Teachers' union to ballot for strike action over controversial academies plan

Teachers took to the streets on Wednesday to protest against the plans
Gareth Fuller/PA
Tom Marshall26 March 2016

Teachers will ballot for strike action after rejecting the Government's controversial plan to force all state schools to become academies.

Members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) voted overwhelmingly against what they consider to be the privatisation of the education system at their annual conference in Brighton on Saturday.

NUT executive member Ian Murch said the measures would see "schools stolen from their local communities".

He said: "We will stand up for pupils, for patients and for teachers, and we will lead the campaign for sanity. We will fight the forced academisation of our schools.

"We will fight for what is right and we will fight until we win."

Members voted against the Government's education white paper, and also agreed an amendment to ballot for strike action.

This is likely to include proposals for a one-day strike in the summer, as well as potential for further strikes, should members agree.

George Osborne announced that all state schools would be forced to become academies by 2020 in his Budget.

Members at the NUT conference heard that the "academisation" plans represented a "top-down dismantling of the English education system", and were distracting from the real issues facing schools - such as workload and funding.

Fellow executive member Hazel Danson described the plans as "a wilful act of recklessness".

Additional reporting by the Press Association.

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