London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Jul 25, 2025

Teachers join mass walkout in Britain after decade-long pay squeeze

Teachers join mass walkout in Britain after decade-long pay squeeze

London school teacher Lucy Preston will miss her son's fourth birthday on Thursday because she has to work a second job in the evening as a private tutor to make sure she can pay for her childcare and mortgage.

A day earlier, in the hope of earning a pay rise that will give her stretched household budget some relief, the single mother of two will join more than 120,000 other teachers on the picket line.

Teachers across England and Wales are going on strike on Wednesday after a decade of meagre earnings in a state-funded school system that has seen many take up second jobs or leave the profession altogether.

"It's utterly heartbreaking for me," 38-year-old Preston said of missing her son's birthday. She works as an English teacher three days a week, looking after her kids on the other two days as she cannot afford childcare every day.

"If I could just make enough money to not have to do the tutoring in the evening, I would have a much, much happier life ... It's just a really, really depressing place to be in."

Hundreds of thousands of other workers including rail staff and civil servants will also walk out on Wednesday, making it Britain's biggest day of strikes in several decades when measured by the range of industries it will cover.

The National Education Union (NEU), which is organising the teachers' strikes, has asked for an above-inflation pay award funded fully by the government, so that schools can also cover other costs, from stationery to textbooks.

With inflation reaching double digits last year, teachers have seen a 23% real-terms pay cut since 2010, the union says.

Preston says mortgage payments eat into two-thirds of her 1,800 pounds-a-month ($2,230) salary, forcing her to find other ways to make money, such as renting out a room in her house to a lodger and buying cheaper, frozen food instead of fresh produce.

"The stress that causes is absolutely unbelievable ... Every single month, it is a struggle," said Preston, who has worked as a teacher since 2011.

The government, which has held unsuccessful talks with the NEU, has called its one-year, 5% pay award for teachers the highest "in a generation" and says it is investing 4 billion pounds in schools over the next two years.


'LEAVING IN DROVES'


The NEU - which has planned seven days of strikes in total - says one in four teachers leave the profession within three years of qualification, impacting the education of children.

"I can't remember when we had enough staff to comfortably cover the school," said Sydney Heighington, 33, an assistant head teacher at an east London school.

"At the moment, you've got teachers just absolutely leaving in droves," he added, noting that some of his support staff colleagues had been forced to go to food banks because of rising bills and others had simply left to find work at supermarkets.

Heighington, who teaches music, said more than a third of experienced full-time teachers and teaching staff had left his school last year. Only a fifth of those roles were filled — by trainee teachers.

Educators say schools having to pay teachers' salaries from their own pocket has left classrooms starved of money for textbooks, IT upgrades and school trips.

"You cut back on trips out, you don't go to the British Museum, you don't go and see stuff," said Steve Chalke, founder of the Oasis charity that runs more than 50 schools across Britain. "So subjects become a little bit more sterile, because you're not learning at every level."

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants to expand mathematics education in schools but the NEU says his plan fails to address teacher shortages, which mean one in eight maths lessons are taught by a teacher unqualified in the subject.

Reports say teachers at the elite Winchester College in southern England, where Sunak attended school and was a head boy, are among those striking on Wednesday. The school declined to comment.

($1 = 0.8076 pounds)

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
×