School impact of Unite strike 'concerning', says Department of Education

Unite workers went on strike in a dispute over pay last month

Stormont's Department of Education has said it is extremely concerned that some pupils will be unable to attend school due to upcoming strike action.

Members of the Unite union are planning to strike for almost two weeks after the Easter break.

The Education Authority has been notified of action from 26 April to 1 May and from 3 May to 8 May.

The strike is expected to disrupt school transport, meal services and the availability of classroom assistants.

The department has written a letter to schools outlining its response, including that most schools should stay open and provide face-to-face teaching during the strike.

It also said it believes the vast majority of parents will be able to put in place alternative transport so pupils can attend.

However, it added that not all pupils may be able to get to school, "including some of our most vulnerable children and young people".

"We would, therefore, strongly encourage schools wherever possible to provide remote learning materials to individual pupils unable to access school due to transport disruption," it said.

The department added that it understands special schools are likely to face "unique challenges during this period given the level of classroom assistants within school and the high level of transport provision engaged for their pupils".

"We appreciate that for some special schools, a move towards remote learning for individual pupils, classes and schools will have to be considered on a localised basis."

Strikes at Translink from Monday 25 April could also cause significant disruption

The letter stresses however that "it is extremely important that we maximise face-to-face teaching for pupils".

Members of Unite were previously on strike in March over a local government pay offer of 1.75%.

The union called it a "real-terms pay cut".

The cost of living has been surging due to rising fuel, energy and food costs.

Previously, one special school - Glenveagh in Belfast - could not offer face-to-face teaching to pupils as almost all of its classroom assistants were on strike.

It is not yet clear if the school will be able to open for pupils to attend after Easter.

Special schools are particularly affected by the unavailability of Education Authority transport as they rely heavily on the so-called "yellow buses".

The Education Authority said they would "request exemptions for special school classroom assistant staff, and for drivers transporting pupils to special schools," but these have not previously been agreed by Unite.

It also said that a strike at Translink by the Unite and GMB unions due to take place from Monday, 25 April would also cause significant disruption to school transport.

Exam time

One school principal in County Fermanagh predicted that the lack of transport would cause the most problems for his students.

Principal Gary Kelly said the strike was happening very close to GCSE and A-Level exams

"Around 70% of our pupils travel to school by buses, mainly Education Authority buses and if they're not going to be on on the 25th of April that's going to cause significant disruption," said Gary Kelly, principal of St Kevin's College in Lisnaskea.

"There's two choices, I suppose, for parents - they transport the child into school themselves, or the child doesn't come to school."

Mr Kelly told the BBCs' Good Morning Ulster programme that although schools could organise remote lessons for pupils who had no means of getting to class,"online learning is not the same as face-to-face learning".

The headmaster said the industrial action was happening "at a bad time" as students are due to take their GCSE and A-Level exams in just four weeks' time.

He pointed out that this meant more upheaval for many pupils who have already faced years of disruption to their education because of the pandemic.

However, Mr Kelly said: "Our bus drivers and our classroom assistants are very valuable members of our school and we do respect them and we do think they are paid a very low wage and we think they deserve a pay rise, there's no question about that."

He told the programme that they were among many low-paid workers who were struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and he called on politicians to take action.

"We need to solve this really, really quickly or else children's futures are going to be seriously damaged."

Full timetable for strike action

• 25 April-1 May and 3 May-8 May: Staff at the NI Housing Executive; nine councils (Antrim and Newtownabbey; Armagh, Banbridge & Craigavon; Causeway Coast & Glens; Mid & East Antrim; Belfast City; Derry City & Strabane; Fermanagh & Omagh; Lisburn & Castlereagh; and Mid-Ulster); and three further education colleges (North West Regional College; Belfast Metropolitan College; South Eastern Regional College)

• 26 April-1 May and 3 May-8 May: Staff at Lumen Christi College in Londonderry

• 3 May-15 May: Staff at Ards & North Down Borough Council

• 6 May: Staff at Newry, Mourne and Down District Council