Around 300 Teachers March Through Exeter

Around 300 teachers from across Devon have taken part in a march through Exeter city centre today as part of strike action against pay and conditions in UK schools.

The marchers met in Northenhay Gardens at around 11am this morning before moving to the Sidwell Street Methodist Church for a rally.

Neville Pope, 30, a Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) at Ilfracombe Junior School explained his reasons for taking part in the march: “I’ve been finding out that its a lot more about evidencing everything rather than actually doing things, so rather than being allowed to put everything you want to into the job you spend most of your time actually showing what you’ve done, proving what you’ve done and justifying it.

"For every hour that you’ve teach, some would argue that you spend another hour proving that you’ve done it, proving that you’ve worked. As an NQT I’m working 60 plus hours a week, thats a huge work-life balance issue and that’s one of the main reasons I’m striking because I think its detrimental to our performance.

"Fortunately I’m in a really supportive school but I’ve heard of a lot of people from my course facing this kind of crisis of what have I got myself into because it takes over your life and you realise you can’t be a good teacher if you haven’t got the energy to put in.... how are you supposed to keep 30 kids engaged when you haven’t got the energy to give."

16 schools in Devon are closed or partially closed as a result of today's strike action although most schools have been affected by reduced staffing.

The strike organised by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) against what it argues are excessive levels of workload and bureaucracy in schools.

Christine Blower, General Secretary of the NUT said: “Teachers deeply regret the disruption caused by this strike action to parents and teachers.

“The Government’s refusal, however, to engage to resolve the dispute means that we have no alternative other than to demonstrate the seriousness of our concerns.

“Teachers’ levels of workload are intolerable –the Government’s own survey, published last month, shows that primary school teachers work nearly 60 hours a week and secondary school teachers work nearly 56 hours a week. 2 in 5 teachers are leaving the profession in the first 5 years of teaching as are many others.

“This is bad for children and bad for education.”

While the strike has affected schools across the country, the impact of the strikehas been less than last year's stike action as the NASWUT union has not taken part as they say that the promise of talks with the Secretary of State were key developments.

This means most secondary schools, -where the largest concentration of NASWUT members works- have not been as badly affected by the strike as in previous strikes.

A spokesman for the Department for Education (DfE) said they had further meaningful talks with the unions but "Despite this constructive engagement with their concerns, the NUT is taking action that will disrupt parents' lives, hold back children's education and damage the reputation of the profession."

The NUT however claim that the DfE is being insincere over the extent of the talks as the Education secretary Michel Gove and his junior Ministers had not attended the meetings.

Christine Blower continued: “The NUT recognises that other workers are having their pensions squeezed. We believe that this is wrong too – everyone should be entitled to a decent standard of living in retirement.

“Michael Gove can resolve this situation by listening to our concerns and doing something about them. Our concerns are not just for teachers but for the future standard and provision of education”.

List of affected schools in Devon tomorrow.

Marland School -Closed

Blackawton Primary School- Closed

Stoke Hill Infant & Nursery School- Partial Closure

Dartington Church Of England Primary School- Closed

Exeter Road Community Primary School- Partial Closure

Heathcoat Primary School- Closed

South Dartmoor Community College- Closed

Marwood School- Partial Closure

Withycombe Raleigh Church Of England Primary School, Exmouth

Newtown Primary School- Partial Closure

The Park Community School, Barnstaple- Partial Closure