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Congratulations bb and heated and all the other teachers who supported the strike. I have a few reasons for saying this.
dp and I also work in the public sector - local government - and are being offered 2.45% with strings attached - similar multi year deal regardless of inflation. If our members vote for strike action and we take it we'll no doubt also be slagged off, as we were a few years ago. I think a victory for teachers would encourage the rest of us.
And while my ds isn't at school yet, when he is, I'd prefer there to be good teachers left in schools. Ones who aren't being made to feel that they have to subsidise basic running costs all the time. And ones who aren't giving up after a few years.
So shall I sign you up for the graduate trainee course then Purits?
Or just hope that there are well motivated & qualified teachers standing up at the front of your children's classes, to whom a pay cut will mean nothing.
But it's alright because your support for their profession will at least make it all worth it ... oh, hang on...
Teachers, Purits, would like a pay rise and improvements. I don't think the 2.45% was bad, considering that the Armed Services only got 2.6%. What I think many object to, and that hasn't been elucidated clearly enough, is the fact that the government are attempting to make this a three year pay deal, with no room for negotiation over the next two years, regardless of what the cost of living is doing.
I think that teachers should be able to claim back in tax what they spend on resources...I could have claimed back about £300 just for my text books one year, let alone all the other things I bought for the classroom. It cost me about £1200-1500 a year in resources...why should I pay that?
We can't change the system, much as we would like to do so, as the government sets the system and the processes. If you try to buck the system, you lose your job. My husband is a professional, but he can't sack people as his chain of command doesn't allow him to do so. I bet there are unwritten rules in your place of employment that you accept without demur because that's the way it is. Well, teaching is like that too.
Of course the solution is easy. All teachers should resign and go and work in private schools, and watch the state system go to hell in a handcart, but then we'd be accused of betraying the children. Can't win can we?
5. Purits has a life, thank you very much. I am in control of my own destiny and am well paid. Would it surprise you to know that I don't work for the Government?
Thanks for the chat yesterday, ladies. I know understand:
1. Teachers are not too concerned about their long hours and poor working environment; they would prefer to have extra money rather than improvements. 2. Teachers want a payrise so that they then have spare money to spend on resources that the authorities should be providing. (I do hope that none of you teach Business Studies.) 3. It is beyond the collective power of teachers to change anything. They simply "follow orders", moan about the system and expect sympathy from everyone.
I spend £100+ each month on resources for my class more if I need books. I went on a training course during my half term holidays and spent over £200 on books and resources. That's without ink and paper for my printer or laminator pockets. My wage would be fine if I didn't need to subsidise the school.
DH isn't a crap manager Purits, thanks. He was asked to take on this job becasue of the 18% improvement made in the year he was acting HoD at his last school, when HOD on long term sick. Dh heads the dept he does through inheriting, but because mostly his school don'tgetpeopleapplyingfor the jobs and they have to take what they can get. Essentially they don't pay enough to offset the stress of classroom management.
If you have a Maths degree there are better paid jobs out there than teaching; if you are a maths teacher there are nicer schools to work in. Golden hellos are all very well but student loans eat those.
Btw, Dh didn't strike today as he went at lunchtime to a social services case conference for a looked after child. But I did.
Unless all unions go out together. Then your just putting up a token fight. If you went on strike not just for pay you would have a lot more people behind you.. If every teacher walked out for one day union or no union they could sack all of you? surely. If every parent didn't go to work on that same day because the conditions for their children are crap. now that would have an effect.
very true, cc, but i just get sick of people going on about the holidays, because our salary is pro rata. thought it might be interesting to see it broken down.
£16 an hour...to be responsible for the wellbeing, safety and learning of 30 + individuals. hmm...
Yes, I've had an indoor display ruined by a water leak before. I was gutted cause the kids had spent so much time and effort on it.
Noonar, don't forget; 2 parents evenings a year, 2 hours pw every Sunday for prep, 2 evenings a year for school discos, 2 Saturdays each year for Fayres, 1 hour each week for staff meetings, 1 hour each week to take an after school club The list goes on!
oh god *pritt sticks* I should have taken out shares! and pencils and pens. My 'martianbishop says well done' stamper was stolen and that was quite a bit. Stickers up the ying yang, and I work in secondary!
Cushion cover - you are speaing the truth. Spend a fortune on resources - know the kids will love them and will help them understand cool stuff easier!
