As a second meeting between the DfE and education unions this week yields "no progress", the National Education Union says it is “willing to enter into negotiations any time, any place” to avert seven days of planned strike action.
An NEU industrial action ballot involving more than 300,000 teachers in England and Wales closed last week and saw more than 90% voting to walk-out in their dispute over pay.
The ball is now in the government’s court, but an initial meeting last week between the Department for Education (DfE) and four education unions including the NEU and a second meeting on Wednesday (January 18) have yielded “no progress” (see later).
The dispute centres on historic real-terms cuts to teachers’ pay which equate to as much as 13% since 2010 (Sibieta, 2023).
