Half (50%) say they support teachers taking industrial action, including a quarter (25%) that strongly support the strikes, according to a new poll from Savanta.
Although support remains relatively high for teachers taking industrial action, net support, which calculates those that support minus those who oppose, has dropped by 8pts since October (+20 Jan vs +28 Oct).
Despite this, the polling shows that parents (58%) are more likely to support industrial action by teachers than non-parents (46%).
Teachers are seen as some of the most essential workers in the UK, as just less than nine in ten (86%) say they are essential to everyday life. The only group that are seen as more essential are those working in the medical field, such as doctors (90%), nurses (90%) and ambulance drivers (90%). Perhaps surprisingly, those that are not parents see teachers as slightly more essential (87%) than parents (84%) themselves.
Despite the majority stating the importance of teachers in everyday life, two thirds (63%) say they are underappreciated. Half (48%) also say that teachers are underpaid (including 51% of parents vs 46% of non-parents), while a third (31%) say they are paid about the right amount and less than a fifth (16%) say they are overpaid.
Generally, the public are more likely to sympathise more with those disrupted by industrial action (32%) than those taking industrial action in order to get better pay and conditions (22%). However, parents (26%) are significantly more likely than non-parents (20%) to sympathise more with those taking industrial action.
Chris Hopkins, Political Research Director at Savanta said, “On the first day of industrial action by teachers on a scale that hasn’t been seen for some time, our polling shows half of the public support the move by teachers, with parents, interestingly, more likely to support than non-parents.”
“The government’s strategy on the strikes has very much been to hope that the greater the disruption, the higher the opposition, but so far that hasn’t been the case. With plenty more industrial action planned across a variety of sectors, there’s still plenty of opportunity for public support to wane – but equally, more opportunity for it to become entrenched and the government not solving the disputes could come back to haunt them.”
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