Education Minister Graham Cregeen has once again been forced to defend his handling of school staff relations, this time over the ’escalating’ pay dispute with teachers.

This week three teaching unions announced they were to ballot their members simultaneously about whether to take industrial action - up to a strike - in their pay dispute.

In the House of Keys on Tuesday, Jason Moorhouse, who was a full-time teacher before he became an MHK, said he attended a recent joint meeting of unions.

’Having taught in the island for over 20 years, I was shocked by the number and faces of those who arrived at the meeting,’ he said.

’Has the minister been fully and accurately briefed about the dangers of the current situation escalating?’

Citing confidentiality agreements with the unions over the content of pay discussions, Mr Cregeen said: ’We have been informed and that is all I can say.’

Julie Edge (Onchan) said the minister recently claimed teachers had confidence in him. She asked whether he still believed that to be the case.

Mr Cregeen responded: ’Unfortunately we are in an industrial dispute with three of the teaching unions.’

But the questioning of his handling of the situation did not stop there.

Daphne Caine (Garff) referred to an email sent to all MHKs by the National Association of Head Teachers and asked Mr Cregeen if he considered himself an advocate of teachers or an ’adversary’.

The minister insisted: ’Certainly we are trying to get this resolved. We do appreciate the work that our teachers do, and the whole department has appreciated the work, over many years, that our teachers have done and it is extremely disappointing that we are in this situation.’

Education department member Lawrie Hooper (LibVannin, Ramsey) attempted to support Mr Cregeen, claiming the email contained ’factual inaccuracies’.

Unfortunately, the minister was forced to admit he had not had a chance to read it before the Keys sitting. But he pledged to circulate details on any inaccuracies.

The three unions - the NAHT, Association of School and College Lecturers and NASUWT - say teachers and school leaders have been forced to accept 10 years of below inflation of pay awards, amounting to real-terms cuts.

They have been in dispute with the Department of Education, Sport and Culture for the past six months and the NAHT has already invoked one work-to-rule action.

Industrial action was subsequently suspended after agreeing a 10-point plan with the DESC to resolve the dispute but talks have since stalled.

A 2.75% pay rise for all grades, backdated to September, has been accepted for this year.

Only last week, Mr Cregeen came under fire in Tynwald for his handling of the transfer of education support officers (ESOs) out of his department, to come under the employment umbrella of the Public Services Commission.

The DESC was criticised for a lack of consultation, while it was also revealed that department chief executive Ronald Barr had to give an unreserved apology after wrongly suggesting to ESOs that he had instructed head teachers to give details of the transfer to them.

That came after previous embarrassment for the department. Mr Cregeen was investigated for alleged bullying during pay talks with unions. While he was cleared, he was criticised for ’errors of judgement’ and a ’lack of awareness of the sensitivities of others’.