Portsmouth teacher strikes: Ark Charter teachers have gone on strike to improve pay and resources

Thousands of teachers in the south of England have gone on strike today as part of regional action, and teachers from Ark Charter are no different.

A picket line was formed outside the academy by teachers who are desperately fighting for not only better pay, but also for the increased amount of resources and recruitment in a bid to help their students.

Lisa Dulson, who has been a drama and literacy teacher at the Portsmouth school for the past three years, said: ‘Basically, it isn’t just about the money, it is about the the improvement in the education, that is our main reasons.

‘I have got kids, my daughter is just about to sit her GCSE’s and I have seen the decline not just as a teacher, but as a parent.

‘We are not striking against the schools, we are striking against the government.’

Some of the teachers are also trying to voice their concern about the level of recruitment, and how new teachers are not staying in the industry for as long due to the finances and lack of resources.

SEE ALSO: Portsmouth and Hampshire NEU teacher strikes: These schools will be closed on Thursday, March 2

Jodie Mack, who has been an English teacher at the academy for the past three years, said that on a number of occasiosn she has had to go to Tesco after school to go and buy pens for her students because there is not enough investment being pumped into schools.

She said: ‘I get paid a manageable wage, it always nice to be paid more but this is about the kids. We are no longer measuring the success for an individual child, we are measuring it for the school.

‘We took the students to the theatre to see Macbeth and we had a boy who was acting out a little bit and I said that we need to act like we are in the cinema but a bit posher and he said he had never been to the cinema before, he’s 14, and that’s the sort of things we need to be able to do.’

Jodie’s colleague, Nikki Steaggles, is head of music and she said: ‘The education system should be the crown jewels but it’s a conveyor belt which is not what it should be.

‘It is about funding of schools and the government say they are putting more money in education but we don’t see that going into the classrooms.’

Ollie Edwards, head of maths, said: ‘The biggest issue for me is recruitment, we are in the middle of a recruitment crisis.

‘Students deserve high quality lessons delivered by subject experts and that is not what is happening all across the country.’

Kate Thomas has been at the school for the past ten years as the head of drama and she has been the NEU workplace representative for the past three years.

She said: ‘It used to be a respected profession, we train hard and work hard, I know lots of people do but teachers go through a lot of training and we deserve to be paid a decent wage.’