Teachers in Bolton will strike later this month and early next month after they voted to reject a Government pay offer.
An overwhelming 98 per cent of National Education Union (NEU) members in England, who responded in a consultative ballot, voted to turn down the deal.
The NEU, which had urged its members to reject the “insulting” offer, plans to hold two further days of teacher strikes across the country on April 27 and May 2.
After a period of intensive talks with union, the Government offered teachers a £1,000 one-off payment for the current school year (2022/23) and an average 4.5 per cent pay rise for staff next year (2023/24).
But now the strikes will return, following strikes staged by the NEU in February and March as a result of a dispute over pay and conditions.
Bolton teacher Robert Poole from Bolton NEU said: “It was a bigger turnout than the original ballot.
“The original offer, we’ve sent a clear message it was an insulting offer. What particularly angered most educators that it was an unfunded pay rise.
“That means further cuts to education, further cuts to our support staff and resources, and we couldn’t accept that.
“It also lags far behind the amount paid to Scotland and Wales and we think educators in England deserve as much as those in Scotland and Wales.”
The Government had previously said that their offer was ‘fair and reasonable’.
Robert said: “It’s not fair, nor reasonable. At the moment we’ve got a recruitment and retention crisis in education.
“A below inflation, unfunded, offer would mean further cuts to schools, and we can't accept that.
“There are further reports that educators are using more antidepressants as they’re dealing with stress, and there is the tragic case of Ruth Perry who died after Ofsted came in to her school.
“It is becoming a toxic profession.
“There have been some positive ideas from the Department for Education with the idea of a taskforce to reduce workload and give mental health support, but what we need to see is major changes in education and a properly funded education system.”
Robert added that he expects there to be pickets at the 'vast majority' of schools in Bolton during the strikes.
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