Thousands of school children in Dorset will be forced to stay at home next month when teachers go on strike.
Teachers are set to hit the picket lines in England and Wales, the National Education Union (NEU) has announced.
The strikes are scheduled for 1 February, 15 March and 16 March nationwide.
Dorset schools will also be impacted by a regional date of 2 March.
The NEU are the largest education union, its ballot included over 300,000 members.
In England, NEU members voted with a 90% majority in favour of strike action.
The NEU strikes are part of the ‘PayUp! save our schools campaign.’
The ballot occurred due to a ‘failure by the Secretary of State’ to ensure an increase of pay in accordance to inflation, the NEU says.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said she hopes to introduce minimum service levels to protect vulnerable children.
Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Ms. Keegan said: “We’ll be working with headteachers to make sure as many schools remain open for as many children as possible.”
The government have previously offered a 5% pay rise for many teachers, but this was below the Unions’ demands of 12%.
The Union says that as a consequence of the pay dispute, staff retention levels have dropped.
According to the Pay Up! petition, 25% of teachers leave the profession within two years of joining.
An additional 8% leave within five years, while 13% of teachers who qualified in 2019 have now left the industry.
BUzz News will have update this story throughout the day.
Dorset Police: missing man has been found