Teachers at Collyer's College in Horsham to strike over pay

The teachers, members of the National Education Union, are among others at sixth form colleges in the south east taking part in the action. As well as tomorrow, other strikes will take place on December 3 and December 4.

A union spokesperson said: “The NEU represents most staff at the colleges and has won a resounding vote in favour of strike action by its members who teach in sixth form colleges across England.

"Teachers at the colleges will join colleagues across 32 colleges around the country whose colleges face cuts to their pay and funding in comparison to maintained schools. This follows the anomaly that funding for the teacher pay award of 5.5 per cent has not been given to sixth form colleges.

"This means that colleges who have seen their funding cut in real terms year after year, will either be unable to fund the same pay rise as other teachers or face unacceptable cuts to their budgets.”

NEU south east spokesman Nick Childs said: “No teacher strikes lightly. NEU members at sixth form colleges are dedicated to their students and the community they serve.

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"The National Education Union has made every effort to resolve this dispute, and we call upon the Secretary of State to rectify this injustice where non-academised sixth form colleges and their teachers are treated unfairly in comparison with colleges in maintained schools and academised colleges.

“The new government has rightly recognised that education funding and teacher pay have been eroded for years and that this has led to a crisis in teacher retention, larger class sizes and fewer resources for students. The colleges in the south east taking action are seven of 40 sixth form colleges who have been disadvantaged. Our region deserves better.”