Members of the National Education Union (NEU) will debate a motion calling for national industrial action in pursuit of a 鈥渘ational contract鈥 for all school staff. At present, only local authority maintained schools have to follow the statutory school teachers鈥 pay and conditions document and observe national teacher pay scales. Academies can set their own pay and conditions, though many replicate the national approach. Delegates at the NEU鈥檚 annual conference in Bournemouth next week will debate a motion which, if passed, would instruct its executive to 鈥渄raw up and plan to build for national ballots for industrial action鈥 to win a “national contract”, which would be binding on all schools. The plan should 鈥渄raw on the lessons from the 2022-23 pay campaign鈥, which saw NEU members take several days of strike action over the government鈥檚 initial pay offer. It would involve drawing up a 鈥渢imetable for action, aimed at winning a new national contract鈥y September 2025鈥. If passed, the motion would also call for action to remove the clause in the school teachers鈥 pay and conditions document that states teachers 鈥渕ust work such reasonable additional hours as may be necessary to enable the effective discharge of the teacher鈥檚 professional duties鈥. It comes after the government鈥檚 Working Lives of Teachers survey found full-time teachers鈥 average hours were 52.4 per week last year, up from 51.9 in 2022, despite a push to reduce workload by government. ‘We’re very much in a negative spiral’ Daniel Kebede, the NEU鈥檚 general secretary, told journalists this morning of 鈥渕assive discontent鈥 in the profession. 鈥淎ll of our surveys at the moment are highlighting that workload remains a critical issue. It鈥檚 not even just the number of hours at the moment that is causing great concern, it鈥檚 the intensity of the work that鈥檚 being fuelled by pupil need coming out of the pandemic but also being fuelled by the crisis in recruitment and retention. Daniel Kebede 鈥淲e鈥檙e very much in a negative spiral at the moment. Teachers and school staff are leaving the profession. That creates an increased workload on colleagues and then more leave. We do need quite a radical shift, and yes, I can imagine [this motion] passing and being committed to a national campaign on workload.鈥 The motion states that national action on pay 鈥渉as shown that, with a clear national lead and determined organisation by workplace reps and local officers, the union is able to go beyond workplace disputes to build unified campaigns aimed at winning unified gains for our members鈥. 鈥淭he union should now put in place an industrial action strategy to win our policy for the 鈥榞overnment to negotiate a national contract for education, binding on all employers.鈥 This would include removing the clause in the school teachers pay and conditions document that 鈥渁 teacher must work such reasonable additional hours as may be necessary to enable effective discharge of a teacher鈥檚 professional duties鈥. ‘Lessons from 2023 pay campaign’ If passed, the motion would instruct the NEU鈥檚 executive to seek negotiations on such a contract, and 鈥渄raw up and enact a plan to build for national ballots for industrial action to win a national contract, drawing on lessons from the 2022-23 pay campaign鈥. It would also instruct the executive to approach other unions to seek their support, and 鈥減repare a timetable for action, aimed at winning a new national contract for education by September 2025鈥. But delegates may also debate a motion with more immediate steps on pay. The union鈥檚 closes this Thursday. It asked members if they would vote for strike action for a 鈥渇ully funded, above-inflation pay rise鈥. The union鈥檚 executive will hold a special meeting at the beginning of conference to decide its next steps, and 鈥渕ay decide to place a special motion on the issue of pay鈥, Kebede said today. He added it would be 鈥渞emiss of me to give you too much of a heads-up on what the indicative ballot says now鈥, but 鈥渨hat I would say is that it does highlight discontent amongst the profession鈥. A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies today warned teachers鈥 pay was 9 per cent lower in real terms last year than in 2010, worse than every public sector worker except doctors, and far worse than private sector workers, who are 3.9 per cent better-off. Unions fear below-inflation pay rise The NEU and the NASUWT teaching union, which will hold its conference this weekend, have both conducted preliminary ballots amid fears the government is gearing up to deliver a below-inflation pay rise from September. Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, told the School Teachers鈥 Review Body that pay rises should return to a 鈥渕ore sustainable level鈥 than seen in the last two years. The Department for Education has said it believes there is only headroom in budgets for the next financial year for schools to raise overall spending by 1.2 per cent, or 拢600 million. Ministers have previously estimated that each 1 percentage point increase in teacher pay costs about 拢270 million 鈥 meaning the headroom would only allow for a pay rise of around 2 per cent.