Schools in England and Wales could face post-election strikes if the next government fails to tackle a looming education funding crisis, according to the general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, Christine Blower.
Blower ruled out any action before the general election in May, saying the union would seek to hold discussions with incoming ministers “and take stock”.
Delegates to the NUT’s national conference in Harrogate will debate an emergency motion this weekend protesting against the real-terms cuts to school funding being offered by both the Conservative and Labour parties during the election campaign.
The motion’s wording includes a call for the union to “prepare for and ballot for a national campaign of strike and non-strike action, seeking the involvement of other teaching unions and non-teaching unions where appropriate, on the impact of cuts on pay and working conditions if no progress is made in talks with the new government on the issue of funding”.
If accepted by the conference, balloting could take place with an eye to possible strike action as early as the summer term, although Blower said forms of industrial action that did not include outright strikes were also an option.
The motion to be debated says that the Conservative promise to maintain school spending per pupil at current levels for four to 16 year olds – without adjusting for inflation, pay rises, pension costs or national insurance increases – would mean an effective cut of 10% in real terms.
“It would be a terrible set of cuts that will happen if these things are not changed, so we are putting pressure on all the political parties,” said Kevin Courtney, the NUT’s deputy general secretary.
The motion also criticises the Tories’ political rivals. “While other political parties, including Labour, say they will increase overall funding for schools in line with inflation, no assurances have yet been given on protecting funding per pupil in real terms in order to avoid cuts when increasing pupil numbers are taken into account.”
Labour has committed to increasing the overall schools budget including sixth forms in line with inflation, but without so far taking into account the pressure of increases in pupil numbers, which are forecast to continue to rise.
“Other parties have school funding policies that sound better,” Blower said. “But we are not clear what Labour is saying about pupil numbers.”
The proposal also attacks real-term cuts in school funding in Wales that have taken place under the Labour administration in Cardiff, with Welsh schools already receiving a lower level of funding than their counterparts in England.
The emergency motion is likely to be carried, but an internal debate has been taking place about further industrial action called for in a motion on early-years education, scheduled to be discussed tomorrow. The motion calls for a boycott of baseline assessments for reception class pupils aged four to five, which the government plans to introduce next year.
The call for a boycott has strong support in some sections of the union, but the leadership, which is wary of too many calls for industrial action, wants to see it replaced by a more moderate amendment to an earlier motion that would “work towards” a boycott.
Graham Dawson, the incoming president of the NASUWT, told delegates to the union’s annual conference in Cardiff that school leavers were being “diverted onto the dirt track of low pay, zero hours and dead-end jobs” by government reforms.
“Many vocational courses are not accessible to talented, practically inclined young people because of academic requirements. We need our Stephen Hawkings, but we also need Bob the Builder, firefighter Sally, Ned the nurse, soldier Salim and postal worker Patu. If we have a blocked toilet, we do not need a Latin scholar but a qualified plumber,” Dawson told members.
