Wherever you look workers are going on strike and our schools are no exception - even though Jeremy Hunt managed to find an extra few billion behind the Treasury couch for education at his recent Autumn Statement.
So what's going on here, why are union leaders still balloting, and what's the state of English schools after 12 years of Tory-led governments?
To get the lowdown on all things educational I caught up with my Centre for Policy Studies colleague Mark Lehain, our Head of Education.
Mark's no ordinary policy wonk. he's worked as a teacher, including as a headteacher and set up his own free school, as wel as working in the heart of government as a special adviser - what he doesn't know about English education over the last few years really isn't worth knowing.
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