Election '97: Teachers loyal to Labour despite loss of faith

Teachers have stayed loyal to Labour since the last election - but many have lost faith in the party's education policies, according to a poll out today.

Just over half of teachers intend to vote Labour on 1 May, only one percentage point fewer than in 1992, according to a survey for the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers. But the number believing Labour is ahead of the other parties on education has slumped from 43 per cent in 1992 to only 29 per cent. The NOP poll of 835 primary and secondary teachers interviewed last month is an exact repeat of a survey by the union in the run-up to the last election.