A mass lobby of Parliament has renewed pressure on the Department for Education to publish the findings of the STRB pay review and to re-open negotiations over teachers’ pay.

It comes after the National Education Union (NEU) confirmed its intention to go-ahead with two further strikes this term – on July 5 and 7.

The NEU as well as the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), and NASUWT are in on-going dispute with the government over teachers’ pay and the real-terms cuts to education funding seen since 2010.

All four unions are currently balloting their members for strike action from September and have pledged to coordinate such action should it take place.

The lobby took place on Tuesday (June 20) and involved members from ASCL, NAHT, NEU as well as the National Governance Association and UNISON.

Last month, a report in the Sunday Times claimed that the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) has recommended a 6.5% pay rise from September. The DfE is expected to publish the report towards the end of July but is facing increasing calls to publish it sooner in light of the apparent leak.

The DfE has confirmed that it has received the STRB’s report but is refusing to be drawn on the claims in the Sunday Times.

Earlier this year, the DfE offered a 4.5% average pay rise from September as well as a £1,000 one-off cash payment this year. This was rejected by members of all four unions.

Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows that since 2010 salaries for more experienced and senior teachers have fallen by 13% in real-terms, teachers in the middle of the salary scale have experienced cuts of 9% to 10% and starting salaries have fallen by 5%. And with high inflation levels this year (2022/23), salaries for most teachers are expected to fall by 5% in real-terms (Sibieta, 2023).

Speaking at the lobby, ASCL general secretary Geoff Barton called for education secretary Gillian Keegan to “immediately publish” the STRB’s report and to act to address the crisis in education funding.

He said: “The reason we are here is because we know there is an extraordinary brewing crisis in our schools and our colleges. We are here because of a crisis of being able to recruit, and retain and to fund. This is an issue that will not go away. It will only be resolved by talking.

“The longer you leave that, the more attitudes are going to harden, the more parents are going to notice that somebody who is called the secretary of state for education appears not to give sufficient attention to education.”

Mr Barton added that "we are hurtling towards an autumn term where there is going to be unrest in our classrooms" unless the secretary of state agrees to renewed talks.

On Friday (June 17), the NEU announced two further days of strike action – to take place on July 5 and 7 – before its current ballot mandate expires on July 13. Under new strike laws, industrial action ballots are only valid for six months.

In a statement, Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, joint NEU general secretaries, said: "It is within Gillian Keegan's grasp for this action to be halted. Time and again the NEU, alongside its sister unions, have called for the education secretary to get around the negotiation table to settle this dispute for a fullyfunded teacher pay increase. Time and again our calls have fallen on stony ground.”

The NEU is concerned that the DfE’s refusal to be drawn on the STRB leak could be a signal that it is preparing to ignore the report’s recommendations.

Its statement added: “‘The education secretary refused to re-enter negotiation on the grounds that she and her department were waiting for the publication of the STRB’s recommendation on pay. This sentence causes us to worry that the government is contemplating not implementing the report or not funding it properly.”

It concluded: “Gillian Keegan could avoid the strikes in July by publishing the STRB report, entering substantive talks with us and the education unions, ASCL, NAHT and NASUWT to find a settlement on its response to the report, its funding and this year’s pay rise.”