Teachers at a Salford high school are planning to strike for three days a week every week of this month.
The move, by staff at Co-op Academy Swinton, follows previous industrial action before half term and will once again leave some students learning remotely.
Teachers say the action, by members of the NASUWT union, is due to 'adverse management practices' affecting workload, working practices and pupil behaviour, and have accused the school of failing to consult.
They claim changes to the structure of the school day 'have seriously fractured the behavioural and pastoral systems in the school, as well as having a negative impact on the quality of teaching and learning' - with teachers 'working excessive hours and struggling to deliver the best quality experience for students under the new systems'.
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But the Co-op Academies Trust says it has already dealt with a number of concerns from staff, including addressing workloads and scrapping the split lunchtime by investing more than £50k to provide more facilities to allow all year groups to eat at once.
It says teachers are now hung up on the change to form time, which has been moved from first thing in the morning to the afternoon, to offer a dedicated session for a 'catch-up curriculum' - something it says is vital because of the time pupils have missed in school.
Trust bosses say that in negotiations following the earlier strike action, union members agreed to postpone further industrial action while an independent review of the impact of the changes takes place, but have now reneged on that deal. They have also questioned whether the strike would still be going ahead if the union wasn't reimbursing teachers' wages.
"The NASUWT have failed to deliver on their part of this agreement, instead promoting, encouraging, and funding their members to strike," said the Trust in a letter to parents.
However the union says that referring to strike action being funded 'is a diversion of focus' and 'any industrial action is as a result of a lawful ballot, that must meet strict legal criteria'.
"All unions have strike funds to assist members who are exercising their fundamental human right to withdraw their labour," said Jac Casson, NASUWT national executive member for Manchester. "The cooperative movement are more than aware of that. For them to make this a part of the dispute is more than disappointing and besmirches the proud history and traditions of the cooperative movement."
She said members are unhappy with the person 'arbitrarily appointed' to carry out the review, as it's an executive head from a school with split lunchtime and an afternoon form time and they 'cannot accept this would make him impartial'.
Ultimately it's pupils who will be missing out on face-to-face learning while the strike - which involves almost 40 teachers - takes place every Tuesday to Thursday this month.
While the union has described the move as 'a last resort' and says it has 'had many supportive messages from parents', the dad of one pupil at the school told us he's 'disgusted' by the actions of staff.
"How the academic staff at this school have the audacity to call themselves teachers escapes me," he said. "They have no consideration for their students whatsoever and will do anything to avoid additional student contact time.
"The children are months behind, but the teachers have no interest whatsoever in helping them catch up. They should all be ashamed of themselves."
In confirming the strike would go ahead, the union has accused the Trust of 'failing to live up to co-operative values' and says its pledge to be 'different to every other multi-academy trust' 'is ringing increasingly hollow for some of our members...., with serious concerns arising on the way that teachers are paid, as well as the imposition of detrimental changes to working hours and practices."
NASUWT's general secretary Dr Patrick Roach said: "While the current model is in place, our members are working harder than ever, working more hours, and are seeing the deterioration of relationships with students and parents, as well as pastoral and behaviour issues going unchecked.
"Students have had the systems and practices that care for their well-being and support them to keep their learning on track and deal with any pastoral issues massively reduced. This would be a concern at any time, but when many pupils need extra support while living through a pandemic, the reduction in support systems shows no regard for pupil mental health and well-being.
"Academic achievement and excellent teaching and learning are underpinned by a solid pastoral and behaviour system. Without these systems teachers cannot do their best and students do not receive the best support."
The Trust, however, says the previous unstructured form time served 'little purpose'. The number of pastoral support staff has been increased and it has invested in a Trust-wide mental health programme 'to improve provision in this area even further'.
Its statement to parents added: "Whilst we know that some teachers enjoyed that time and offered support to students, our students would be better served by having experts in student support working with them - rather than teachers who are experts in teaching.
"Changing form time into a dedicated session for a ‘catch-up curriculum’ and it being a time in which vital learning habits and skills are learnt is a positive use of that time. Vocabulary, assemblies, key knowledge, careers guidance, English, maths and science masterclasses and reading sessions are all included. The academy leadership listened to staff concerns about increased workload, so they planned these sessions for staff."
With regards to workload, the Trust says that 'teachers at Swinton still have significantly less direct contact time than the majority of teachers nationally' and the fact some individuals may have had more ‘free time’ historically, 'is not grounds for industrial action on the basis of being unreasonable'.
Ms Casson said: "NASUWT members at Swinton actually want to play a greater role as form tutors than the employer is currently allowing them. In addition, some of the proposals offered by our members during the original consultation would have enabled teachers to voluntarily give up part of their own lunchtimes in order to support pupils, but this was turned down by the Trust because it didn't fit with the structure of the day that they wanted."
She added: "It is always a matter of regret that teaching time is lost during any strike action, and it remains the last resort to take such action.
"However, our members believe that the changes that have been imposed at Coop Swinton have had such a detrimental impact on their ability to teach and the pupils' welfare that they have been left with no choice.
"In the hands of more pragmatic leadership this would never have got to such a point of escalation and such fractured relationships."
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