SCHOOLS across Cumbria are closed today as the National Education Union takes its second day of strike action on February 28.

Scores of schools have already announced if they are fully or partly closing as teachers walk out in a dispute over pay and working conditions.

Last ditch talks held between the union and the government after the secretary of state for education wrote to the National Education Union (NEU) to call for “formal talks on pay, conditions and reform” - on the proviso that the upcoming strikes are called off - have not succeeded.

The strikes come after the government proposed a 3 per cent pay rise for most teachers next year.

Most state school teachers in England and Wales had a 5 per cent rise in 2022.

The NEU is calling for an above-inflation pay increase, and wants schools to get extra money to ensure pay rises do not come from existing budgets.

Teacher salaries in England fell by an average of 11 per cent between 2010 and 2022, after taking rising prices into account, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says.

Beth Farhat, NEU northern regional secretary of the National Education Union, said: "Our members have bravely taken strike action already, and our membership has grown by 47,000 since the ballot result was first announced.

"The strength of feeling is all too clear. Enough is enough.

"The government’s education policy is driving the current recruitment and retention crisis.

"A fully-funded, above inflation pay rise would make a significant difference.

"It would ensure children are taught by those who specialise in the subject they are delivering, and stop the brain drain which leads to pupils seeing a revolving door of teachers over the course of a year.

"We regret having to take strike action and the disruption it causes, but it is also self-evident that disruption to education is now part of a pupil's daily life.

"This is the point we have repeatedly made to the education secretary. It is time for her to come up with solutions.”

READ MORE: Hundreds come to Carlisle union rally as teachers begin strike action

An escalation of strike action is scheduled on March 15 and 16 if no solution is found as teachers across Cumbria and the country at large are set to walk out for two days consecutively.