THE Tories are causing a “disastrous” recruitment crisis for schools after capping teachers’ salaries by 1 per cent for the past five years, six teaching unions warned yesterday.
The real-terms wage cuts — to continue for four more years — have deterred new recruits from working in state schools and a huge number of existing teachers are seeking jobs in other sectors.
More than 75 per cent of teachers have “seriously considered leaving the profession” in the last year because increased workloads are affecting their health, according to the NASUWT teaching union.
With 170,000 children living in poverty in north-east England and teachers leaving in droves over 20 per cent real-terms pay cuts since 2010, all while private companies siphon off billions, it is time to unite and fight for education, writes MATT WRACK


