Tens of thousands of teachers who are members of the National Education Union (NEU) are back on picket lines on Tuesday which will cause parents further disruption.
Schools and sixth form colleges have seen teachers walk out which is now the sixth day so far this year of strike action by NEU members.
New guidance was issued by the NEU saying their members will be supported to “provide the minimum level of teaching staff needed” on strike days so pupils facings exams can attend classes.
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU, said it is “very likely” that there will be three further strike dates planned for the summer.
The government offered a one off payment of £1,000 for the current school year and an average 4.5% pay rise for next year.
Courtney told the PA news agency, “At that stage that would be just the NEU. All the unions are balloting, we are re-balloting, but the timescales that that will lead to will be the autumn term.
“But we want the Government to settle this before the autumn term, so we want to maintain pressure on the Government before the autumn term.”
The Foreign Secretary told LBC Radio: “The best way of minimising disruption to students is for those teachers to be in the classrooms.
“Many, many students have had a very, very disrupted last couple of years because of Covid and I think everything we can do to help them start their lives better through education is really, really important.”
A DfE spokesperson said: “For unions to co-ordinate strike action with the aim of causing maximum disruption to schools is unreasonable and disproportionate, especially given the impact the pandemic has already had on students’ learning.
“Children’s education has always been our absolute priority and they should be in classrooms where they belong.
“We have made a fair and reasonable teacher pay offer to the unions, which recognises teachers’ hard work and commitment as well as delivering at additional £2 billion in funding for schools, which they asked for.”
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