Teachers from across Yorkshire have shared why they're striking as hundreds marched through Leeds calling for better pay and increased funding.
Strikes took place across the north of England today (Tuesday, February 28), with thousands of teachers walking out of school. Hundreds of members of the National Education Union (NEU) Yorkshire and Humber branches headed to Leeds city centre for a rally to get their message out there.
Teachers Clara, Emma and Alison were among the many on strike on Tuesday. "We've had enough," they told LeedsLive.
Read more: All the Leeds schools that will be closed as teachers go on strike again
"We've all worked in teaching quite a long time and we've seen the impact that less funding is having in the classroom everyday. There isn't enough funding for proper support staff for SEN pupils and important things like that.
"These things impact on the children. We are here today for the kids.
"We don't want pay increases to come out of an already under-funded budget. The conditions at the moment affect students and staff - and the ability of staff to do an effective job for the children.
"We always feel like we're not doing enough. There's so many teachers off sick, or leaving and newly qualified teachers who leave straight away.
"Student teachers come in for their experience and decide they don't want to teach anymore. All our support staff end up doing completely different roles to the ones they were hired for."
According to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), real-terms spending per pupil fell by about 2% from 20010-2011 to 2021-2022. The IFS said that high levels of inflation and rising costs mean that there is 'severe strain' on school budgets and resources.
The IFS said in January this year that it estimates most teachers were set to see a 5% real-terms pay cut this year due to inflation levels. For experienced teachers, the real-terms pay cut between 2010 and 2022 was estimated to be more like 13%.
Teachers from across the whole region brought banners, megaphones and flags as they gathered in front of Leeds Art Gallery from 11.30am. They set off marching through the city centre at midday before gathering for speeches, including from joint NEU general secretary Kevin Courtney, in Millennium Square.
'I don't have much energy to keep going'
One teacher who had made the journey from North Yorkshire was sporting a sign that read 'Maths teacher about to quit'. He told LeedsLive he'd left a high-paying job as an actuary 24 years ago because he was passionate about teaching maths.
"I took a massive pay cut when I started teaching from what I was on before," he said. "It wasn't about the money for me - I just wanted to help kids get better at maths.
"But now I have been a teacher so long and in the last 12 years or so my pay hasn't really changed much at all. You just can't keep that up over time with inflation how it is - I've not got much left.
"We haven't been able to have things like family holidays. The pension age has been moved further back and I don't have much energy to keep going.
"We don't get the pay for the work we do. We went all the way through Covid, have adapted to multiple exam format changes, online teaching, teacher-assessed grades, and things just get worse and worse. It just feel like the government doesn't really care."
As of January 2023, inflation remained above 10%. The cost of living has also skyrocketed in the past year amid rising energy bills, food costs and petrol prices.
'It all comes from my own pocket'
Secondary school teacher Lisa Mills had come over from Hull for the rally. "We're fighting for fully-funded schools," she said.
"Our schools can't maintain a pay rise for us like this - cuts are everywhere. My Amazon account is full of the resources I buy for students - it all comes form my own pocket and that, over time, is so expensive.
"My school is in quite a poor area and I've been teaching 20 years. We can't seem to recruit, we can't seem to get teachers in particular specialist areas so teachers end up teaching subjects they have no qualifications in."
Marching teachers referenced the lack of money for resources as they chanted about needing things like more glue sticks. In 2019, a survey by the NASUWT suggested one in five teachers are paying for school supplies out of their own pockets.
'We're doing more with less every year'
Anita Smith has been a teacher for 30 years. "The last 10 years particularly have been appalling in terms of constant cuts to funding," she said.
"It impacts on the kids and we end up trying to do more with less every year. We want to be able to do our jobs properly and not have to dip into our own pockets.
"Our school is very supportive of us but they can't magic stuff out of nothing. Young teachers are understandably looking around and wondering whether it's for them.
"We're £300 down on what we need per child at our school - we just don't get what we need. We're really not asking for the world - we just want fair pay and to be able to give the kids the opportunities they deserve."
Anita's friend and colleague Ella Erskine added: "We're seeing more and more of our colleagues leaving the profession. It's really difficult.
"I worry about the generation of kids at school right now who will go through their education without the proper funding to pay teachers right and provide resources. I think we'll see a long-term impact."
Labour announced in January that analysis of Department for Education statistics showed nearly a third of teacher who qualified in the last decade had since left teaching. Last year, a survey by the NEU found that nearly half of teachers surveyed said they were planning to quit within the next five years due to workload, stress, and lack of trust in teachers.
'Things have totally deteriorated'
York teacher Melanie Griffiths said: "I've been doing this a very long time and since the eighties things have totally deteriorated. We need regulation and proper funding.
"It's also about where that funding goes. In some multi-academy trusts teaching assistants are having their wages cut to even more unliveable levels.
"They're so essential to the functioning of schools - we need the funding to properly train them and pay them so kids who need that support get it."
Music teacher Isaac and his wife Rebecca had also made the journey from Hull for the rally. He told LeedsLive: "I’m a peripatetic music teacher and we’re here because of budgets more than pay. There’s not enough money to pay for what teachers like me do so we need to stick up for it.
"The funding for helping disadvantaged kids particularly - there’s not enough. Some schools have had to cut music completely - it’s one of the first things to go. Kids miss out when there’s no funding and they deserve to have it - especially after being shut in for two years.”
The outlook
Many schools closed in Yorkshire today due to the strike action, or only had some pupils in. Other regional strikes are expected to happen in other areas of the country over the next two days, as the long-running pay dispute continues.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan invited teaching unions to formal talks on pay, reform and conditions last week - on the condition NEU strikes were suspended. The NEU called on her to get rid of the conditions before talks and make a serious pay offer.
In a statement on Monday evening, Ms Keegan said: “As a government, we have made a serious offer to the leaders of the National Education Union and Royal College of Nursing: pause this week’s strikes, get round the table and talk about pay and conditions and reforms.
“It is hugely disappointing the NEU has refused this serious offer and has not joined the Royal College of Nurses in calling off strikes. Instead of being sat round a table discussing serious offers over pay, strike action will once again cause disruption for children and families.
“Children deserve to be in school, and further strike action is simply unforgivable, especially after everything children have been through because of the pandemic.”
National action is set to take place on March 15 and 16.
If you're a teacher who would like to share your story, get in touch at jasmine.norden@reachplc.com
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