'No option': Teachers walk out as strike action hits Shropshire schools

Around 60 schools across Shropshire were affected by the National Education Union (NEU) action on Wednesday, with teachers joining picket lines throughout the county.

It comes after a succession of strikes in the past six months, with Royal Mail workers, rail staff, nurses, ambulance workers, and Environment Agency staff all walking out.

At Bridgnorth Endowed School around 16 teachers joined an early morning picket line – with other pickets at schools across Shropshire.

Hannah Capstick, the NEU rep at Bridgnorth Endowed, and a design teacher, said they been met with a positive response from parents and students.

Teachers were disappointed to have taken the action, she said but added that without a Government-funded pay increase schools would be paying for wage rises out of their own budgets – taking away from resources for pupils.

She also spoke of the impact of the ongoing cost of living crisis, leaving some teachers having to use food banks.

"We were out this morning to show the Government that we need better funding and pay for our teaching staff in schools," she said.

"We have had a really positive response from the local community and a really positive turnout from staff at our school."

The 30-year-old said they felt they had no option but to resort to strike action.

She said: "It is about the funding for us. Amongst the staff the conversations we have been having are that funding needs to come from the Government for this pay increase.

"At the moment it is coming out of school budgets, which means there are cuts from other areas of the school, and it is not good enough for our children, they deserve better than that."

She said that teachers had thought long and hard before voting for the action, which will see another strike in the county on March 1 – unless there is a settlement to the dispute with the government.

"We wanted the Government to have talks and put an offer on the table before we got to this point. We would much rather be in classrooms teaching our students," she said.

"A lot of colleagues in this school and other schools are struggling with the cost of living at the moment and it is not the way it should be.

"Not in this school in particular but there are teachers using food banks and that should not be happening."

She said that the action would continue until there is an agreement with the Department of Education.

"We will be taking action again on March 1 if there are no changes made," she said.