AFTER two years of being forced to move to a virtual event, I am delighted that this year the NASUWT is able to return to holding an in-person annual conference this weekend.

Our members are gathering in Birmingham for four days of debates and discussion which will set our policy agenda for the year ahead.

Our agenda is decided by our members, they tell us what matters to them, but underlying the wide-ranging set of issues which will be debated runs a thread of discontent at the growing crisis in teacher wellbeing and morale.

The unequivocal message our members will be sending from the conference is that we need a better deal for teachers on pay, workload and working conditions.

The pandemic has turbo-charged the level of workload teachers are expected to manage, from the continuing and often simultaneous demands of providing both in-class and remote teaching to pupils, producing teacher-assessed grades while exams were cancelled and the ongoing work supporting pupils to catch-up from the disruption to their education. 

While the government may have sought to declare the pandemic all but over, for teachers there is still no end in sight. 

They have continued to put their own safety and welfare on the line in order to do their best for their pupils and at considerable cost to their own wellbeing and mental and physical health. The result is that morale is at rock-bottom, while stress is sky-high.

This comes against the backdrop of the soaring cost of living. Thanks to more than a decade of pay freezes and below-inflation pay awards, teachers have now suffered a 19 per cent real-terms erosion in their pay since 2010.

Without action to restore teachers’ pay, the real-terms value of teachers’ salaries is only set to reduce further as inflation continues to rise and the cost of energy, food and household essentials increases at a rapid rate. 

The profession is at breaking point.

A growing number of teachers are experiencing significant financial hardship, with members having to take second jobs, increase their use of credit and even rely on foodbanks. 

The failure to provide salaries which are competitive and which reflect the immensely skilled nature of the job of teaching is triggering a teacher exodus. More than two-thirds of teachers are seriously considering leaving the profession, with pay an increasingly prominent push factor.

Continually expecting teachers to do more and more at the same time as their salaries dwindle in real-terms year after year is simply unsustainable as an approach to managing teacher supply and ensuring higher standards of pupil progress and attainment. 

That is why conference representatives will warn this weekend that a programme of pay restoration for teachers is essential. That will mean securing a substantial 12 per cent pay award for all teachers this year. Nothing short of that will do.

We are already balloting members in Northern Ireland and have a mandate for industrial action across all schools in the Isle of Man. Teachers right across the UK are angry and are not prepared to be taken for granted by this government any longer. 

A competitive pay framework which recognises and rewards teachers’ experience, coupled with working conditions which support teachers to focus on teaching and learning, is long overdue and the combination of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis has now brought matters to a tipping point.

Ministers need to recognise that investing in teachers is investing in pupils’ education. Failing to invest in our teachers is short-changing children’s futures.

Our conference will put ministers on notice and leave them in no doubt that a better deal for teachers on pay, workload and wellbeing must be put on the table. 

We recognise that teachers are a precious resource. It’s time for the government to step up and value our teachers. But, if they refuse to take the action that is needed, then we must.