City and Islington College teachers striking in 2019

MOST of Islington’s schools will close on the first day of national strikes next month as more than 1,000 Islington teachers plan to join picket lines in their demand for improved pay and conditions.

Campaigners say they have suffered a 20 per cent decrease in their salary in real terms since 2010, and 90 per cent of National Education Union members from Islington who took part in a strike ballot voted for industrial action.

Ken Muller, Islington’s NEU spokesperson and former secretary, said: “We’re very pleased with the outcome of the ballot.

“Teachers are very angry about the underfunding of education since 2010 and the fact that their pay has failed to keep up with inflation over many years and the failure of the government to respond to that.”

He added:“There was a very high turnout in the national ballot in Islington and we’ve heard that over 51 teachers have joined Islington’s NEU just since the weekend. Teachers want to be part of the fight against escalating real pay cuts and the underfunding of schools which makes it harder to provide Islington’s children with the quality of education to which they should be entitled.”

February 1 is the first of seven days of strike action across February and March, although any individual school will only be affected by four of these dates, the NEU said.

Dr Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, said 70,000 UCU members will be joining the teachers’ strike and warned further dates will follow.

One Islington teacher, who did not want to be named and is hoping to join other teachers from her Finsbury Park school on a march next month, said the strikes were the result of years of frustration with the government’s “chronic underfunding of schools”, adding: “This is the last thing we want to be doing. We go to school day in day out because we want to teach, and we care about our kids and their achievements. We have been forced into this position.

“Teaching has a terrible recruitment and retention rate because the job is too stressful and now we’re facing the possibility of further cuts as schools grapple with the cost of living crisis, in the shape of an unfunded pay rise along with astronomical heating bills.”

Headteacher Alan Streeter from Beacon High in Holloway, said: “I would absolutely defend to the hilt people’s right to strike. I also know that many of the young people in this school, need to come to school.

“Somebody pointed out the other day that we can have a day off for the Queen’s funeral, and we can have a day off for the King’s coronation, but teachers are evil people if they take a day off to strike. Something’s wrong there.”

After their initial strike next month, Islington’s teachers are expected to walk out on March 2, March 15 and March 16. NEU’s 300,000 members are expected to strike nationally.

While the government has asked headteachers to make contingency plans for the strikes, many are reported to have thrown their weight behind their staff and will leave schools closed. A recent ballot by the school leaders’ union NAHT did not meet the government threshold to strike – with just under half its members voting – but it has warned it is “considering” retaking the ballot.

The Department for Education said: “The NEU trade union has taken this step after the government announced a record funding increase for schools in the Autumn Statement. The Education Secretary and officials from the Department for Education (DfE) continue to meet the trades unions to try to prevent strike action. We are also working to support schools and their leaders to avoid children missing education and causing disruption to parents and families.”