My beloved display got rained on over the Christmas holidays.......... they were inside by the way
ok...a challenge for anyone with a calclator handy... if my f/t salary is 29k, and i work 39 weeks a year, 5 days a week for 9 hours a day (hours spent in school)- what is my hourly rate??
Every teacher I have ever known has spent an absolute fortune on classroom resources.
And it's all to benefit the kids. Textbooks (like MB) through to stickers and rewards at primary level. Posters to hide ugly damp patches or in one classroom I taught, to stop the plaster coming down. Endless Pritt sticks because school cannot afford them. Pencils, pens and various stimuli for history topics. The list goes on. DH knows to steer me away from the education resource section of Waterstones!
Countless teachers up and down the country are subjected to teaching in cold and draughty post-war prefab huts. Yuck! Who else would work there?
Many teachers (primary as well as secondary) are subjected to verbal and physical abuse daily. How many non-teachers would put up with this at work?
But we are all born to be whipped, BB, don't you realise that?
Take shite all day at work, get told were shite all day by the media and be greatful.
Oh and protest on your own (because that is so common isn't it?) and get sacked. And then replaced by a cheaper and less experienced teacher. that would be good for the kids, doncha think?
AARRRRRRGGGHH!!!! Its the pupils that have 13 weeks holiday not the teachers!!!!
Now I love being a teacher and think the pay is reasonable compared to my graduate chums (nowhere near 33 grand like!!!!! Think lots of high paid head teachers have bumped up the average!!!) Most I know are on between 19 and 26 which for most is manageble I think.
Work load is huge. Holidays are totally unfelxible and I would agree with below that most of kids time off teachers spend doing preparation (syllabuses change constantly as do methods of teaching and learning), marking (assessment requirements are as ludicrous for us as for the poor kids) and creating resources. (I am expected to make several worksheets/handout/powerpoints for each class and well as stuff for 'virtual learning', variations for special needs, different abilities etc) I spent the Easter holidays in work, 2 hours with each A-level student recording their work because of the pressure to get grades up (so the kids are pleased and the parents and managment and the statistic people etc etc).
The day my daughter was due I waddled into to work as it was results day and two weeks later I was calling Universitys, students and parents from my hospital bed after a C-section to help them get into Uni. You can't say 'no I've had a baby' when its one of your kids' future!
I am not complaining and I certainly wouldn't have been striking today (GOD owful timing and I think pay is good....though if it was worked out per hour would prob be pants!) Teaching is a vocation and there are more rewards than pay. What should be attracting graduates is the chance to a be a real part of childrens' lives, to inspire and help people become what they want to be.
just to respond to the £34,000 figure that'sbeen mentioned...i am a primary school teacher with 12 years experience. i am at the top of my pay scale, but havent gone through the threshhold (too much paperwork). i work part time, but my full time salary would be about 29k. this is at the TOP of the pay scale for a class teacher without management responsibility. as you can see, this falls considerably short of the national 'average'.
if you were calculating average pay for supermarket employees, would you include the supermarket managers' pay? if you did, it'd be v misleading. lumping head teachers together with newly qualified teachers is going to create a v deceptive picture, imo.
"Unless public sector workers pull together and start saying enough is enough then services will continue suffer across the board. I for one am not prepared to sit back and let it happen without fighting for the profession I love, for the health service which brought my dd into the world, that's all."
MB it is totally wrong that you should even have to do that. BB I take it that you will be taking unpaid leave to strike for the health services as well. Surely it would be better to be striking because dedicated teachers are buying their own materials for the pupils to learn from! When teachers can have all the materials they need, in clean classrooms and a reasonable working environment, given the support the need and deserve and rewarding dedicated teaching.
purits, your post at 17:40:52 shows a deep ignorance of how work relations operate in the education system. no one on this board has the time to educate you about it.
Can I also just add to Mrz's post by stating that no teacher who has qualified in the last 10years has access to this bestinthecountrypensionscheme. So teachers who have joined the profession since then have to put up with the bog standard money purchase schemes seen in the private sector.
morningpaper on Thu 24-Apr-08 10:13:08 "They also have long holidays and one of the best pension schemes in the country"
How many people do you know that spend their holidays decorating their workplace (and paying for the paint and materials out of their own pocket) or attending training or attending meetings. I've done all three so far this year ...
Of course I do stix, always one to save the world me - have 'naive' tattooed on my forehead too...
Unless public sector workers pull together and start saying enough is enough then services will continue suffer across the board. I for one am not prepared to sit back and let it happen without fighting for the profession I love, for the health service which brought my dd into the world, that's all.
