Teachers warn of staffing catastrophe

9:03am Saturday 26th April 2008

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TEACHERS warned Essex schools face a recruitment crisis, as they put their case for better pay.

About 200 NUT members packed out a conference room at the County Hotel in Chelmsford yesterday, as the union's first strike for 21 years took place.

With about one-third of UK schools shut to pupils, education minister Jim Knight said parents would be "bewildered" by the industrial action, with the average teacher already earning £34,000.

But the NUT's Essex regional secretary Jerry Glazier insisted members were only striking because they cared about children and the future of the profession.

He told the rally the Government's pay offer of a 2.45 per cent rise would contribute to making teaching "less and less attractive".

"It will mean that teachers will be forced to leave teaching," he said. "Teaching is an aged and ageing profession, and more and more of us will be seeking retirement.

"At the same time, the significant minority of the 800 newly-qualified teachers we take on each year in Essex are leaving the profession within three years.

"All this means the average annual turnover in Essex schools is 20 per cent, because teachers are either retiring, moving to different schools or changing careers."

Phil Burnham, a Southend-based teacher, spoke about the financial challenges he faced.

"I finished university eight years ago and it will take another two years to pay off my student loan," he said. "I have spent five years struggling to buy a property and I now spend a third of my monthly income just on covering the interest payments.

"With these pay deals, every year we are effectively getting poorer and poorer."

The NUT has warned more industrial action may follow in May if the Government refuses to meet its demands.