It's been more than five months since teachers first walked out of their classrooms in a dispute with the government over pay and funding.
Although the long-running strike action has caused repeated disruption, Greater Manchester's teachers say they are 'more determined' than ever for their voices to be heard.
"We’re not just going to go ‘oh well, we tried’," said Diannah Miller, a languages teacher at Chorlton High School in south Manchester. "We’ll keep on because it’s just so important."
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Ms Miller and her colleagues were among tens of thousands of teachers who joined picket lines across the country this morning (Wednesday). It is the seventh day that schools have faced walkouts by members of the National Education Union (NEU) since February.
The strike action has caused widespread disruption across Greater Manchester, leaving many students without their teachers and possibly forcing some schools to close. And there appears to be no end in sight as union leaders have warned schools could face co-ordinated strike action by education unions in the autumn term if a deal over pay cannot be reached.
Yet in spite of the impasse, Ms Miller and her colleagues remain resolute about their reasons for striking.
"Schools can't be expected to find the money because it's just not there," she said. "I know people think 'oh, teachers are just having a day off'.
"I don't think it's right that we should be misrepresented as being out for ourselves when we are not. We are out for the students too.
"The more explicit we have been about what the government is offering, the more people see it's not just pay and more money. It's made us more determined to get the message out to people."
Like many teachers, the decision to go on strike is not one Ms Miller has taken lightly. But after years of budget cuts, she fears for the future of her profession.
She says she knows of talented teachers who have quit just two years after completing their training.
"It's awful," she said. "We can't expect schools to deliver and be the world-leading British education system if it's not properly funded.
"There are just so many things that we can't provide now compared to in the past because the funding is just not there. The government is really out of touch with what things actually cost."
Joining Ms Miller on a picket line this morning was Chris Harper, a geography teacher at Chorlton High for more than 30 years. He bemoaned the 'critical underfunding of education' and 'real terms pay cuts compared to most professions'.
"Any pay rises that are promised have to come from school budgets," he explained. "It has not come from the government.
"The kids' education is suffering. That excess money for us is coming from the school budgets, which is absolutely ridiculous.
"As a department, we can no longer afford things such as textbooks. We've had to cut down on school activities like trips out and have to ask repeatedly for more funding to come from parents, community events and charities."
Mr Harper accused the government of attempting to 'grind down' teachers but said he was 'optimistic' about a positive outcome to the strike action.
"Some are saying they can't afford to strike," he added. "For all teachers, it's a big short-term hit but most see it as a benefit in the long-term."
Fellow teacher Steven Longden, 53, said he was down almost 25pc in real-terms pay since 2010.
"I simply can't afford it any longer," he explained. "Experienced teachers like me are exiting and it's one of the reasons we have a massive recruitment crisis.
"Teaching is no longer seen as an attractive profession to be in. If you look at the projections for the current training year, the government is struggling to hit 50pc of its target.
"For me personally, I'm really tired of seeing great teachers having to leave the profession. It's no longer financially sustainable for them.
"I know one teacher who has gone to Qatar to save up for a house deposit. It's symptomatic of the state the country is in that people are having to go overseas to earn the money for a deposit."
Elliott Tollast, a maths teacher at Chorlton High School South, said he had chosen to strike because ‘the government aren’t putting enough money into education’.
"The teacher crisis is getting ridiculous," he said. "We've got loads of jobs at our school that haven't been filled because we just can't get recruits.
"We need more funding in the whole of the education sector to just meet those recruitment and retentions and keep teachers in jobs. All we want to do is teach. I don't want to be out here, I'd rather be in there but we need to make sure the government listens to us."
Down the road at Loreto High School, teachers also presented a united front outside the school gates.
History teacher Liam Duffy said he and his colleagues felt 'left behind' amid rising inflation and reduced budgets, adding that he feared he could lose his job in the event of further cuts.
"We are doing it for our children and community," he said. "If budgets are affected, which they already are, potentially me and my colleagues could be made redundant this time next year.
"Our younger members of staff are leaving in droves. We're fearful that will continue and there will not be qualified teachers to teach our children in schools and it will be underfunded further."
The NEU – alongside the NASUWT teaching union, the NAHT school leaders’ union and the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) – are balloting their members in England to take action in the new school year.
The government offered teachers a £1,000 one-off payment for the current school year (2022/23) and an average 4.5pc rise for staff next year after intensive talks with the education unions in March this year.
But all four education unions involved in the dispute rejected the offer and the decision on teachers’ pay in England for next year has been passed to the independent School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB).
Education union leaders have called on Education Secretary Gillian Keegan to urgently publish the STRB’s recommendation as they warned the hold-up is causing “anxiety” in schools and “frustrating headteachers”.
A Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said: “Any strike action is hugely damaging. We have made a fair and reasonable pay offer to teachers, recognising their incredible work and commitment. Thousands of schools received significant additional funding as part of the extra £2 billion of investment we are providing both this year and next.
"As a result, school funding will be at its highest level in history next year, as measured by the IFS (Institute for Fiscal Studies)."
