Martin Reynolds spoke to a National Education Union (NEU) striker on the picket line at Chingford Foundation school in East London. Teachers and support staff were taking strike action against an increase in teaching time, workload, and the use of fixed-term contracts for support staff. As term ended, the strikers accepted a deal with various gains including a reduction in teaching time.
and TUC day of protest Protect the Right to Strike
demonstration march and rally central London
Can you tell me why you’re out here on the picket line today?
It’s been a whole range of issues this year, but amongst them, we had a historic agreement between the union and the school that we wouldn’t teach more than 20 hours a week, in line with many other schools in Waltham Forest. Management have decided that they can push through that and ask us to teach more hours, while reducing our planning time.
This has a huge impact on the kids as well as on our individual wellbeing. It means less planning time per student, less time marking, less time assessing. So it is a squeeze on all of us at a time when we can’t really give any more.
What’s the mood in the school amongst teachers?
Well, we were offered a settlement that members didn’t feel met our demands. So it was unanimously rejected, which I think shows the strong solidarity that there is among teachers and support staff for challenging this.
Our colleagues at South Chingford School have joined us in the strike action, because they are facing very similar issues — increased workload, reduced planning time, and no adjustment in salary for that.