By Rebecca McGirr
STRIKE action is set to continue from next Monday as the NASUWT teaching union said it will begin action short of strike in schools across the North. The move was detailed in a letter to school principals.
The current industrial action which comes after teaching unions rejected a pay offer from the teaching employers, is already affecting education services including Education Authority (EA) buses as well as bin collections and maintenance of Housing Executive properties.
The principal of Willowbridge Special School in Enniskillen said that two of their EA buses were being affected which meant that 11 parents had to transport their children to school.
In the letter obtained by BBC NI it listed 20 different actions and duties that NASUWT teachers will not carry out in schools from Monday 9th May.
Among these were, they will not cooperate with any school inspections or “attend more than one parents’ evening.”
They will also “not attend more than one meeting each month outside pupil session times” or “undertake invigilation of public examinations.”
The NASUWT also said teachers would not respond to work text messages or emails outside school hours or during lunch.
As part of the action, teachers will also not collect money from pupils for school activities, carry out bulk photocopying or cover for staff absence apart from under specific circumstances.
Extra- curricular activities could also be affected, but NASUWT said teachers could still organise sports teams, music or drama productions and other clubs if they had volunteered to do so.
Separately the NAHT union, which represents many school leaders has warned that the NASUWT action “will seriously curtail activities and development across our schools.”
In an open letter to the permanent secretary at the Department of Education (DE), the NAHT said “a fair pay settlement must be pursued with urgency.”
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