I am disappointed that the National Union of Teachers has chosen the path of disruption over negotiation and discussion. I believe this strike action is unnecessary and counterproductive – it will harm children's education, inconvenience parents and damage the profession's reputation in the eyes of the public.
We are already in regular and constructive talks with the NUT and, as I said when I attended the first meeting in May, I am committed to these talks and firmly hope that they will be meaningful and productive. Rather than playing politics with children's futures over the issue of pay and conditions, I urged the NUT to reconsider this damaging industrial action. Instead we should all be focused on giving children the best start in life and spreading educational excellence everywhere.
It has been clearly outlined in our conversations that the removal of unnecessary workload for teachers is a priority for this government , and our extensive work with the NUT, along with the wider profession, is helping to ensure that teachers can concentrate on what they do best.
The NUT has said that the Government has the wrong priorities for teachers, schools and children. To suggest we aren't prioritising school funding is disingenuous; the significance we place on education is demonstrated by the fact that we are investing more than any previous government on our schools. This year the schools budget will total around £40billion, an increase of around £4billion since 2011-12, so it is now the highest it has ever been. Additionally, the schools budget has been protected in real terms going forward. At a time when other areas of spending are having to be reduced in order to control the public finances, education has rightly been protected, reflecting precisely where our priorities lie.
It is also disappointing that the underpinning basis for this strike seems to be teacher pay. Average teacher pay is £37,800. Last week's school workforce figures showed that teaching continues to be an attractive career with more teachers in our schools than ever before – 15,000 more since 2010 – demonstrating how many people relish the prospect of a career where they can transform lives every day.
Under the academy system, schools have more flexibility to reward teachers for their hard work, allowing them to keep their best staff and recruit the brightest talent. We remain committed to our vision for an academy-run system where the best school leaders are free to innovate and run their schools how they choose. This commitment is fully funded. Taking the Spending Review and the Budget together, we have set aside the funding to support a high quality, school system where every school is an academy. Overall, we have made £600 million available in this Parliament to build capacity – including recruiting excellent sponsors and encouraging the development of strong multi-academy trusts.
Teachers are integral to our vision of delivering educational excellence everywhere and, thanks to their hard work, over 1.4 million more children are in good or outstanding schools than in August 2010. We will always listen and discuss legitimate concerns within the sector and try to resolve them as quickly and fairly as possible.