'Pay up!' - Shrewsbury college teachers call for salary increase to match academies

They stood holding placards saying: “Pay up. Sixth form colleges demand pay justice!”

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson awarded teachers in primary and secondary schools an above-inflation pay deal in September, as recommended by the pay review body - with an additional £1.2bn given by the government to help fund the increase.

However, while academy sixth form colleges have been included within the government’s guaranteed funding for the 5.5% pay rise, this has not been the case for non-academy institutes.

More than 2,000 members working in non-academy sixth form colleges across England are calling on the government to ensure they receive an above-inflation pay award consistent with the rest of the profession.

National Education Union rep John Boken said the strike action was met with positivity from the public, but said the college blocked a meeting organise the proceedings on site this week.

He told the Shropshire Star: “It was unbelievably cold but we had positive nods from the public.

“People were beeping their car horns and people stopped to engage with us and show their support.

“Hopefully the government will see we’ve got two more dates of action and start looking at how they can help.

"The only issue we had was we tried to have a meeting to organise everything the day before but the college blocked it. I don't know why."

“I think it’s going to be an interesting one, but I’m hopeful because I’m always hopeful,” he added.

“This is an unknown because we haven’t lobbied against the Department of Education under this government before. “They were very good with junior doctors in giving them a pay increase.

“If it was against the Tories I’d have a better idea of how it might go.

A Shrewsbury College spokesman said: "‘Shrewsbury Colleges Group broadly supports increasing teacher and support staff pay, but we do not believe that industrial action is the most appropriate response to the Department of Education.

"The college took steps to ensure that the strike action had minimal impact on our students’ learning."

"We received a request from the NEU to hold a meeting on Tuesday on the college campus to plan the strike action. However, we felt it would be inappropriate for the meeting to occur on the college’s grounds, so we asked the union to hold the meeting off-site instead."

Many students are currently preparing for exams or GCSE resits, but colleges say they are putting measures in place to prevent any serious disruption.

Shrewsbury College is one of 32 institutes up and down the country where teachers are getting involved in the strikes, with NEU members in colleges in Manchester, Hull, London, Leeds, Birmingham and Bristol also taking part in the industrial action.

A rally also took place outside the Department for Education, in London.

There are another two strike dates next week, on Tuesday, December 3 and Wednesday, December 4.