Colleges across the county, including BHASVIC and Varndean in Brighton and Collyer’s in Horsham, have taken part in seven strike days since late November.
Members of the National Education Union (NEU) are protesting against what they consider an unfair pay discrepancy, believing they should receive an above-inflation pay award “in line with the rest of the profession.”
On January 10, around 80 demonstrators gathered outside Hove and Portslade MP Peter Kyle’s office demanding funding parity between sixth form academies and colleges.
Alison Bennett, MP for Mid Sussex, has taken the issue to Parliament, stating that both staff and students are being impacted by the pay and funding issues.
“I feel that teachers are being treated unfairly and that students in Mid Sussex and beyond are being badly failed as a result.”
The MP reported meeting with a number of college students in Sussex, who shared their fears of their grades being impacted by strike action.
She said that one student called Lily from Haywards Heath, who studies at Collyer’s told the MP: “These strikes disrupted my learning during mocks week. I didn’t have the proper class time to prepare for my exams.
“Of course I support the teachers. I think they should get the proper salary they deserve.”
Another student, Sam from BHASVIC, was reported to have said: “I’m worried about learning all the content for my A-levels at this crucial point in my life but I support the teachers in this strike.”
“The strikes have made it hard to integrate back into college after Christmas. We can’t get as much support from teachers for coursework, which might affect our grades. It feels very disengaging.
“None the less, I still support the teacher strikes and understand that if change is going to happen you have got to do something disruptive.”
Ms Bennett added: “For our year 12 and year 13 students, this is just the latest round of disruption that their education has been subject to: they were in years 7 and 8 when the first covid lockdown was announced and did not get back into school for six months.
“That had a profound impact not just on their learning but on their social and emotional development, with soaring rates of mental ill health and school absenteeism still being widely reported five years later.
READ MORE: Striking teachers protest ‘really unfair’ deal outside MP’s office
“Then, during 2022 and 2023, there were further rounds of strikes in those students’ schools.
“The government must take urgent action to ensure that teachers in sixth-form colleges receive the 5.5 per cent pay award, backdated from September 1, 2024.
“That is essential if we want to ensure that students’ education is not further disrupted.
“The government must prioritise the education of students from Sussex and across the country, and must ensure that sixth-form colleges can continue to recruit and retain excellent teaching staff.”
The Parliamentary under-secretary of state for education said: “The government believes – as Labour governments always do – that education is about opportunity, and that the role of government is to extend opportunity to young people from every background and every corner of this country.
“I do of course acknowledge the challenges that sixth-form colleges and their teachers face, and the concerns about the disparity with school teachers following the school teachers pay award in July.
READ MORE: Hundreds of teachers in Brighton & Hove set to strike
“Our measures will include getting more teachers into skills shortage subjects, supporting areas that face recruitment challenges and tackling retention issues.
“We have begun to make good early progress towards this key pledge.
“High-quality teaching is one of the biggest influences in positive learner outcomes, providing learners with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.
“I am sure that we will continue to discuss skills and 16 to 18-year-old education in the coming months, because the government recognises the importance of improving prospects for young people and how that links to our plans to drive economic growth.
“FE teachers are and will remain central to those plans.”
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