Head teachers are to be balloted on national industrial action in a row over pay for the first time in their union’s 125-year history, the TUC conference in Brighton has been told.
The general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) Paul Whiteman told the Trades Union Congress (TUC) conference that he has “never heard more anger and despair” from school leaders.
The NAHT said that this was the first time they had held a national ballot for industrial action over pay, having only previously held regional votes on the issue.
The union has also previously held national strike ballots in disputes over pensions and SATs (standardised assessment tests) – both more than a decade ago.
Mr Whiteman told the conference at the Brighton Centre that head teachers had lost about 24 per cent on the value of their salary since 2010.
He said yesterday that he had written to Education Secretary Kit Malthouse about the ballot.
Education funding was expected to be 3 per cent less in real terms in 2024-25 than it was in 2010 – and school leaders felt “compelled to fight for the futures of the children”, Mr Whiteman said.
He added: “Over the course of the last few months, I have travelled the country hearing from our members directly. I have never heard more anger and despair.
“School leaders across the country are telling me that they cannot continue to run their schools in the current circumstances.
“The neglect of pay in education and the funding to support it is now eroding the quality of education that our members can provide.”
Mr Whiteman said that insufficient pay had sent schools into “a vicious spiral” of staff resignations and warned that “heartbreaking cuts to services” would have to be made.
He said that “spiralling energy bills”, inflation and lack of funding for teachers’ pay meant that thousands of schools were expecting to be heading for a deficit.
He added: “Consequently, school leaders are being forced to make cuts that ultimately cannot help but negatively impact on the education and wellbeing of children.”
Mr Whiteman said that the “relentlessly reasonable professionals” that he represented felt that they had “no choice” but to move to a formal ballot.
He said: “No school leader would ever take any industrial action lightly but they are telling me they feel compelled to fight for the futures of the children and young people in their care.
“It is no exaggeration to say that the future of education is on the line.”
Leaders would aim to avoid disruption to pupils, according to Mr Whiteman, as he urged the government to respond to their concerns.
He spoke out after an NAHT survey suggested that 84 per cent of members in England wanted a ballot on taking action short of a strike if an agreement on pay and funding was not reached. The same survey found that 55 per cent wished to vote on taking strike action.
Some 64 per cent of members responded to the survey this month.
School leaders in Wales also indicated their concern in a concurrent poll by NAHT Cymru. It suggested that 91 per cent of members wanted to be balloted on action short of a strike and 64 per cent wished to vote on strike action.
The NAHT represents school leaders in most primary schools in England and Wales.
