Action short of strike action

Members in some schools and sixth-form colleges in England will be taking action short of strike action, commencing Monday 18 September.

More information, such as further advice, guidance and FAQs can be found on the Time for a Limit page.


Collectively, NASUWT members have taken hundreds of days of industrial action to secure their rights and entitlements to pay and working conditions that reflect their status as highly skilled professionals.

As a result of NASUWT industrial action since 2010, the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document remains the ‘gold standard’ contract, guaranteeing the main principles, rights and benefits of the contract for teachers.

Despite the varying landscape of employers, all local authority schools are required to follow this contract and the majority of academies have adopted it.

These rights include:

  • 195 teaching days, including five training days;
  • adherence to the national pay and pension negotiations, including the cost of living uplift;
  • rarely cover;
  • a directed time calendar of 1,265 hours;
  • no requirement to undertake admin tasks which do not require the skills of a teacher;
  • PPA time for all teachers;
  • leadership and management time;
  • the right to a lunch break;
  • no invigilation of public examinations;
  • the right to a work/life balance.

The NASUWT will, with the support of members, take industrial action where members’ statutory entitlements are being undermined and our record of success is second to none, securing improvements and positive changes in members’ working lives.

Members have taken successful industrial action:

  • to defend their right to refuse to teach violent and disruptive pupils;
  • over excessive workload;
  • against punitive and unfair performance management practices;
  • forced academisation;
  • pension rights;
  • the denial of statutory entitlements on pay;
  • workplace bullying and adverse management practices. 

Members with concerns about the way in which they are being managed, about pupil behaviour or about any attempts to deny them their statutory rights on pay and working conditions in their school should contact the NASUWT for further advice and support.