Failing our children

Given the damage inflicted upon children during the pandemic, it is extraordinary that teachers should be contemplating strike action. The unions have balloted members in England and Wales, with walkouts due to take place within weeks if the legal threshold for a “yes” vote is achieved. Teachers are already striking in Scotland.

They were awarded a 5 per cent pay increase following recommendations from a review body which the Government accepted. This is about half the current inflation rate but roughly what it is expected to be later this year as high energy costs fall out of the figures. Although ministers have agreed to talk about the next pay round, unions want to reopen this year’s to make up the shortfall caused by higher than expected price increases. Teachers’ pay has fallen in real terms over the past decade but that is also true of millions of other employees who would have to fund the extra that the teachers are demanding.

There has been enough disruption in schools. During the lockdowns, they closed here whereas in France they were open, apart from a few weeks at the pandemic’s outset. If there is to be strike action then every effort must be made to keep the schools open, not take the easy route and shut them down again. This not only harms the education of the children but leaves parents in great difficulty in finding care or having to take time off work.

Head teachers are too quick to close their schools rather than find ways to keep them open, for instance by bringing in retired teachers to help out. Academy trusts and other employers have time to minimise the impact of these threatened strikes. They need to start preparing now.