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LIVELY picket lines dotted England and Wales on 1 February as 300,000 teachers took part in the first national strike for 12 years. Support staff in Wales also took action.

Thousands of schools and colleges closed, some partially, as members at 23,400 workplaces took industrial action over the Government’s refusal to award an above-inflation, fully funded pay rise.

At demonstrations across the country, members were buoyed by the huge amount of public support. Honking car horns, cheers and applause kept members’ spirits high, but their message was serious: education is in crisis.

Years of below-inflation pay rises mean a teacher who started working in 2010 and has made normal progress up the pay scale has lost over £64,000 in real terms.

Toxic mix of low pay and excessive workload

But members were also clear that the strike was not simply about pay. It is one ingredient in a toxic mix of underfunding and excessive workload, all of which is fuelling a national teacher shortage. Fewer and fewer

Support Staff In Wales

Becky Draper (right) is a teaching assistant (TA) at Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn, an additional learning needs (ALN) school in Denbigh. Becky told Educate why she took strike action: “Classrooms across Wales could not function without their TAs or support staff. However, my pay does not reflect this – I have been in my job 19 years and my pay is a few hundred pounds more and I am at the top of what I can earn.

“The low standard of pay combined with the cost-of-living crisis means that the important role of TA isn’t attractive to newcomers, and therefore the children we work for suffer for it.”