Pete Webster reports on one of many local disputes in the education sector and the driving factors that underpin them

Teachers at the Princess Frederica School in Brent, members of the National Education Union, are taking their first strike action over a raft of issues. One of their key demands is the removal of a pay cap, which means that teachers can’t progress up the nationally agreed pay scale. Meanwhile, the management can ask governors for a 25% uplift once they reach the maximum point in their salary range.

Other ongoing issues include fighting for a wellbeing day for staff – at present, the head can take up to 10 days paid leave during term time for wellbeing. The Higher-Level Teaching Assistants are demanding proper contracts that reflect the vital role they play in the school.

The teachers also want sufficient time for Planning, Preparation and Assessment (PPA) and additional time for subject leaders to carry out their roles effectively. SEND provision and support for pupils is also minimal and needs to be improved, as does pupil engagement with music and PE teachers.

The mood on the picket was positive and buoyant, with passing drivers honking in support and many passers-by stopping and expressing support for the staff. A good few well-wishers were parents of children who were current students or had previously attended the school and agreed that standards had generally declined over time and wished the strikers well.

This dispute, like so many others, centres on a range of cost-cutting attacks on terms and conditions. All are quite specific to each school, but there is a clear pattern here of management – in both local authority-funded and academy schools – driving down costs at the expense of teachers, assistants and other support staff. Ultimately, this also impacts the quality of education our children receive.

Chronic underfunding 

At the root is the chronic underfunding of education by the government (as well as many other sectors such as health and social care). The desultory pay offer to teachers of 3.5% is not fully funded and, as it stands, will also have a detrimental impact on education provision. It is critically important that school reps start working now to deliver an overwhelming rejection of the offer in the industrial ballot due in the autumn.

The recent announcement of a 1% cut to capital funding for all government departments, with the exception of the Ministry of War, will result in tens of billions of pounds in cuts that will be to the detriment of millions of working-class people. Meanwhile, the demand for increased spending on the arms industry is something our political elites and their mouthpieces in the media are all too eager to provide the funds. This is why we should demand ‘Books not Bombs’ and ‘Welfare not Warfare’.

Whatever happens in this dispute and numerous others, we can be certain that it won’t be long before management returns to the attack as core funding shrinks. A pay cut for the bosses is highly unlikely to feature in any proposals. 

If there is to be an effective resistance to these impositions, then there is an urgent need to ensure all staff are in a union and, where possible, set up liaison groups with other unionised administrative and support staff at a local level. We also need a determined campaign from the national unions to argue for an effective political strategy that can challenge both the ongoing austerity and the drive to war.