NEU teachers from Queen Elizabeth High School form picket line

Teacher members of the National Education Union (NEU) are striking for the second time this month, with many schools in the district at least partially closed.

The union is calling for fully-funded pay rise in line with inflation, which does not impact existing school budgets.

Picket lines were formed across the region this morning, including outside Queen Elizabeth High School.

Emily Macdonald, the curriculum leader for drama and dance at QEHS and a NEU rep, said: "Nobody wants to be striking. We're losing a day's pay and we don't want to be off school. We want to be doing our jobs, we want to be in the classroom with the students helping them and doing what we do all day every day which is helping them to learn and do their best.

"But we feel that for the short term, this is our only option to have a chance at long-term improvements for young people's education."

"We know that there are people who are concerned about the days when we're having industrial action, when the students aren't in," she added. "It's really regrettable and we don't want that.

"What we want is long-term for students to have better conditions every day, so we want teachers not to be leaving the profession. We want teachers who are training and learning to become a teacher to stay.

"We're in the biggest recruitment and retention crisis that we've ever had in this profession and we think schools and pupils deserve better.

"The current pay offer is unfunded so schools and head teachers have to find that money from their existing budgets which are already massively stretched.

"That means they've got to make hard choices and we shouldn't be in that position. We believe that education is one of the cornerstones of our society and that young people in our country deserve the best that they can have."

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Ms Macdonald, who has been teaching at QEHS for more than 16 years, said they had received support from parents while on the picket line.

"I think people understand that we're not doing this to damage the education here, we are a committed and positive and hard-working staff who are all dedicated to the young people here," she said. "We don't do this lightly, we do this because we feel like we have to."

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has called strike action “unforgivable”, adding that children deserve to be in class, especially after the pandemic. She says a 'serious offer' has been made for the NEU to get back to the table and pause the strikes.