit around the table.

"It’s budget day today and the Government needs to make some concessions to teachers who work exceptionally hard. Our children are this country’s most important resource and as their teachers we are surely worth the effort of getting round that table and talking.”

Pay and working conditions have led to a recruitment and retainment crisis in certain subjects, with Department for Education figures showing one in three new teachers quit the profession within five years and one in eight leave within their first year.

It’s a situation which Science teacher Edryd Jones fears could lead to children not having a specialist teacher delivering their lessons.

He said: “There is a massive national shortage of Science teachers and I have seen many leave the profession within two or three years of qualifying. I really worry that when teachers currently in their forties leave in the next 10 years, there is going to be a massive gap in certain subjects and who is going to teach these children?

"Pay is a big issue, but so is work life balance and teaching needs to be made a more appealing career to attract and retain teachers.”

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With another day of strike action planned for tomorrow (Thursday, March 16) the NEU have said the Government have yet to show a willingness to enter negotiations “in good faith”.

Regional officer Robbie Faulds said: “A report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies said teachers’ pay has fallen 14% behind inflation rises.

"The Department for Education did contact the union to ask us to call off the strikes before they would consider talking, but we are not going to agree to such pre-conditions without any indication as to what the talks will entail.”

Ahead of this week’s strikes, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan wrote an open letter to parents.

She said: “This industrial action will mean more disruption to children’s education and to your lives too – whether that’s work, arranging childcare, or changing other plans.

“I am extremely disappointed that many young people will once again miss invaluable time learning with their teachers and friends, particularly after their education was significantly disrupted during the pandemic.

“It is made worse by the fact that this strike action is completely unnecessary. As I said to the NEU three weeks ago, I want to get around the table and engage in serious talks on teachers’ pay and other issues to resolve disputes.

“My only condition was that strike action is paused so those discussions can take place in good faith and without disruption.”