Teachers across East Devon will be joining another day of industrial action tomorrow (Thursday, March 2).

It’s part of the National Education Union’s ongoing dispute with the Government over teachers’ pay and school funding.

There will be early morning picket lines at schools including Exmouth Community College, Sidmouth College and the King’s School in Ottery St Mary. The King’s School will be open only to Year 12 and Year 13 students, and Withycombe Raleigh Primary in Exmouth will also be partially closed.

Many teachers and other school staff will then be joining a regional rally and march in Plymouth, starting at 11am.

Mike Gurney, a teacher and the joint branch secretary of the NEU in Devon, said: “I would like to apologise to parents and pupils across Devon whose schools are disrupted as result of this action, which is the direct responsibility of the Government.

“The public needs to appreciate that schools are in crisis and pupils’ education is suffering every day because of the Government's failure to tackle pay and teacher recruitment in schools. Not enough teachers are being recruited and many are leaving for easier and better paid jobs elsewhere.

“It means there is a recruitment crisis with exam classes being taught by non-specialists and schools struggling day in and day out to staff classes. We cannot go on like this. The Government needs to sit down and talk properly to its teachers about resolving these issues and they need to do this as a matter of urgency so we can all get back to what we do best, which is teaching in the classroom.”

The NEU said the Government recently claimed it wanted to talk with the NEU to resolve the dispute, but brought nothing to the negotiating table to facilitate this. The Department for Education (DfE) said it was willing to 'move into formal talks on pay, conditions and reform', but only if the NEU called off tomorrow's strike action.The National Executive will not endorse the suspension of action until a serious offer is made by the Government to move the situation forwards.

The NEU is planning further strikes across England and Wales on Wednesday, March 15 and Thursday 16, and Devon members says will be continuing with their strike action to show their support for the campaign.