MEMBERS of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) are walking out on strike today (Tuesday, July 5, 2016) across the country.

Here are five reasons as stated by the NUT why more than 9-1 of its members voted in favour of industrial action:

1. The government’s priorities are wrong. They are focused on making schools academies at any cost. Education is in crisis and teachers’ terms and conditions are threatened because of this.

2. Education funding is being cut in real terms (the funding was ‘frozen’ at last year’s level but employers must pay more for National Insurance and pension contributions.)

3. This effective funding cut is affecting schools’ abilities to maintain staff levels, leading to increased class sizes and redundancies. Other teachers’ are asked to cover this shortfall in staffing.

4. The curriculum is being squeezed to address league tables and creative subjects such as art, music and drama are being drastically cut or abandoned altogether. This does our children a huge dis-service and threatens many teaching jobs.

5. The academisation of all schools will lead to the abandonment of nationally agreed pay and conditions.