I was answering the question about 'why go into the profession if the pay is shite'
Of all of my university friends, I'm the worst paid. I'm just earning around the same I was in industry when I quite to have the kids......and that was 12 years ago when the money bought a lot more! I wouldn't swap jobs I love teaching, but there has been a stream of posts about how teachers should basically just put up and shut up.
MB i'm not telling you you don't love your job or that your not good at it, nor am I telling you that you have a cushy number. It's just my opinion that you should have better working conditions.
Because I love teaching. Because I actually like working with the kids and trying to make sure they meet their potential. because I'm passionate about my subject and I'm good at it, and I want to pass that love of the subject on to the next generation.
What I don't like is people (who don't do me job) telling me what a cushy number I have . Funny that.
BB OMG you believe by striking you will save all of us?? High horse my arse. It's about the fact that the pay rise given wasn't enough.IMO I don't see the days strike helping ALL Public sector workers.. I could be wrong... maybe the forces or the nurses will suddenly get a fair pay rise because the NUT went on strike for one day! DUH stupid me. FGS don't bring in the nurses etc because one union had a day off! Which has just narked people and some of those people actually would like to see better pay and conditions for our public sector, but instead the NUT come across as whining.
Sorry back again after coffee - can you tell me what the problem the teachers have with the recent pay rises that have been given to them and then promised over the next few years - I thought they were pissed that their salary didn't rise as per the retail price index - funny thing is I work in the private sector and when I said to my boss - hey boss - how about a pay rise to cover the increased cost of living he laughed, raised and eyebrow and said - you seen the state of the economy lately!
Can someone please too tell me why they chose to go into a profession that they thought was so badly underpaid - I don;t go for this vocation lark so why chose to be a teacher if you know the pay is shite?
Well, I shall reserve my sympathy for people who have had to take a day's unpaid leave - like the woman on the One O'clock news, single mother who works in a cafe and lost her wages for today because her eldest child's school was shut.
They are NOT only thinking about pay - they are thinking about the future of the education system - the future of your child's education, about attracting the very best into the profession to teach our children, about giving teaching and schools the recognition they deserve. They are also fighting for fair pay for all public sector workers so it isn't just about 'teacher's pay'.
Get your facts right before you get on your high horse.
ST sorry I should have acknowledged that not all teacher or unions are striking at the start. I took this as read.
And I know it is hard to live just off a teachers wage. ( which is why I also work.) Yes it would be nice for DH to bring more home. I would be Standing out with my banner along side DH if I thought that a) it would have an affect, b)If teachers (NUT ) were really yelling about resources and materials, text books and pencils etc. Conditions in which they work and pay rises.
Stix, what about the teachers who haven't gone on strike? If you are going to accuse teachers of taking money away from families - a lot of them like members of ATL haven't done so, neither have the NASUWT, so please acknowledge that.
You may also like to consider that many are going on strike to get more for their own families and pay their bills. When I taught in the state system my salary was a second income as my dh has a good job and it helped to pay the school fees, but I would not have liked to try to live on my salary and house, clothe and feed my ds and myself.
Strikes are counter productive whichever way you look at it, someone is going to be inconvenienced...but that is rather the point surely?
well being* for want of a better way of putting it. I'm not actually agains teachers by the way I just think the strike could have been for better reasons.. maybe better payrise AND conditions! ( oh and family dinner time recently has be full of debate about this with teachers in the family LOL)
Belgianbun no I wouldn't.. because these days off are for further training, which benefits our children. Striking because the pay rise isn't enough is through choice and imposes on others well being.
Just out of interest stix - would you accuse teachers of 'taking' money away from families when there is an INSET day? You are a parent - parenting involves expense. Many teachers are parents too.....
InanswertotheOP - I have cut and pasted this post fromthe other strike thread as I can't be arsed bothered to compose it again!
I have just got back from the NUT rally in London. Newly qualified teachers like the rest of us work long hours for low pay. They have worked up £20,000 worth of debt training to devote their working lives for the young people of this country and cannot afford a home. Many of them could earn higher salaries as graduates in the private sector but they are passionate ablut the jobs they do and the future or your children. They are charged 4.8% interest on these university loans and the government won't even match inflation in their pay. Many of them don't stand a chance of paying off their debts. It is SHAMEFUL.
The future of our schools depends on people like them, particularly in the inner cities. Yes, I am ok - my dh earns well and we are comfortable though we don't have much to spare. But our kids haven't got a hope if the system carries on like this. People are already leaving the profession and student numbers in training centres are dropping.
