‘I’m spending £400 to £500 just on my class’ - teachers in Bristol on why they are striking

A striking teacher says she's forced to spend £500 a year from her own pocket on kit for her pupils - and her class is currently sharing four gluesticks. Emily Plummer, 26, is a year two teacher of four years from Kingswood.

Standing out outside Filton Avenue Primary School, she joined dozens of teachers taking part in the National Education Union walkout over pay, which has resulted in many schools across the city closing.

The pay, the union says, is leading to staff shortages. Ms Plummer said that at her school had one teaching assistant covering four classes. She said: "My class has a part time teaching assistant and I have a high level of need - 26 kids and it's just me as she only works mornings.

"That means I'm rushing around trying to sort different worksheets - I've got to plan four different worksheets [per lesson]. That means in the afternoons especially I'm walking around constantly in an hour lesson trying to meet the needs of everyone.

"The children are looking at me saying they need help or they don't understand and it means our lessons are really rushed - there's no time to just to rest and reflect on what we're learning.

She added: “The school has no resources. You put a requisition in for resources and you have to think, 'can you even do this activity'? You have to change plan. I think I've got four gluesticks in my classroom, so it's about 'pass me, share'."

"I'm very lucky as I've just trained and don't have children. I'm spending £400 to £500 just on my class and that's coming out of my pocket - just on my own, out of my wages.”

Asked what her message to the government would be, she said: "They go on about how valuable education is and how priceless it is - if it's so priceless why aren't you spending more money?

"If you value it, fund it. If you want it to be the best education system in the world, you need to put money in it because we need money to keep going."

At City Academy, Tom Bolton, a history teacher at Blaise High School in Henbury, said teachers are “really not asking for much”. The joint branch district secretary of the city’s NEU (National Education Union) said colleagues were earning just over £20,000 a year.

He said: “Specifically we’re out on pay for teachers and support staff because a below inflation pay rise is a real time pay cut - so that is really not asking for much. In real terms, support staff have lost 23% pay since 2010. Pay in education is a scandal.

“The reason that matters to parents, teachers, grandparents is retention. One in three teachers are leaving because they realise they can work better elsewhere for better pay so people are leaving and we’re not getting the new recruits in elsewhere.”

He added: “The pressure in your head is ‘can I pay the rent? Can I pay the mortgage? How much is a payment on my car going to cost?’ You can’t do your best for the kids with that going on.

“There’s this idea that teaching is vocational, but many of us are parents ourselves - we’re worrying about nursery fees, food and pressures with the cost of living. My son is four. The way to think about it is he’s a child in school in 2023 - if he was a child in school in 2009/10 he would have 9% more spent on his education.

“That’s the bottom line. What the government is saying to me, as a parent, is that my child is worth 9% less than a child in 2010.”