National Education Union teachers on strike in Mansfield and Ashfield in fight for pay rise

Among those on the picket line on March 1 were staff at Quarrydale Academy in Sutton.

Nicole Spencer, a maths teacher who has worked at the school for three years, said: “We are all members of the NEU union and here to fight for a fully-funded pay rise, and that’s the biggest issue I think, for me personally, rather than it being funded from the school budget.

“Obviously if it’s funded from the school budget, it’s then taken away from finances that can go towards student support, other staff recruitment areas, and all that sort of stuff.

“We would not want to take any pay rises from the existing budget so we’re fighting for a fully funded pay rise.

“There’s huge concerns, for me personally, as I have two little ones and in 10 years time when they’re at secondary school, if the teaching recruitment crisis carries on the way it currently is, who is going to be teaching my kids?

“The number of none specialists is increasing in every area, the number of supply needed in most schools is increasing in every area and it’s a huge issues.

“We need to make teaching a more appealing career to keep the best people in it.

“I hope the result of today is that Gillian Keegan gets to the table and negotiates a little bit more.

“It just needs to be negotiated and at the minute I don’t think that’s happening.”