Education, education, education? Education my arse Gordon. Cynicism is cheap. A decent education isn't.
Oh yes - and loads of NQTs work through their amazingly long holidays in order to make ends meet. The rest of us spend probably a good 5 weeks out of the 13 planning/ marking/ preparing materials etc etc etc
Ok after a quick poll of friends all of whom have degrees and higher, one of which has a Phd. Hydrologist £22,000 Account team leader £24,000 Research engineer £23,500 Peads Nurse £22,500 Creative Director £26,000 Research biologist working with infertility £27,000 I'll stop there. Non of these people get anywhere near 13 weeks holiday per year.
If this has nothing to do with standards, then teachers just want a pay rise. A lot of parents do consider teachers conditions and pay as this affects our children. We don't think of you just when you go out on strike. Going on strike just niggles us and takes away from our families. You have a right to strike, you have a right to want more pay, but do you actually have the right to "take" money away from other families due to your actions? And by doing this are you getting the parents behind you? It's MO that teachers would get a lot more support if on strike about conditions and standards.
I expect he does it because the head has decided to recruit these teachers, or because like me, they teach outside their subject area.
Some may struggle with classroom management as they are NQTs, and unfortunately, other teachers are too busy to sit in on all their lessons.
It's fine calling someone a crap manager if they have the power to change things, but don't. HoDs in a comp don't have the power to change much, especially not who is employed, or who can be sacked, so he's working within the system he's been handed, that doesn't make him crap, but the system IMO.
We can't refuse to do the job, and as for the resources, I would point out that my husband calculated that it cost me approx £1.5k per annum to teach after I'd shelled out for my textbooks, resources, professional bodies, pens, pencils, laminators, photocopying etc.
"DH heads a dept which is partly staffed by those who are not qualified in the subject, who struggle with classroom management and one who is barely intelligible."
Why? Why does he head up such a department? That makes him a crap manager. Anyone in industry, to cover their backsides, would refuse to do the job if not given the proper resources. This is the sort of thing you should be striking about!
The 'average' figures that are being quoted are not average for a classroom teacher. They are averaging out the figures for all the people involved, including the head teachers. My head erans over 5 times my salery.
I was talking to the other science teachers today. All your 'bog standard' classroom teachers. None of us are making anything near £34,000.
But Stix, I'm more than happy for my pay to be compared to the pay of others who are equally qualified. I haven't seen anyone suggest otherwise.
Of course a payrise will not improve standards. This has nothing to do with standards in education. To suggest that one would lead to the other would suggest that teachers are less dedicated because of their pay level. This just isn't true for the vast majority of teachers.
And of course it's an inconvenience to many parents. Inconvenience is what strike action is about. Most parents only ever consider teachers pay and conditions when it affects them. I'm not at all saying I don't sympathise with parents having to find alternative arrangments. I know it's not easy. I know of another teacher whose school is open today yet her children are off. She cannot take a day off and has had to farm them off to friends for the day.
DH heads a dept which is partly staffed by those who are not qualified in the subject, who struggle with classroom management and one who is barely intelligible.
He is a maths and physics post grad; few are now taking those degrees and even fewer choose to go into education. He is certainly the lowest paid of his graduate friends.
He has chosen to go into work today as he will be attending a ss case conference. I am striking today (but not shouting outside olive's house ) because if you pay peanuts...
It is tough that some parents will have to lose wages to cover child care. It is factored in that there will be some upset among the public. It is partly the reason that this is the first strike in 20 yrs.
Should the shit really hit the fan, the gov't and parents may start to value teachers more.
The point being the strike is about pay. When the lower wage hard working folk have have to loose money from taking the day off because of the strike. Then comparisons will come up about the pay as an average and in different areas will come up. Whether you have been to university or not. Teachers strike about pay and then don't seem to like it when their pay/holidays are compared. In every industry there will alawy be cheaper people to employ this just goes across the board. Giving a payrise is not IMO going to change the standard within our schools. Maybe there should be an overtime bonus given as appreciation for the changes within the job. IE those who put more time into the job get a better pay?
Stix, where I live few people make that as a first income too. I do not see how the fact that i make more than the avg in my area has anything to do with what I earn. Most people in my area are either chronically unemployed, choose not to look for work or are in low paid work. they also did not go to sixth form or beyond and many left school without doing GCSE's in the days when that was allowed or if they did them performed poorly. My husband and 2 other students from his leaving year went on to university.
