LONDON
Thousands of teachers in England on Tuesday took an industrial action, which is believed to disrupt over 22,000 schools.
This marks the fifth time the educators have gone on strike this year, demanding better pay and working conditions in response to the high cost of living.
Despite extensive discussions with unions, the government’s offer of a one-time payment of £1,000 (nearly $1,248) for the current school year and an average 4.5% pay increase for staff next year has been turned down and is no longer on the table.
The Department for Education deemed it a “fair and reasonable” offer and pledged an additional £2.3 billion to schools over the next two years.
The unions call for above-inflation pay raises, as well as additional funds to ensure that pay raises do not come out of the existing budgets of schools.
The consumer price inflation rate eased to 10.1% year-on-year in March 2023, down from 10.4% in February but above market expectations of 9.8%.
According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, teacher salaries in England declined by an average of 11% between 2010 and 2022.
However, the unions assert that pay has decreased by as much as 23% during that time.
According to the BBC, the average pay for teachers in England during the 2021/22 school year was £38,982.
