Cornwall teachers strike rally on The Moor, Falmouth

Many schools across Cornwall are closed to pupils today or only accepting small numbers as teachers go on strike over pay.

Around 60 plus people gathered on the Moor in the centre of Falmouth including striking teachers, union reps from other unions and their supporters.

Striking teachers and their supporters on The Moor, Falmouth (Image: Newsquest)

The NEU (National Education Union) held a ballot on a recent Government pay offer that saw a 98% of those teacher members who took part in England reject the deal, meaning that their strike action took place today.

The NEU website also warns of the possibility of more upcoming action, stating: ‘At conference, delegates have voted that if negotiations are not successful, the union will use the period of exams from May 15 to begin a re-ballot of teacher members in England running until the end of July and timetable in a 3 day strike in late June/early July to be confirmed by the executive on May 18.’

Teacher Lori Uglow, who on the picket line at Falmouth School this morning, told the crowd that teachers were on strike to secure the future education of pupils in England.

She said schools in England were severely understaffed in the core subjects with vacancies for 1,300 science teachers, over 1,000 maths teachers and 900 English key subjects

She said there was no way those vacancies would be filled by September.

"That means across England there are going to be students going into schools in September which are understaffed," she said.

"Overworked in a department which is understaffed, I can tell you people how hard that is, tell people the impact on year 11s.

"The media talk about us letting down year 11s, well my year 11s last year were let down because they had supply teachers for half their lessons throughout the year and that has so much more impact than a few days of strike action.

"I cannot stress enough how much we are striking for the future of education in this country but also for the future of education in Cornwall."

Striking teachers on The Moor, Falmouth (Image: Newsquest)

She said in February a survey of NEU members had found that 61.5 of members said that there was an unfilled vacancy for teaching or support staff in their school.

That was an increase on the number of vacancies in September sure situation only getting worse since before Covid.

She said over 40% of members said students in their school were being taught by either by a non-qualified or non specific specialist teacher.

A separate 41% of classes were taught by supply teachers.

"Supply teachers do an amazing job," she said. "But they are not a replacement for class teacher who can build relationships with students and support them."

Dr Martin Dixon, president of the Cornwall NEU, urged people not to fall for the "lies" that wage increases increased inflation.

"Don't fall for their lies," he said. "Our pay rise call is not inflationary. We have lost around 25% in pay since 2010 and this is just a little chink to try and get back a little of the pay we are demanding.

"We deserve at the very least an inflation matching pay rise."

The government says teachers in England have rejected a pay offer from the Government that would have seen salaries rise by 4.5% on average next year, alongside a one-off payment of £1,000 for this year.

Members of the National Education Union (NEU), the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and NASUWT earlier this month voted to turn down the offer.

The government says the offer was presented to the unions in late March and included significant new investment for schools to fund pay rises and commitments to reducing workload by five hours a week.

They said the decision is disappointing and means less money for teachers this year and possible disruption to students preparing for exams.