In response to the pay award offered by the UK Government for teachers in England, NSEAD have written to the Secretary of State for Education and will conduct an indicative ballot of members.
In the last week of term, the Government announced its proposed 2022/23 pay award for teachers. Those at the top of the main pay scale and those on the upper pay scale and leadership group will receive five per cent, and those at the bottom of the main pay scale outside London will receive 8.9 per cent. All of these increases would be well below inflation so would be real terms pay cuts.
The Education unions are united in the belief that teachers deserve better. NSEAD has written to the Secretary of State with a clear message that there can be no pay award unless there is also adequate funding for schools to properly reward, recruit and retain teachers. NSEAD believes that an improved pay award that is not adequately funded will put members' jobs at risk.
On the 30th September, NSEAD will open an electronic indicative ballot of Trade Union members, seeking their views on pay, school funding and industrial action.
General Secretary, Michele Gregson says:
The STRB’s recommendations on teacher and school leader pay from 1 September 2022 are insufficient to address the crisis within the teaching profession. Furthermore, without significant improvements in pay and conditions we believe that this crisis will continue to have a disproportionate effect on art, craft, and design specialist teachers.
Many of our members are experiencing hardship, and the huge, real terms pay cut proposed, on top of a decade of lost pay, is not something they can bear. These hard-working professionals deserve better pay. However, NSEAD is concerned that if any pay award for teachers is not backed by adequate, additional funding, school governors will have little choice but to make cuts to their budgets that may include reducing curriculum options and the number of specialist teachers employed. When school finances are under pressure, in a landscape where the arts are not valued, our members' jobs are at risk.
We are now seeking members views on pay, school funding and industrial action.
The indicative ballot will be open until 10am on the 14th October.
Read the full letter to the Secretary of State here