WEDNESDAY MAY 29 - SCHOOL CLOSED

We greatly appreciate the community support that we have already received following the decision by teachers and principals to strike on Wednesday 29 May.

The decision to take further strike action was not taken lightly by any of us. For the first time, both primary and secondary teachers are striking together because the crisis in education hits us all very hard and we need the Government to understand how serious it is.

The four main issues are:

- the crisis in education, including teacher and principal recruitment and retention issues

- time and workload and lack of support for children with additional learning needs

- issues with salary and relativities

- career development

The fact is that teaching is no longer considered an attractive profession due to long-term under-funding of the education sector. A significant pay jolt is part of the solution, alongside significant improvements to our heavy workloads. Otherwise our schools will end up with larger class sizes and more teachers leaving.

We will advise of further details when they are confirmed.