UK education secretary Gillian Keegan said on Tuesday that teachers “don’t need to strike” to get ministers’ attention after the largest education union declared a week of walkouts.
The comments came ahead of talks to avert industrial action on Wednesday, when leaders of the four main education unions are due to meet Keegan to discuss pay, after the National Education Union announced that its members would walk out in February and March.
The strikes, lasting seven days, will affect the majority of primary and secondary schools in England and Wales and are part of a wave of industrial action that is hitting the public sector as the cost of living crisis takes its toll.
Speaking on the BBC’s Today programme, Keegan said she had “very much engaged with unions” since becoming education secretary in October. Teachers “don’t need to strike to get my attention”.
She said that pay progression meant some teachers would receive an annual salary uplift of 15.9 per…