October 1 - Teachers answer Gove with action

Leicester (Credit: Heather Rawling)

Reports are coming in from across the Midlands, Eastern England, Yorkshire and Humberside of a strong and determined response to today's regional NUT/NASUWT strike action. 

This success, based on teachers' seething anger at Gove's attacks, will build further support for the last of the regional strikes in London, the South and the North-East on October 17 - and then for the national strike planned for November.

Cambridge (Credit: Heather McKenzie)

As Roy Bowser, the NUT Executive member from Barnsley reported from the Sheffield rally: "This was the best rally I've seen in years - must have been near to 2000 ... This bodes well for November not least because I think the turn-out far exceeded expectations".

Nottingham (Credit: John Illingworth)

Patrick Murphy, NUT Executive member from Leeds reported on similar numbers at their rally. Around 1000 marched in Nottingham. Rallies also took place in Leicester, Cambridge, Luton and Birmingham. 

Gove's policies are damaging education

On the day of the strike, and on the day of Michael Gove's speech to Conservative Party Conference, the Times also carried a front page article on the complaint from Carol-Ann Duffy, Malorie Blackman, and many more authors and academics that pupils are 'being damaged by endless tests set by Gove'.

Leeds (Credit: Patrick Murphy)

They wrote: "Competition between children through incessant testing and labelling results is a public sense of failure for the vast majority ... These damaging developments must stop. If they go ahead there will be devastating consequences for children's mental health, for future opportunities and, most importantly, for the quality of childhood itself".

Birmingham ( Credit: Nicky Downes )

Of course, now that those tests can also be used to determine if a teacher gets a pay-rise, then that stress and damage will be even worse. That's one reason why many parents will be backing teachers - and blaming Gove for the disruption caused not just by today's strike - but right through the year because of Gove's damaging policies.

June 27 was solidly supported in the North-West. October 1st has been solidly supported too and, this time, news of the action has broken through into the national media as well. So now let's build October 17 in the South and then LET'S ALL STRIKE TOGETHER IN NOVEMBER !