Teachers at Kettering primary school to take further strike action

Teachers at a primary school in Kettering are set to take further strike action later this month in a dispute over management practices and working conditions.

Members of NASUWT – the Teachers’ Union at Meadowside Primary School will walk out on 15 and 16 December, following what the union said was a failure by school management to address concerns raised earlier in the dispute.

Teachers at the school previously took strike action on 4 November. The union said a further five days of planned strikes were suspended after the employer offered additional talks, which NASUWT described as a gesture of goodwill.

However, the union said no effective steps had since been taken to tackle issues including excessive workload, a lack of transparency and communication, and limited career progression, leading to the decision to resume industrial action.

Matt Wrack, general secretary of NASUWT, said the union had paused further strikes to give discussions a chance to succeed and allow improvements to be put in place.

He said: “However, there has been no change in the behaviour and attitude of school management towards staff, which has made further strike action unavoidable.”

Wrack added that responsibility for disruption lay with the school’s management, saying teachers wanted to remain in the classroom but could not continue working in an environment that was damaging morale and welfare.

Alan Hackett, NASUWT national executive member for Northamptonshire, said teachers had been “repeatedly let down” by the school’s management.

He said: “The employer needs to understand that it cannot continue to get away with riding roughshod over the basic rights and entitlements of its staff. Teachers, pupils and families deserve better.”