Winchester: Sixth Form college staff join wave of strikes

College staff Peter Symonds College in Winchester went on strike on Wednesday

Teachers at a sixth-form college in Winchester are among those across England staging a one-day strike.

The walk out is being held by National Education Union (NEU) members who work in 77 sixth form colleges in England.

Those outside Peter Symonds College in Winchester said they were on the picket line after reaching "breaking point" over inadequate funding.

They are calling for a pay rise but say it has to be funded by the government and not from college budgets.

Anna Whitt

Anna Whitt a Spanish teacher at the college said: "The issue is with the government... the sixth form college sector needs to be funded properly.

"The college is already absolutely at breaking point in terms of funding and we can't afford another round of cuts.

"The decision to go on strike is always a hard one, it's never been harder, we know our students have lost a lot because of the pandemic but we also know without this sort of action they are going to lose a huge lot more."

The union said they have suffered a real-terms pay cut of an estimated 20% since 2010.

Graham Childs, a teacher at the college and an NEU representative said: "Teachers are having to make use of food banks and many have not been able to make it to the picket line because they are worried about the cost of petrol.

"We're calling for a properly funded pay rise but it has to be funded by the government."

NEU representative, Graham Childs, said many teachers were having to use food bank to make ends meet

He added: "Everything that's being offered isn't being funded by the government so it would be coming out of existing budgets."

In a statement the Department for Education said: "It is for individual colleges, including Sixth Form Colleges, to set pay for their staff.

"We are investing an extra £1.6 billion in 16-19 education and training in 2024-5, compared to 2021-22. This includes an up-front cash boost which will see the rate of funding per student boosted by over 8% in 2022-23, including for Sixth Form Colleges.

"We are considering funding for colleges for the coming academic year (2023-24) and will announce details in due course."