Natalie Perera, Chief Executive of the Education Policy Institute (EPI), said: “Given the severe disruption and learning losses caused by Covid, the government and teaching unions must prioritise avoiding any further disruption to young people’s education. Ministers and teaching unions need to meet as soon as possible and engage in constructive dialogue in order to reach a solution.
“There is a real risk of a long-term stand-off between unions and government, which could set back education recovery, particularly for the more disadvantaged children whose learning has already been most disrupted by Covid. While the government probably feels that its offer to teaching staff has been fair, the ballot results so far suggest that teachers do not share this view. The gap between teachers and government is wide, but the interests of students must not be neglected by either side.”
