ALMOST 1,000 Southampton teachers are set to support the first in a series of national walkouts over pay and funding shortages.
The National Education Union (NEU) has 1,500 members in the Southampton area and around 900 are expected to back the one-day strike due to take place on February 1.
Schools and colleges across the city are likely to be closed or partially closed as a result of the action being taken by teachers.
READ MORE: List of school closures announced so far for teachers' strike
The impact on individual sites will depend on how many NEU members they have and the number who take part in the walkout.
But one campus, Regents Park Community College, has already announced it will be closed due to the "high number" of staff planning to take action.
Other sites likely to be hit include Woodlands Community College.
In a letter to parents, headteacher Jim Henderson says: "There is no requirement for unions to inform us of which members of staff will take action, as there is no obligation on members of unions to obey a strike call.
"If we have a high number of staff taking action it could possibly lead to either partial or full closure of the school.
"The governors and I will need to consider in due course the action we will have to take. Given that union members are not required to confirm that they will be taking part in industrial action, the notification to you may be very late."
Similar letters have been sent out by other headteachers across the city.
NEU district secretary Ed Waller said children of key workers would be able to enter sites and take part in school-related activities, allowing their parents to go to work as normal.
Dr Waller said teachers were "fired up" over issues including pay, a crisis in recruitment and retention, and school funding failing to keep pace with rising costs.
He added: "Instead of being places of education and enjoyment, schools will simply become centres for rote learning to get people through exams."
The NEU, which has 450,000 members across the UK, is demanding a fully-funded, above-inflation wage rise that would begin to restore lost pay.
The February 1 walkout is due to be followed by two other strikes on March 15 and 16.
In a statement, the union's joint general secretaries, Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, said they had continually raised concerns about teachers' pay and school funding and accused ministers of "sitting on their hands".
They added: "This is not about a pay rise but correcting historic real-terms pay cuts.
"Teachers have lost 23 per cent in real terms since 2010. The average five per cent pay rise for teachers this year is some seven per cent behind inflation."
But a government spokesperson defended the increase, saying new teachers would receive the biggest uplift.
They added: "This will take teacher starting salaries to £28,000, which is significant progress towards this government’s 2019 manifesto commitment of a £30,000 starting salary."
Education secretary Gillian Keegan says she is "disappointed" that one of the teaching unions has decided to order strikes.
A message from the Editor
Thank you for reading this article. Your support means we can bring you the latest breaking news, exclusive Saints features and coverage - and much more.
Digital subscribers get unrestricted access to all of our stories, our dedicated app including e-version of the newspaper, and an advertising-light website.
If you want all the latest articles delivered straight to your inbox you can join the thousands of subscribers who are signed up to our newsletters.
They include our popular daily morning news briefing, breaking news, crime and court, and Southampton FC bulletins - plus business, heritage and our what's on newsletters.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel