The Education Minister says he is ’saddened’ that a teaching union is to resume industrial action when the new school year begins next week.

School leaders union the NAHT has served notice to the Department of Education, Sport and Culture (DESC) that it will begin action short of a strike from midnight on Monday (September 7).

The union insisted it is taking its action as a ’last resort’ after talks failed to reach an agreement in the long-running dispute over pay and conditions.

Education Minister Alex Allinson urged teachers not to bring further disruption to children’s education.

He said: ’I was saddened to receive a letter from the UK-based general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers announcing the continuation of industrial action into the new academic year.

’This industrial action is in support of a disputed pay settlement in 2018 where new starters were awarded a bigger increase than more senior teachers.

’At a time when all our attention is on reopening schools and keeping them safe for pupils and staff, such action will interfere with the efficient running of schools and threaten education standards.’

This year the starting pay of a new teacher has been increased by 5.5% and higher paid teachers have received an increase of 2.75% fully funded by the department.

Dr Allinson said the union has given its Isle of Man members a long list of optional actions they might wish to take.

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This includes refusing to produce head teachers’ reports for governors’ meetings, not attending meetings, refusing to introduce new initiatives and programmes into schools, not engaging in appraisals and not submitting any analysis of assessment data to the department.

He added: ’The department remains committed to reaching a fair and just settlement with all the unions who represent teachers on the island and looks forward to the resumption of negotiations later this month.

’I ask all local teachers to work with government to ensure that our children’s education is not further disrupted by the viral pandemic.’

Industrial action was put on hold when the Covid-19 pandemic struck back in March. It remained paused following the full re-opening of schools while talks between DESC and the trade unions took place last month.

Rob Kelsall, NAHT national secretary, claimed the government has no appetite to resolve the dispute. ’We only take industrial action as a last resort, and the action our members will be taking is designed to have maximum impact on DESC, not pupils and families,’ he insisted.

NAHT members voted overwhelmingly in support of industrial action in a ballot earlier this year.

Giving evidence to a Tynwald committee in June, DESC chief executive Ronald Barr blamed the ongoing industrial dispute for the disparity in remote learning during the lockdown.

His comments, described by the unions as ’grievously inaccurate’, prompted an investigation and an apology from the Minister.