I don't really see why my comparatively low wage when one considers that I have to keep up with my continuous professional development after uni, then post grad means that my wage is compared to the lower wage earners in my neighbourhood.
I don't have childcare problems, during the holidays, not because I don't work during the holidays but because I pay full time nursery fees for the child I have. I pay them whether or not she attends nursery. I have a second on the way and for a time I will only be going go work to keep the household budget ticking over and keeping up with my pension payments and keeping my job and professional development going. I happen to like the school I work in and I don't want to have to compete with younger grads who will be more hireable than I should I take a career break. (More hireable because they are cheaper than me, not because they are better than me.)
There is obvious and clear dissapointment with the eductaion system at the mo. My ds is preparing for his yr 6 SATS and is really stressed - ridiculous at his age.and I wonder what would happen if we staged a big SATS boycott......?
The government answer to the teaching shortage ten or so years ago was all wrong. Instead of improving conditions, they inreased places and started giving training grants. All wrong IMHO. Firstly, it meant people getting on to courses with one E at A level. Secondly, it encouraged dozy graduates without direction to do PGCEs because it was something to do, they got a grant and they'd get a job at the end.
Not only do I want my kids to be taught by well qualified people, I don't want to have to gently explain to another teacher that Norfolk is not the county that surrounds Newcastle. Nor do I want to have to say that they were wrong to cross out the 's' in practise and change it to a 'c' when the child had written I like to practise my skipping. (Both true)
Encourage good graduates, offer us reasonable pay and conditions that reflect our qualifications and don't stifle us or the kids we teach with endless changes, initiatives, tests and targets. Easy!
and it does annoy me when Teachers are supposed to be more saintly, more altruistic than any other part of the workforce...
other professions may strike over pay too, and not be berated for NOT striking about other people's conditions; we wouldn't be sniffy and judgemental about Nurses' striking for more pay and say "how awful that they are not walking about because some patients are on a 3 month waiting list!"
Totally support the strike over pay. My child's education is one of the most important things I can 'do' for him and as I can't at present afford private school, he has to be in state school
I want his education to be the best it can be, and that is most likely to happen if his teachers are paid at a higher level; more retention of staff, more consistency and stability in the classroom meaning better learning and less disruption, and more recruitment of high calibre people, and society showing that it places a high value on those people who spend their days educating our children.
Having said that, I do wish ALL teachers would come out on strike against SATS / targets/ testing/ teaching to the test AS WELL, but that is not just their job that is down to parents as well.
I agree with ST about the average salary. Every news article is quoting this 34k figure which is only statistically average when it includes London.
A teacher elsewhere in the country who is at the top of the pay scale earns just over 29k.
Starting salary for teachers has risen sharply in recent years but the pay scale was adjusted to make the increments smaller so they basically reach the same place. Starting salary was raised to encourage more graduates to teach. IMO, we should concentrate on retaining those already qualified.
I'm a teacher and although the salary's not great, it's not that bad either. But then in my house, it's the second income. It certainly wouldn't pay my mortgage or keep my kids. Yes the holidays are good and no I don't work at all during 5 of the 6 summer weeks nor at Christmas. I do, however do a lot during half term breaks. Teacher's however, cannot take days off here and there. Cannot go away within term time nor can they take a half day to attend their kids Christmas play or sports day.
And yes, everyone else I know who has 3 good A levels, a good degree plus a post grad qualification is earning more than me.
Keep in mind also that many teachers (myself included) are members of other unions who voted not to strike but are at home today (being paid ) because the schools could not cover all the NUT staff.
Last point. Low level disruption,as mention by another poster, is of far greater concern to every other primary teacher I know. But then, primary teaching is dominated by women and the reality is that for a great many of them, their salary is the second wage.
We live in an area where the wage for a good job is about 18-20K. There are some better wages and some a lot worse. So recieving between 25 and 30k a year from main wage earner isn't really that bad. We also don't have childcare problems during the holidays.
I know exactly what your saying scaryteacher. Yet I still think a lot of the problems are due to management.(A bit of background here, I come from and married into teaching families from class teachers, principals and ofstead inspectors. I don't teach although I do consider changing career on occasions, knowing the real life of a teacher and wage.) The most off putting part for me isn't the planning/ paperwork, extra hours etc.. it's that in some cases a lot of stress could be relieved by better management. A very good friend of the family was what would be considered a trouble shooting head. Head would be put into failing schools to turn them around. With good management he achieved this. Turning around some of the most awful schools. The teachers really appreciated being able to go into a class to teach. Would I want to teach with this support? yes.. would I teach with the support that seems to be shown in my DS1 school.. NO. I am not just finger pointing at some heads either some LEAs can make life difficult for heads. Putting them between a rock and a hard place. IMO I just think that if the strikes were based soley around conditions, all of the unions joined in the strike then it 1, I feel that teachers would have more support and 2, striking might actually achieve something other than causing a bit of disprution and disgruntling parents who may have to take unpaid time off work.
