Northern Ireland could be facing fresh disruption across its schools after teachers and school leaders delivered overwhelming votes in favour of industrial action over workload pressures.

Members of the five main teaching unions have either voted for strike action or indicated they are preparing to join industrial action, dramatically increasing the pressure on Education Minister Paul Givan and the Department of Education to reach an agreement.

No strike dates have yet been announced, meaning there is still an opportunity for a deal.

But the message coming from teachers is difficult to ignore: they believe the current situation cannot continue.

Why are teachers threatening to strike?

At the centre of the dispute is workload.

Teaching unions say there has been insufficient progress in implementing the 27 recommendations produced by the Independent Review of Workload.

The review was intended to identify ways of reducing unnecessary demands on teachers and school leaders, but unions argue that meaningful change has not reached classrooms quickly enough.

Teachers have repeatedly raised concerns about bureaucracy, administration and responsibilities which take them away from what should be their primary job — teaching children.

The ballot results demonstrate the strength of feeling.

Among NASUWT members who took part, more than 92% backed strike action, while almost 99% supported action short of a strike.

The National Association of Head Teachers also secured a substantial mandate, with 81% supporting strike action and 96% voting for action short of strike.

INTO recorded 91% support for strike action among returned ballots and 99% for action short of strike, while UTU members voted 71% in favour of strikes and 95% for action short of strike.

The NEU has also indicated that it is preparing to participate in industrial action.

‘Members are exhausted’

Union representatives have made increasingly stark warnings about conditions within Northern Ireland’s schools.

NASUWT national official for Northern Ireland Maxine Murphy-Higgins said members were “exhausted”, while general secretary Matt Wrack warned that the strength of feeling among teachers had to be recognised.

NAHT Northern Ireland national secretary Graham Gault said school leaders had made it clear that the present situation was no longer sustainable.

The concern extends beyond teachers spending additional hours working.

School leaders are also warning that workload and funding pressures can prevent principals and senior staff from concentrating properly on their core responsibilities — including supporting teachers, leading learning and safeguarding pupils.

Education Minister says progress is being made

Education Minister Paul Givan insists the Department has been working to resolve the dispute.

He said significant progress had been achieved during negotiations over the summer and that he hoped talks could still conclude positively without industrial action.

The minister has said he recognises the workload pressures facing teachers and school leaders and remains committed to implementing the recommendations of the independent panel.

He also highlighted progress made through the Labour Relations Agency conciliation process and noted that the industrial action ballots began before the latest negotiations.

That provides some hope that an agreement can still be reached.

But after ballot results this decisive, the window for simply continuing discussions without visible change appears to be narrowing.

LoveBelfast View: Teachers should be teaching — not drowning in bureaucracy

There will inevitably be frustration if schools are disrupted. Parents have jobs, childcare arrangements and responsibilities of their own, and another round of strikes would cause genuine difficulties for thousands of families.

But blaming teachers for reaching this point would miss the bigger issue.

If teachers and principals are spending excessive amounts of time completing paperwork, dealing with unnecessary bureaucracy and carrying responsibilities that continually stretch beyond the classroom, something has gone wrong with the system.

Northern Ireland cannot repeatedly praise teachers for educating our children while simultaneously allowing workloads to reach levels that large numbers of those teachers say are unsustainable.

And this is not simply about making working life easier.

An exhausted teacher is not good for pupils. An overstretched principal is not good for a school. Talented people deciding that teaching is no longer an attractive or sustainable career is certainly not good for the future of education in Northern Ireland.

There is also a responsibility on the unions. Strike action should remain a last resort, particularly when children’s education is involved, and every realistic opportunity to reach an agreement should be exhausted first.

But these ballot results are too overwhelming for Stormont to dismiss as routine industrial relations manoeuvring.

When votes of 90% and above are being recorded on elements of industrial action, politicians need to understand the warning being sent from classrooms.

The Department of Education says progress has been made. Now teachers need to see what that progress actually means in practice.

The objective should not be another prolonged confrontation between government and teachers.

It should be a workable agreement that removes unnecessary workload, protects classroom time and allows teachers to concentrate on the reason they entered the profession in the first place: educating children.

There is still time to prevent strikes.

But after months of discussions and such decisive ballots, promises of future progress will no longer be enough.

Teachers are asking for tangible change. The Department now needs to show that it can deliver it.