12 March 2023 , 18:00
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Children in Wales will go to school as normal as National Education Union members consider a new offer from the Welsh Government.
The Welsh Government has been in weeks of negotiation with education unions, including the NEU.
Ministers in Wales understand that strike action is legal, always used as a last resort and paused when unions get a deal that is worth putting to their members.
The English Government, unfortunately, appears not to understand that negotiations can happen when strike action is taking place.
It has wasted weeks when it could have been talking to the NEU, working with education unions to put forward an offer which members could consider.
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We want to talk to Gillian Keegan.
We have so much to say about the crisis in our schools – from dilapidated school buildings, to hungry and cold children.
Unions want to talk to Education Secretary Gillian Keegan (Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)We want to talk about the awful truth that our schools are running out of teachers - the Government missed its training targets for secondary teachers by an awful 41% this year – and next year is shaping up to be just as bad.
We want to talk to Gillian Keegan about the excessive workload which is driving so many teachers from the profession.
Teachers work more unpaid overtime than any other profession – so we need to reduce workload and keep them in schools educating children and young people.
We want to talk to Gillian Keegan about fair pay for teachers who have seen their salary drop more than any other professional group – by nearly a quarter in real terms, since 2010.
We want to tell her that her Government’s ambitions for economic growth will not be achieved if our children and young people are not taught by teachers who are qualified in the subject they are teaching.
One in eight maths lessons is, as I write, taught by a teacher who does not have a maths qualification.
We want to talk, Gillian. Do you?