Teachers across the South West join latest national strikes
The dispute's over pay and conditions
Last updated 2nd May 2023
Children across the South West are being disrupted again this morning (Tuesday 2 May) as teacher strikes continue.
Members of the National Education Union will take to picket lines, and will also be lobbying MPs in another attempt to get a deal.
They're hoping for better pay and conditions.
Joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU) Kevin Courtney has said schools experience disruption "every day" because of a teacher recruitment and retention crisis.
He told LBC: "There is disruption in schools every day, not just during our strike periods, but every day."
Mr Courtney referenced research by education economist Jack Worth, who said that the Government is going to miss its secondary school recruitment target by "possibly 50%" this year and that the gap in primary education is "growing".
"The Government is getting this wrong because they aren't recruiting enough teachers and we're not keeping them in the classroom either," the union leader went on.
Mr Courtney told LBC about an A-level physics class in which students are taught for only half of the timetabled lessons.
"The other half is self-study," he continued. "That is disruption on a huge scale. The aim of our industrial action is not disruption but it is to make a point that by sacrificing our salaries on these days, by getting parents' attention, getting politicians' attention, then hoping the parents will contact their MPs, that's why we're doing it.
"We don't want to disrupt education, we apologise for the disruption that is caused."
Government says they've made a fair and reasonable offer
Cabinet minister James Cleverly said a "good offer" had been made to teachers over pay and workload reduction.
"The best way of minimising disruption to students is for those teachers to be in the classrooms," the Foreign Secretary told LBC Radio.
"Many, many students have had a very, very disrupted last couple of years because of Covid and I think everything we can do to help them start their lives better through education is really, really important."
He said the Government had listened to the concerns of teachers and the unions "but ultimately these kids have been through a tough enough time as it is".