Chichester teachers strikes: Situation in West Sussex reaching 'crisis' point, union secretary says

Members of the National Education Union (NEU) held days of strike action on Wednesday, July 5, and Friday July 7. Chichester members marched to the offices of Gillian Keegan, education secretary and MP for Chichester.

Speaking at the event, Anne Barker, district and branch secretary, West Sussex section of the NEU said: “I’m here with a small group today to make a point: We are concerned about the state of our schools and the well being of the education our young people are getting. The education they are receiving is going to be impacted by the number of vacancies we have in West Sussex.

“We are currently carrying probably more vacancies in our schools than West Sussex has done for many many years. It’s reaching crisis situation particularly in some our special schools where potentially with a lack of teachers and support staff, the young people may not be safe.”

Anne later added that the union branch is hoping to ‘get the message across’ to the government that in order to retain skilled teachers and support staff in West Sussex school, and recruit to fill numerous vacancies, then more funding and pay would be required.

Speaking ahead of the action on Friday, an NEU spokesperson said: “These strike days continue our campaign to win a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise.

"In early April 2023, a pay and funding offer from government was rejected by 98 per cent of NEU members on a 66 per cent turnout. Our sister unions held similar votes with equally compelling results. The message to education secretary Gillian Keegan was loud and clear.”

A re-ballot of NEU teacher members in state schools opened on May 15 and will close on July 28.

Across the southeast region, union members will be ‘marking the strikes with pickets and rallies’ – in London and Oxford on Wednesday before expanding the action further afield on Friday.

For NEU teacher members in England’s state schools, next week marks their seventh and eighth day of strike action since February 1. Teacher members in sixth form colleges took an additional day of action in November 2022. The most recent strike day for teachers was on May 2.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “This strike action will see the cancellation of end of term events and important transition days to secondary schools, impacting children and causing more disruption for parents.

“We hugely value the work of teachers. Schools are receiving significant additional funding as part of the extra £2bn of investment we are providing for both 2023/24 and 2024/25 which will take school funding its highest level in history next year, as measured by the IFS.

“As part of the normal process, the independent School Teachers’ Review Body has submitted its recommendations to government on teacher pay for 2023/24. We will be considering the recommendations and will publish our response in the usual way.”