ACT public schools to close entirely tomorrow as staff go on strike

ACT public school staff will strike for a full day after a two-hour industrial action in May failed to lead to successful pay negotiations. (ABC News: Monte Bovill)

ACT Education staff will go on strike for an entire day on Thursday, June 11, prompting all public schools to close.

The strike comes amid mounting frustration over enterprise bargaining negotiations between the union and the ACT Education Directorate.

No on-site care will be provided to Canberra school students, but the directorate said it would ensure students were not disadvantaged as a consequence of the strike.

The ACT's public schools will be closed tomorrow, Thursday, June 11, as Canberra teachers and school staff once again go on strike.

The industrial action will take place after a two-hour work stoppage occurred last month, the first such strike action by ACT public school teachers in 15 years.

The action has been sparked by mounting frustration between the Education Directorate and the Australian Education Union (AEU) as they negotiate a new enterprise agreement.

Due to the industrial action, the Education Directorate said it had decided to close all public schools in the interest of student and staff safety.

ACT teachers will go on strike on Thursday as pay negotiations continue to remain unresolved. (ABC News: Adam Shirley)

The directorate said there would be no on-site supervision available for students that day.

Individual schools should have already let families know about how the strike might impact assessments, excursions or other activities.

In a notification on its website, the directorate said, "The safety and wellbeing of students and staff remains our highest priority".

Hundreds of ACT public school teachers gathered as part of a two-hour strike last month. (ABC News: Stuart Carnegie)

As last month's shorter strike wrapped up, union members voted to take a full day of protected industrial action.

The union said teachers were taking this action because the government hadn't addressed core concerns around staffing, increasing workloads and class sizes.

In May, the union's ACT branch president Angela Burroughs said public school staff were "fed up".

"We are putting up with the unacceptable … our members' patience has expired."

ACT Australian Education Union president Angela Burroughs says they are frustrated with the ACT government over pay negotiations. (ABC News: David Scasci)

The ACT government said negotiations had been progressing in the weeks since the strike on May 22.

Education Minister Yvette Berry told the Legislative Assembly the most recent m