Some schools around Beverley were closed last Wednesday as East Riding teachers held their first day of strike action, in a dispute over pay.
Members of the National Education Union left their classrooms and held picket lines outside schools, before heading to Beverley for a demonstration and march through the town centre.
NEU joint secretary for East Yorkshire, Steve Scott, said: “We were really impressed with the turnout. By our rough calculations, we had just under 250 teachers joining us in Beverley.
“We had a large contingent from Driffield School, the Bridlington schools and obviously the Beverley schools, because we were marching in Beverley.
“But we had teachers from all over the East Riding. Our membership is about 60 per cent primary school teachers, but whether this was reflected in the numbers there, we don’t know.”
Mr Scott said the response from the public had been broadly positive.
He said: “You never know how it’s going to go, but at the demonstration, on the march and on social media, most of the people engaging with us have done so in a positive way.
“Teachers are wanting a pay rise to make up for the last 15 years of real terms pay cuts. But most importantly to our members, our core message is that the pay rise needs to be funded by the government.
“Currently, it is coming out of school budgets, which are already overstretched, and it means schools will be left with not enough glue sticks, not enough books, or more likely redundancies for teaching assistants.”
Mr Scott said that teachers understood the frustrations of some parents, who had to find childcare or take time off work themselves because their children’s school had closed for the day.
“We apologised for the disruption caused but explained that their children’s education is being disrupted every day.
“One in eight children are being taught maths by someone who doesn’t have an A-Level in maths. We know there are classes who haven’t had a teacher this year, just supplies and covers.
“Every day, kids are having their education damaged, so we feel that one day of action to safeguard their education is justified.”
Another day of action is planned for 28th February, when teachers are planning to head to Leeds for a regional demonstration, with further strikes scheduled for 15th and 16th March.
