Strike by sixth form teachers after they miss out on pay increase

Teachers have walked out from sixth form colleges after being excluded from a pay increase.

Strikes are affecting sixth forms across Hampshire namely Itchen College, Barton Peveril Sixth Form College, and Peter Symonds College in Winchester.

Jill Baker, a physics teacher at Peter Symonds, said: “We really regret withdrawing our labour today, it’s not what we want to do, but equally we want to secure the future of this high-performing college.”

Back in June, the government announced that teachers were to receive a 5.5% pay award to keep them above inflation, but teachers from independent sixth forms will not be receiving the increase.

Academies differ because they receive most of their funding from the central government, but independent sixth forms receive theirs from local governments.

Photographed by: Anviksha Patel

On the 28th of November, members of the NEU (National Education Union) marched on the Department of Education, with hundreds from sixth forms across the country coming for the event.

Daniel Kedebe, who is the NEU General Secretary said that he hopes the decision for sixth form teachers to miss out on the pay award was just an “oversight by the government” and that “it will be corrected quickly”.

The Department of Education (DOE) refused my offer to comment on the situation.

The strikes are yet to reach a resolution, as of today there has been no official statement by the Department of Education on the issue, leaving sixth form teachers in the dark.

There are more strikes planned following the lack of progress being made, with the 13th December and the 7-9th of January set to get the NEU Members back to the picket lines, unless a solution is agreed.