Meet 10.30am for 11m-1pm

Speeches at 11am

On Tuesday, members of the National Education Union (NEU) in the north of England walked out. On Wednesday, it’s the Midlands and eastern regions of England, with more walkouts in Wales. On Thursday it is the turn of the south east region of England - Thursday 2 March is the second day of the teacher’s strike on the Isle of Wight.

Commenting, Peter Shreeve, Assistant District Secretary of the National Education Union, said:

“So many on the island were hoping for progress. It’s disappointing that so little progress has been made to solve this issue. The NEU has repeatedly said they are willing to have substantial negotiations at any time, in order to tackle pay and workload, which impacts on recruitment and retention.

“We sincerely hope that the Education Secretary does meet with education unions after these regional strikes. But if she does, she must come up with a serious offer that can be put to members. An offer which will ultimately improve recruitment and retention.

“Indeed, it’s worth sharing the comments from one Isle of Wight teacher after attending the picket and then the rally in St Thomas Square on the first walkout.

“They said: ‘I am going home and planning to catch up with some marking. I’ve got some special needs paperwork to complete too. Then, I suppose I’ll make sure my lessons and photocopying are all sorted for tomorrow, as I have a full teaching day.’ All this extra work on a day, when it’s unpaid! This is the norm.

“Indeed, we know teachers work more hours than they are actually paid contractually. They have to, otherwise they would not be able to do the job. It’s certainly difficult to understand the workload and stress a teacher is under unless one lives it.”