Thousands of teachers are set to walk out of classrooms over pay after the largest education union reached the threshold required to take strike action.
The National Education Union (NEU) had organised a ballot of 300,000 members calling for a “fully funded, above-inflation pay rise”.
The union has now confirmed the result of this ballot which revealed there is enough support for walkouts in England and Wales.
The NEU will have to give two weeks’ notice of any industrial action.
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Earlier today, Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, told Sky News she was confident the union would reach the threshold.
“From our own internal polling, I think that we will meet the threshold but I can’t be sure,” she said.
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She added that it would be “highly unlikely” that strike action would take place during the exam period.
Speaking last week, Dr Bousted said the strike days were likely to be in “February and March” if the ballot were to be successful.
Last week, a ballot of members of the NASUWT teachers’ union failed to reach the 50% turnout threshold, although nine in 10 of those who did vote backed strikes.
In England and Wales, most state-school teachers had a pay rise of 5% in 2022.
But with inflation remaining at more than 10% and a cost of living crisis affecting households across the UK, unions have argued that such increases amount to a pay cut in real terms.
The government continues to insist that pay claims are unaffordable and is sticking to its belief that wage rises should be decided by pay review bodies.
Earlier this afternoon, ahead of the strike ballot results, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “We would continue to call on teachers not to strike given we know what substantial damage was caused to children’s education during the pandemic and it’s certainly not something we want to see repeated.
“We would hope they would continue to discuss with us their concerns rather than withdraw education from children.”
It comes as the wave of industrial action which has swept across the country for months is set to continue this week.
Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) across England will walk out on Wednesday and Thursday.
