Teacher strikes in Portsmouth and Hampshire: Schools across the country will be closing to a number of students this week following more teacher strikes

This week, teachers nationally will be taking a stand and walking out of their classroom for two days in the hope that the government will agree to increase their pay and the level of resources that schools have access to.

The strikes will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, and there will be a number of schools across Portsmouth and Hampshire that will be closing their doors in either partial or full closures.

Charlotte Lawrence, joint branch secretary of Portsmouth National Education Union, said: ‘No Portsmouth teacher wants to take strike action, but the strength of feeling is all too clear. Enough is enough.

‘Despite months to come to the table with concrete proposals on pay and funding, Gillian Keegan has done nothing to resolve our dispute, most recently refusing the education unions’ offer to enter into conciliatory talks with ACAS last week.’

Members of the Portsmouth NEU met with Stephen Morgan, Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South and Shadow Schools Minister, to convey how stretched schools are becoming and the knock on effect for the students.

Some examples of this included a primary school budget that is so tight that there are no new pencils for the children until the end of the year, a secondary school where classes have had no specialist English teacher for the entire year and the loss of teaching assistants throughout.

The teachers union hopes that not only will the pay increase keep existing professionals in the industry, but that it will also make the job more attractive for students training at university.

Charlotte added: ‘A fully funded, above inflation pay rise would ensure children are taught by those who specialise in the subject they are delivering, and stop the brain drain which leads to pupils seeing a revolving door of teachers over the course of a year.’

The strikes began at the beginning of the February and as it stands these strikes – the third and fourth day to see school closures in this area – are due to be the last.