HACKNEY North and Stoke Newington Labour MP Diane Abbott, community activists, parents and academics have backed a six-day strike by teaching staff after a conglomerate took over their trailblazing sixth form.

Teachers and support staff at BSix college in Hackney, north London, began their walk out on Tuesday in the wake of New City College imposing “dramatic” changes resulting in increases to their workload without commensurate increases to pay.

National Education Union district officer David Davies said: “BSix has served the community successfully for many years.

“Staff are angry about the lack of consultation and discussion about the merger process and the consequent changes.

“There is a strong feeling that the additional workload and lower pay for staff means that students will be getting a worse deal in the long run.

“For many this takeover feels like an attack on the community as well the teachers and support staff.”

Ms Abbott said: “BSix teachers have been treated terribly. They deserve a decent pay rise and they deserve to be treated decently.”

The rapper, author and educator Akala, who has worked with BSix,  said he had been “inspired by the resilience of the students — often coming, like myself, from humble and challenging circumstances and grappling with difficult choices  — and the dedication of the teachers.

“In a community like Hackney such a college, one that does not give up on its young people, is of inestimable value and in the very spirit of what universal education is all about.”

Professor Gargi Bhattacharyya, director at UCL’s Institute of Advanced Studies, said: “BSix has been doing some of the most exciting, ground-breaking and empowering work I have ever seen in a space of formal education.”

New City College declined to comment.