Teachers and the government appeared stuck in an impasse after the first day of NEU strike action this week.
Further action by the teaching union is planned in different areas of England over three days from 28 February, with the next national action for all eligible members in England and Wales set for 15 March.
After a reported 300,000 teachers took part in the walkouts yesterday, and predictions that the number could climb if action goes ahead next month, it appears unclear whether progress can be made in talks over pay between union leaders the Department for Education.
Tes spoke to policy experts and teachers’ and heads’ leaders about whether schools should be planning for more strikes next month, and what might trigger a breakthrough to avoid further walkouts.
Speaking yesterday, after the strike action, education secretary Gillian Keegan described her conversations with unions as “ongoing”, and said she would be “continuing discussions around pay, workload, recruitment and retention, and more”.
However, the DfE would not confirm dates for further talks last night, and in a joint statement NEU general secretaries Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney said that Ms Keegan was “on notice” to come up with a new pay offer to avoid a repeat of industrial action.
Teacher strikes: does the DfE have the scope to negotiate?
Speaking to Tes, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said that the “frustration” among union leaders was that, so far, the terms of the meetings that had taken place with ministers and officials in England over the dispute have never been “very clear”.
“Is it a negotiation, because negotiation, by definition, would entail the secretary of state saying, ‘Here’s the offer,’ and then the unions would respond to the offer? We haven’t had any of that. In Wales [where pay talks are also ongoing], the minister there, in the opening discussion, talks about negotiations and talks about what do we need to do around pay and conditions.”
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, also said that though meetings have been “polite and cordial”, there has so far been “nothing concrete on the table” to bring as a starting point for negotiations.
Meanwhile, policy experts warned that the DfE may not have the scope to deliver an improved pay offer.
Jonathan Simons, head of the education practice at Public First, said that Ms Keegan did not have the authority to “unilaterally make a revised pay offer or other deal”, and would need to seek the chancellor and prime minister’s agreement to make a deal.
Similarly, Sam Freedman, a former DfE senior adviser, said that if the department had any ideas as to what offer to make, they were “very well hidden”.
Last week the DfE told unions it would miss the deadline for submitting its evidence over teacher pay levels for next year to the independent pay review body, with a new date remaining unclear.
In an email seen by Tes, the DfE told unions that the delay was due to the department not yet having “finalised views agreed cross-government on the affordability position to put forward to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB)”.
At the time Mr Courtney said it was unclear why the DfE was to miss the deadline.
“Are they worried it will enrage teachers or are they preparing for a move towards better pay? We don’t know,” he said.
Mr Barton said if he were a minister conducting the talks with union leaders, he would be wanting to find out how he could work with them “to make a strong case to the Treasury which demonstrates how any additional money they put in is going to deliver better outcomes for young people”.
Will Wednesday’s action have moved the dial?
Yesterday’s strike action involved large-scale demonstrations across England, along with picket lines at schools, and closures.
But despite the scale of the action, experts were unclear on exactly how this would influence negotiations.
Mr Simons said that large numbers of strikers “indicates a very large scale of dissatisfaction, and credit to NEU organising”, but added: “On the other hand, 90 per cent of schools staying open at least in part is a triumph for DfE and heads.
“The issue now will be how well the regional [strike] days land - that will determine how much sustained pressure DfE comes under to settle. It’s too early to say now. Both sides will feel justified in their initial position. One may - but may not - need to move.”
Mr Whiteman said he was “genuinely surprised” by the size of yesterday’s demonstration and that those taking part would be “buoyed” by what they had seen.
“I’d simply say to government that the profession has demonstrated just how determined it is. And I don’t think that will wane, I think that only strengthens,” he said.
“Public opinion is with teachers, and I don’t think that will erode quickly.”
And Mr Barton said that parents’ reaction to the strikes could be key.
“I think probably there was a sense from the government yesterday of wanting to watch what the public’s immediate reaction was to strike action,” he said.
“I think what they saw was some parents very, very aggrieved and upset at the impact on their child and themselves. Some of them were very, very aggrieved, but were potentially pretty empathetic to the profession. So I think we saw the whole gamut of responses.”
Mr Barton said that the pressure that parents might put on backbench MPs could be important in determining the future of negotiations.
“I think if backbench MPs are feeling the frustration of parents but what they’re saying is, ‘It’s the government that needs to solve this issue,’ just like they did putting pressure on the government needing to find more funding [for schools], then that will stoke up an expectation that the government really cannot continue simply to say, ‘We had talks and they were constructive.’”
School leaders who spoke to Tes about how they have coped with strike action this week said that parental support for the strikes has been fairly strong.
A poll from YouGov, which surveyed 5,092 adults across the UK, revealed that just over half (51 per cent) supported strike action by teachers over pay and working conditions, and this proportion was even higher - at 58 per cent - for those between the ages of 25 to 49, the age group most likely to have school-age children.
