The education secretary said she was willing to talk to teachers about money but stopped short of promising to review pay, after teachers in England and Wales announced seven days of strike action over February and March.
Gillian Keegan, who will meet teaching unions on Tuesday, said she was “extremely disappointed” in the decision to strike but said the government was prepared to talk to teachers about the challenges faced by the profession.
After Rishi Sunak’s minimum service levels bill that would restrict strikes passed its first stage in the Commons overnight, Keegan suggested that legislation would not be used to keep all schools open during stoppages.
She said the focus on minimum service levels was initially designed for “health and transport” but suggested it could be used in future disputes “to keep schools open for vulnerable children, in particular. That is something we very much learned during the pandemic,” she told LBC. “So yes, we are part of the bill, but at the moment, the focus initially will be on health and rail and then when we get to that stage, obviously, we’ll consider what is reasonable.”
