People listen to Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary National Education Union (NEU) speaking at a rally in Westminster, London, as they stage walkouts across England in an ongoing dispute over pay, May 2, 2023
EDUCATION unions welcomed a Labour pledge today to give new teachers in England a one-off payment but warned that the party must go a lot further to turn around the country’s austerity-hit schools.
Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson unveiled a £50 million plan for incentive payments of £2,400 to teachers who complete the “early career framework” training programme, which covers their first two years in the classroom.
The commitment following the government’s own figures showing that in 2020, nearly a fifth of newly qualified educators quit the profession, which has been dogged by plummeting take-home pay, mounting workloads and punitive inspections.
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