Hundreds gather in Birmingham’s Centenary Square for teachers’ strike

Teachers from across the West Midlands gathered in Centenary Square today and outside local schools in Birmingham to protest for better pay and conditions.

Hundreds of schools were closed or partially closed on Wednesday (1 March) with many teachers, staff and people supporting the National Education Union’s (NEU) members in Birmingham city centre.

Teachers and NEU members protested with placards urging the government to provide better funding for schools.

The NEU said they expected around 400 schools would close or partially to close on Wednesday. There are 508 schools in Birmingham, meaning the overwhelming majority of schools in the city were affected by the strikes today.

Picket lines were also mounted outside schools in Birmingham and across the region, including at King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls in Kings Heath, Saltley Academy in Belchers Lane, and at the Selly Oak Trust School in Oak Tree Lane.

There will also be further NEU strikes in the region on March 15 and March 16.

Why are teachers striking?

Some 300,000 teachers and support staff were asked to vote in the NEU ballot – and more than 127,000 teacher members and 16,000 support staff members in England and Wales backed action.

The NAHT school leaders’ union and the NASUWT teachers’ union both failed to achieve the 50% ballot turnout required by law for its members to go out on strike over pay in England.

In England, the NEU is looking for a pay rise of 12% rather than the 5% offered so far by the government for most teachers. The unions say teachers’ pay has fallen by about 24% relative to inflation since 2010.

In July last year, the government said teachers would benefit from pay increases of between 5% and 8.9% from September 2022, after accepting the recommendations of the independent School Teachers’ Review Body for this academic year.

In England, a ballot result of support staff in schools saw a 84.13% majority vote YES on a turnout of 46.46%. This result, despite being hugely in favour of action, just missed the government’s restrictive thresholds.