National Education Union members who teach in sixth form colleges have voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking strike action in their dispute over pay and funding. Members across 40 colleges were balloted, achieving a 62% turnout overall and a 97% vote in favour of action.
Whilst academised sixth form colleges have been guaranteed funding to implement the same 5.5% pay award as offered to school teachers, this has not been the case for non-academised sixth form colleges. The Department for Education has yet to clarify whether the additional funding for further education announced in the budget, including for sixth form colleges, can be utilised for staff pay.
Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“NEU sixth form college teachers have shown that they will fight for a fair pay award for all colleges. We are in dispute due to the baffling decision by the Government to offer an above-inflation pay award to some sixth form colleges and not others. This choice fundamentally undermines our existing national collective bargaining arrangement within the sixth form college sector and risks the creation of a two-tier workforce.
“The recent additional funding awarded to further education, including sixth form colleges, should properly be spent on staff pay and we are seeking urgent clarification from the DfE that they will confirm that colleges may do so. We have been disappointed by the failure of the Government to resolve this frankly unnecessary dispute, particularly when we have taken every step to explain the distinctive nature of sixth form colleges relative to the schools sector, and the importance of maintaining the integrity of existing collective bargaining arrangements.
“Our strong ballot result demonstrates that members will not hesitate to take strike action if this farcical situation is not put right.”
Editor’s Note
A total of 40 sixth form college employers were initially balloted on a disaggregated basis, with one college later withdrawn (Blackpool Sixth Form College).
The 32 sixth form colleges balloted that passed the threshold, are as follows:
Aquinas College (Stockport)
Barton Peveril Sixth Form College (Eastleigh)
Bolton Sixth Form College
Brighton Hove and Sussex Sixth Form College
Cardinal Newman College (Preston)
Christ The King Sixth Form College (Lewisham)
Christ The King Sixth Form College Aquinas
Capital City College – Angel (Islington)
Greenhead College (Huddersfield)
Henley College
Hills Road Sixth Form College (Cambridge)
Holy Cross College (Bury)
Itchen College (Southampton)
Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College (Birmingham)
Leyton Sixth Form College
Loreto College (Manchester)
Luton Sixth Form College
Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College (Leeds)
Peter Symonds College (Winchester)
Richard Collyer, The College of (Horsham)
Scarborough Sixth Form College
Shrewsbury Colleges Group
Sir George Monoux College (Walthamstow)
St Brendan's Sixth Form College (Bristol)
St Charles Catholic Sixth Form College (Kensington)
St Francis Xavier Sixth Form College (Clapham)
St John Rigby RC Sixth Form College (Wigan)
Varndean College (Brighton)
Wilberforce College (Hull)
Winstanley College (Wigan)
WQE and Regent College Group (Leicester)
Wyke Sixth Form College
Xaverian College (Manchester)