Commenting on the growing number of teacher unions rejecting the government pay offer, Peter Shreeve, Assistant District Secretary of the National Education Union, said,
“As last week progressed four teacher unions were united in rejecting the pay offer from Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan.
“It’s hardly surprising, the offer has been so widely rejected. Whenever, pay was mentioned at the NEU conference, calls of ‘Come on Gill, pay the bill!’ were often heard.
“Expecting schools to fund any pay offer without extra government funding would lead to fewer resources and redundancies within an already overstretched system in the coming year.”
Whiteman: Government’s offer “inadequate and unaffordable”
Paul Whiteman, General Secretary, National Association of Head Teachers at the NEU conference, explained why headteachers rejected the offer,
“This is a conclusive response to the government’s offer. It has been judged inadequate and unaffordable.
“Our members do not recognise the government’s calculations on the affordability of the offer, with the vast majority of head teachers and school business leaders saying they could not pay the rise from their existing budgets.”
Barton: Virtually every school and college struggling with teacher shortages
Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said,
“Real terms pay cuts over the past decade which have contributed to a recruitment and retention crisis that has left virtually every school and college in the country struggling with teacher shortages.”
Shreeve: It’s time to step up and plug the holes in school funding
“A contemptuous offer“, said General Secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), Patrick Roach.
Peter Shreeve continued,
“Teacher unions united in outrage. The Education Secretary must start to value education.
“In ‘The Hero of Haarlem’, a Dutch boy finds a leak in a dyke and uses his finger to plug the leak. His heroism saved the city from flooding.
“Gillian Keegan, it’s time to step up and plug the holes in school funding. Teachers have no wish to disrupt education, but four teacher unions are clearly saying, the Government must invest in the education of this generation of children and the people who teach them. Come on Gill, pay the Bill!”
Article edit
4.25pm 11th Apr 2023 – Final comment attributed to PS, not PR
Image: zehua chen under CC BY 2.0
