Teacher strikes: More schools ‘set to stay open’ in latest walkouts
More schools could manage to stay open during this week’s teacher strikes than in previous walkouts, research suggests.
Teachers across the country are set take part in industrial action on Wednesday and Thursday, leading to widespread school closures. They will be the third and fourth days of strikes to hit London schools, after teachers in the capital walked out on February 1 and March 2.
London is expected to be the hardest-hit region in the country, after more than three-quarters of a million children were disrupted on previous strike days.
But the latest data from Teacher Tapp, which surveys thousands of teachers, found that “the direction of travel is moving towards schools opening more” during strikes.
The education app found that, overall, 32 per cent of teachers said they were on strike during the last walkouts, a drop from 38 per cent on the first strike day.
During the first round of strikes about ten per cent of schools were completely closed, and in the last round it was eight per cent. Some schools that were closed completely in the first strikes shifted to saying they were partially open in the latest action, according to the data.
But the strikes are still set to cause major disruption to London parents this week. Teachers do not legally have to inform their headteachers they are going on strike, which means some families will not find out until the morning of a strike if their local school will be closed. Some siblings in different classes will face different arrangements.
About 9,000 more teachers have joined the National Education Union since the first walkout on February 1. Teachers in Wales will not join this week’s strikes after the Welsh government’s revised pay offer.
