Watch more of our videos on Shots!
and live on Freeview channel 276

Teachers from Nottinghamshire have joined colleagues from across England in voting for strike action.

About 300,000 teachers and support staff members in England and Wales who are members of the National Education Union were balloted for action – with 90.4 per cent voting in favour of strike action, it was revealed this evening

However, whether this means schools will be closing has not been confirmed as the Department for Education has said headteachers will be expected to take “all reasonable steps” to keep schools open for as many pupils as possible during strike action.

The Government has offered teachers a 5 per cent rise, but the unions say teachers pay has actually fallen by 23 per cent over the past 10 years.

Teachers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action next month. Photo: Getty

And one Nottinghamshire union official said some teachers are now saying they’d be better off working at Lidl, because the pay was better.

Teachers in Nottinghamshire will be on strike on February 1 and March 1, 15 and 16.

Three of those dates are national strikes, when all teachers across England and Wales will be taking industrial action, while the March 1 date will see regional strikes across the Midlands and east.

Teacher vacancies at Nottinghamshire schools rose significantly last year

Nick Raine, NEU senior regional officer for Nottinghamshire, said: “People will question this action, but just look at the numbers, it’s overwhelming.

“I know it’s a cliché, but our members don’t take strike action lightly and we hope they will now get around the table with us to resolve this because we are are crisis point.

“The Government’s missed its recruitment figures every year, there are record numbers of teachers leaving the profession, class sizes are their biggest for 20 years and the current pay offer is not Government funded, it’s coming out of school budgets.

"It’s led to redundancies, bigger classes and specialist teachers leaving and it’s not on.

"The Government’s pay offer is nothing when you factor in the cost of living.

"For example, childcare costs have doubled in the last three years, there are energy bills, younger teachers have student debt and some teachers are now saying it’s better to work in Lidl as they’ll get paid more.”

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan is expected to hold talks with union officials this week about averting the strikes.

Nottinghamshire teachers overwhelmingly vote to go on strike