Teacher strikes: Will schools close in Wales?

Nine out of 10 teacher members of the National Education Union (NEU) voted in favour of industrial action, passing the 50 per cent ballot turned out required by law.

There will be seven days of walkouts in February and March, according to the largest education union in the UK.

The strikes will begin on February 1 with more than 23,000 schools in Wales and England affected.

Nine out of ten teacher members voted to strike in the pay dispute (PA) (Image: PA)

Will schools close as Welsh teachers vote to strike?

Any individual school will only be affected by four of the days since the strikes will be split over regions, according to the NEU.

However, most state schools across the two countries will have to close on the strike days, the Observer was told ahead of the vote.

When are teachers striking in Wales?

All eligible NEU members in Wales and England are to strike on February 1 and 2 as well as March 15 and 16.

More than 300,000 teachers and support staff were asked to vote in the ballot.

READ MORE: Thousands of teachers in England and Wales vote to strike over pay: See which dates

The ballot results, which were announced at 5pm on Monday, came after Downing Street urged teachers not to strike and inflict “substantial damage” to children’s education.

🚨 The results are in! 🚨

In our ballot, @NEUnion members voted in overwhelming numbers to take historic strike action for a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise. We have to save our schools.

— National Education Union (@NEUnion) January 16, 2023

The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “We would continue to call on teachers not to strike given we know what substantial damage was caused to children’s education during the pandemic and it’s certainly not something we want to see repeated.

“We would hope they would continue to discuss with us their concerns rather than withdraw education from children.”

A vote to go on strike shows teachers are not prepared to “stand by” and see the education service “sacrificed” due to “a toxic mix of low pay and excessive workload”, the NEU said.

During an online briefing as the ballot results were announced, Kevin Courtney, joint NEU general secretary, said: “The England teacher ballot result alone is the biggest ballot result of any union in recent times.

“The government needs to listen, these are big votes for strike action.”

Mary Bousted, joint NEU general secretary, said the results show “the Government that the NEU members will not stand by and see the education service they work so hard for and they care for so much be sacrificed because teachers and support staff are being driven from the profession they love because of a toxic mix of low pay and excessive workload”.