The education secretary has said she is willing to enter “formal talks” on pay, conditions and reform if next week’s planned teachers’ strike is called off.
Multiple meetings between the government and unions have so far resulted in no resolution to the dispute over pay and school funding, as leaders have said Gillian Keegan and her officials have not been prepared to formally negotiate.
It is not clear whether today’s announcement means the government is willing to discuss this year’s pay deal, but it represents a step forward in a dispute that had made further strikes seem inevitable.
A similar offer was made to nurses who agreed to suspend strike action to enter “intensive” pay talks.
A DfE spokesperson said the education secretary had “written to teaching unions inviting them to build on the constructive discussions that have already taken place and move into formal talks on pay, conditions and reform”.
“Our hope is that we can find a fair and reasonable settlement that recognises the vital role teachers play, while acknowledging the wider economic pressures facing the country and the government’s priority to halve inflation.
“A condition of these talks will be that the National Education Union calls off next week’s strike action.”
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, welcomed the invitation, but pointed out his union had “no control” over the NEU’s action.
“It would be naive beyond belief for the DfE to pull the plug on these talks even before they have begun on that basis.
“That would demonstrate a government out of its depth when it comes to industrial relations with little clue about what it takes to come to an agreement.”
‘Nothing that suggests we should call off strikes’
Kevin Courtney, the NEU’s joint general secretary, said he hoped “this new commitment to talks to ‘end the dispute’ signals a change in the willingness of the DfE to countenance change”.
But he said the letter from Keegan “still contains no suggestion that they are willing to talk about pay rises this year and are willing to fund them”.
“We are willing to talk at any time: but there is nothing substantial in the secretary of state’s letter that suggests to us we should call off strikes for next week.”
Separately, the government has recommended a pay rise of 3 per cent for teachers from September.
Courtney said this was still less than predicted inflation, so the proposed rise “will amount to a further pay cut on top of the already substantial pay cuts since 2010”.
Union leaders met with DfE officials again today, but the talks focused on reducing workload rather than the pay offer.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL school leaders’ union, said the talks were “frankly meandering and with industrial action on the horizon once again, it is actions that are now required”.
“We are pleased to have been invited to further formal talks on pay with the secretary of state later this week.
“We hope these discussions will have a greater degree of urgency and ultimately result in the long overdue improvements to teacher pay and conditions that are needed to end this dispute. That is surely in the best interests of children and young people.”
Whiteman said he expected discussions on pay to be “central” to any new meetings, and a “fair offer will be key to moving beyond the polite discussions so far to a point where we can hope for tangible progress towards an agreement”.
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