Aspire People, the specialist education recruiters who supply over 200 teachers to schools across Birmingham, the Black Country, Warwickshire and Worcestershire are preparing for an unusually quiet workday this Thursday, when members of the National Union of Teachers will hold their first national stoppage for more than 20 years.
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ìIt will be a strange feeling at 8am when the office is usually at its busiestî muses Kay Powell, one of the companyís directors, ìbut ultimately this is an industry-wide event and there is nothing we can do to influence it. As recruiters, we work hard to secure the best pay and conditions for teachers; but as a company our philosophy is to focus on pupils, so we are sad to see strike action which will undoubtedly disrupt children's learning.
Louise Breheny, who co-founded Aspire People four years ago, says that education recruiters will suffer from the strike action. ìSchools are not allowed to hire supply staff in order to cover for teachers who are taking industrial action, so it will certainly be a case of less work for us rather than more during the strike. Some schools will be forced to close, and that will inevitably mean fewer opportunities for us to place teachers on Thursday.î
ìThat said, we supply qualified teachers who are as likely to be union members as those who are working permanently in schools, so there will be fewer supply teachers looking for work on that day anyway. Hopefully it will give us a chance to take things a little bit easier than usual, and maybe take the staff out for lunch to celebrate our recent Work Life Balance Award.î
The NUT wants an increase on the 2.45% pay rise for 2008 to take it above inflation.
Aspire People are preparing for an unusually quiet workday today
Members of the National Union of Teachers will hold their first national stoppage for more than 20 years.
