Live updates as teachers strike across Northampton over pay and conditions
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Teachers at schools across Northampton will be striking today (Wednesday February 1).
The National Education Union (NEU) is the largest in the country and the East Midlands and members have joined in their thousands since the strikes were announced, according to the union.
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Hide AdMembers who are walking out want a fully funded pay rise, which does not cut into existing school budgets.
The union says class sizes are already at a 20-year high as more qualified teachers are leaving the profession due to lower pay and ever-increasing workload.
Teachers will be on picket lines and at rallies throughout the day including in Northampton, in a bid to make their voices heard.
As thousands of teachers are believed to be striking, most Northampton schools will be affected, with many pupils set to spend the day at home completing work that has been set.
Lecturers at the University of Northampton will also be striking.
Keep up to date with everything that is happening with the teachers strikes in Northampton with our live blog below.
Live updates as teachers strike across Northampton over pay and conditions
Teachers to walk out across Northampton this morning
Teachers will be on picket lines in Northampton from 7.30am.
Lecturers at the University of Northampton will also be striking and will be on picket lines from 9am.
We will have reporters and a photographer out and about across the town as the strikes take place.
Teachers’ views, information from schools and general reactions to follow.
Why teachers are striking
Why teachers are striking
More than 34,000 members are reported to have joined the NEU in England and it is estimated that strike action will cause all schools to at least partially close.
Here’s a look at why teachers are striking.
Picket lines
A picket line was planned at Headlands Primary School, however no one was in attendance when Chronicle & Echo visited around 7.45am.
There is a picket line at Weston Favell Academy and there is also expected to teachers outside Kingsthorpe College, Northampton School for Boys and The Duston School.
Secretary of Northampton NEU speaks out
Pat Markey, who is the secretary of Northampton’s branch of the National Education Union, said members are striking to demand fair pay, and an “inflation plus pay rise”. He also said schools are finding it difficult recruit staff and retain staff.
Hear more of what he had to say here:
“These kids are one of the most of important things in my life”
Rachel Hall-Cross, 32, workplace representative for the NEU is worried about the education that will be left for her young daughter.
University of Northampton strikes
Lecturers from the University of Northampton will be on picket lines on Bedford Road from 9am. They are striking over their pay, working conditions and pensions.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “In negotiations, employers have produced a further revised offer. This is welcome and testament to the effective strike action our union has delivered.
“However, it is immediately clear this offer will do little to protect our members in a cost-of-living crisis, nor is it at the limit of what a sector with over £4 billion in reserves can afford. The offer is another devastating real-terms pay cut for tens of thousands of our members, following over a decade of below inflation pay awards.
“A much-improved offer on pay needs to be made alongside serious commitments to end the sector’s reliance on insecure contracts and alleviate dangerously high workloads. We remain in dispute but determined to reach a negotiated settlement. There is more than enough time for employers to find a way forward that avoids widespread disruption.”
Interim assistant principle at Eastfield Academy asks parents to support teacher strikes
The Northampton teachers reiterates to parents that the strikes are about “education not childcare”.
Watch her full interview with Chronicle & Echo here:
Teachers out in force at Malcolm Arnold Academy
University of Northampton lecturers speak out
Phillippa Bennett, senior lecturer in English and Friedemann Schaber, senior lecturer in design, are striking for the “future of education”.
Ms Bennett said: “We need a sustainable and well-funded future.
“Academic staff over the last 12 years have had a real term pay cut of around 25 percent.
“I spoke to a colleague last week who is working an 80 to 100-hour week. We are paid for 37.5 hours.
“We don’t want to be on strike, we want to be in our classrooms. We come into this profession because we love the job, but their education is being affected by over-worked and underpaid staff.”