Schools must stay open if teachers go on strike, four former education ministers have told the Government as unions prepare to reveal the results of strike ballots.
In an intervention on Tuesday night that will pile pressure on Downing Street to reveal its contingency plan for teachers’ strikes, the ex-ministers said the damage caused by school closures during Covid lockdowns must not be repeated.
Tim Loughton, a former children's minister, urged Number 10 to be “really, really robust” in keeping schools open and spoke of the damage done by “acquiescing” to trade unions in closing schools during lockdown.
“What we don’t want is a lockdown mark two, entirely brought about by teachers who think that they should be high up the queue for pay awards when there are all sorts of other public service workers who haven’t taken industrial action,” he said.
“They are playing with the futures of our children, who have been deeply damaged by excesses during the lockdown.”
The first result of three teaching ballots that close this week is expected to be announced on Wednesday by the NASUWT. Union sources said they were uncertain about whether they would get enough support for strike action over pay.
One senior source at a teaching union said: “It’s not certain but I think we’ll do it.”
Union leaders could co-ordinate strikes
Contingency plans for schools in the event of strike action will prioritise vulnerable children if teachers stage a mass walk-out, The Telegraph has been told. “We can’t get around the fact that strikes are disruptive,” said a Whitehall source.
Sir Robert Goodwill, who served during Theresa May’s premiership, said: “I hope the Government does everything they can to mitigate the strikes and try to keep children in education.”
He signalled that he would welcome minimum service levels for schools, adding: “We already have an agreement with the police that they don’t go on strike. With similar types of vital jobs, I think it’s important that we have that.”
Brendan Clarke-Smith, the MP for Bassetlaw, said he had never gone on strike when he was a teacher as he “wouldn’t want to disrupt the learning of the children”.
Mr Clarke-Smith, who served as a minister for children and families last year, said: “Whilst I think that everybody deserves fair pay and conditions, we need to ensure that parents and pupils aren’t left in the lurch, and that means keeping schools open.”
Jonathan Gullis, a former school standards minister, said: “I think the key thing is the details are set out by the Government as to how, no matter what, schools must stay open, and there’ll be enough teachers and support staff in schools to ensure pupils can still go in.”
Union leaders have threatened to co-ordinate strikes if enough teachers vote yes to industrial action, which would mean most schools in England and Wales would face closures.
During the last national teachers’ strike in England in 2016, when the National Union of Teachers, now part of the NEU, walked out for one day, about a third of schools in England were fully or partially closed.
Supply staff could be brought in
Conservative MPs and education leaders have said the Government could use new powers and resources to keep schools open.
Miriam Cates, a Conservative MP who sits on the education select committee, said: “If they do go on strike then I hope the Government will pull out all the stops to keep schools open, not just for vulnerable children.”
Legislation introduced last year means that supply staff could be brought in to cover during strike action.
Teaching assistants could be asked to use vast online teaching resources developed by Oak National Academy, sponsored by the Department for Education and set up in response to the pandemic in 2020, to teach classes in subjects for which they are not qualified.
Rules introduced by Michael Gove when he was Education Secretary in 2012 mean academies and free schools can hire unqualified teachers to work in schools.
MPs also said the Government should call on volunteers with Disclosure and Barring Service checks and retired teachers to help keep schools open.
A spokesman for the Department for Education said updated guidance for schools on responding to industrial action will be published “in due course”.