An historic agreement between the two biggest teaching unions looks set to result in continued industrial action and further days of strike action in UK schools.
The National Union of Teachers and the NASUWT, which between them represent 85 per cent of teachers in England and Wales, have formed a coalition to fight government education policy.
The unions, which have traditionally been seen as rivals, launched a joint campaign to end what they call the “continuing assault on the teaching profession". Both remain opposed to the government's pension cuts and its move to increase teachers' pension contributions and also raise the retirement age to 68.
They are also against the academy and free school programmes and the ongoing austerity measures and their impact on working pay and conditions and teachers' jobs. This includes recent plans for regionalised pay schemes that could see some teachers' pay cut by up to 18 per cent.
The unions have written to education secretary Michael Gove seeking “urgent discussions about the enormous threats to teacher morale and the education system itself". They want an agreement before September.
A joint statement said: “Should the government refuse to negotiate sensible arrangements which protect teachers and defend education, then it is the intention of the two unions to move to escalate industrial action, including jointly co-ordinated strike action and action short of strike action in the autumn."
NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said: “There has been a relentless and unprecedented assault on teachers' pay and conditions of service. This assault on teachers is damaging standards of education."
Christine Blower, general secretary at the NUT, added: “Occasionally saying we have the best generation of teachers we've ever had in no way compensates for the onslaught of attacks and threats to pay, pensions and working conditions."
Schools minister Nick Gibb said the move was “disappointing" and argued that the pensions offer was fair and that proposals over pay were to be decided upon by the independent School Teachers' Review Body.
• For more primary education news from Headteacher Update, click here.