Teachers at Horsham's Collyer's College in 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. They are angry that

Government funding for a teacher pay award of 5.5 per cent has not been given to sixth form colleges.

Horsham NEU picket leader Neil Kendall said that Collyer’s staff were taking part in the strike action ‘reluctantly’ but said that the dispute undermined collective bargaining and ‘threatened to pit school against school.’

“This is only the second time Collyer’s staff have picketed in the last 15 years. We love our college and we love our local community, both of who have shown us unwavering support,” he said.

"We are appalled by this deliberate attempt to starve off funding from one of our most successful sectors of education. Sixth Form Colleges regularly outperform their private equivalent, for only a fraction of the cost.”

He added that not only would sixth form staff be out of pocket but it created ‘a two tier education system.’

Another striking teacher queried: “How do you agree a pay deal with teachers but manage to forget Sixth Form and Catholic schools? Either the Chancellor has no idea how budgets work or the School’s Minister is clueless.”

Neil acknowledged that Collyer’s staff had been shown support by local Lib Dem MPs with questions raised in the House of Commons. He hoped that an Adjournment Debate, scheduled for Monday January 13, would “help the Government to see sense and step back from a self-inflicted error.”