A teachers’ union has opened a ballot of its members in the island for potential industrial action over pay, workload and working practices.

NASUWT’s ballot, which opened last week and closes on April 4, asks members if they would be willing to take both strike action and action short of strike action over an unacceptable pay offer for 2021/22 and the failure of ministers to tackle the adverse working practices which are driving up teachers’ workloads to an unsustainable level.

Ministers have tabled a pay offer for 2021/22 which seeks to implement the same pay freeze imposed on teachers in England, with a consolidated payment of 2% backdated to 1 September 2021, payable as an Isle of Man weighting.

This offer ‘does not come close’ to addressing the current rate of inflation or tackling the year-on-year real terms erosion of teachers’ salaries, according to NASUWT.