Not just about waiting lists though Morningpaper.There is a lot more than the Nhs than surgery.I agree waiting times for most operations have gone down,and of course that is no bad thing. But it is a fallacy that the NHS has improved across the board,and the obeseeion with waiting lists has been at the expense of other services. Off the subject though!
when they say that the avg teacher is on £34,000 they are actually factoring in what senior managers make as well dept heads etc. too as they are also teachers. lets say the avg senior manager about £70,000. (deliberately using a figure far below the 100,000 for a HT being bandied about by the BEEB). I can see how it looks like a lot of teachers are on 34,000 when actually the majorit of teachers are earning between 25 and 30,000 when it all averages out.
"IMO the so called reforms of the NHS and Education systems in this country have resulted in systems which benefit very few,if any of our clients and none of the staff."
<sings> Things can only get better, can only get better.
I left teaching two years ago to move abroad, and I would have been M6 (top of the main scale). I've just checked and my salary if I'd stayed would have been £29k+ now I think, so not anywhere near the £34,000 quoted. To achieve that, one has either to take on extra responsibility or apply to get through threshold, which is a lot of extra paperwork and proving what value you have added to the school.
The average teacher does NOT earn £34,000 outside London at all.
If we were paid for just teaching, then it would be OK, but is the associated crap that goes with it all; sorting out quarrels, being a social worker, chasing up parents and students, not being able to make a flip comment in the supermarket to a student without the fecking parent complaining the next day, paying to feed some of the students because they don't have lunch with them, people not turning up for appointments when you've stayed in school until 1800 to see them and it's not parents' evening, dealing with stoned kids period 5 every Friday, which disrupts the lesson, teaching 600+ kids a week and having all the reports for these students packed into a term along with behaviour, effort and attainment grades. I could go on....
Yes, I had long holidays, which I used to catch up with marking and planning for next term, although I did have some weeks where I didn't work. I used to work on average 60 hours a week in term time. Realistically, if you are marking a set of 32 books, and you give each book 3 minutes to ensure that all the errors are corrected, and comments are written, you are looking at 90 minutes per set of books. I tried to mark two sets a night, as I taught about 17 different classes. There is planning on top of that, which takes time, especially for AS level. I also did 4 unpaid after school sessions per week to teach GCSE and run a revision course.
I think that people don't realise that a schemes of work and lesson plans are not done. We have to look at what the NC prescribes, and then produce the SoWs, lesson plans and resources from that. These also have to be regularly rewritten to keep up with any changes and studies that have been done into methods of learning etc. New methods of teaching come in, so you have to adapt to those and ensure that everyone is teaching in the same way.
Oh, and some of us have our own kids as well!
As for having one of the best pension schemes...that would be the scheme to which all the MPs belong wouldn't it? We contribute to our pension scheme at 6% of our salary, so it is not like a civil service pension. However, it is hopefully a secure pension, but that was always the payback for working in the public sector, that the pension would be good.
Agree that teachers should teach,which all this obsession with standardsand results does not allow them to do. It is the same for nurses,they should be allowed to nurse,instead of endless form filling and beaurocracy and target driven care with which this government is obsessed. IMO the so called reforms of the NHS and Education systems in this country have resulted in systems which benefit very few,if any of our clients and none of the staff.
IMO/E quite a few go into teaching because they know there is a job there at the end of study ( some subject I know are harder to get a teaching job in). I have a couple of friends who have done just this. After a year of not getting a job in industry they went into teaching, one of these has now left teaching. This person is now currently looking to returning because he has worked in industry and teaching seems to be the better option, with regard to stress levels, hours holiday and pay in current industry job! If we could offer our teachers decent working conditions, where pupils are controlled, environment is clean and supplies are always there when needed. If they could go into school and teach. IMO the pay and holidays would make up for the marking / paperwork they have to do.
(I personally can see why people are complaining about having to take the day off work because of the strikes, for some of these people the strike is causing them loss of monies to their families and they aren't on as high a wage as teachers in the first place.)
If we want our education system to flourish, we need not only to recruit good teachers but also to retain them. The only way to do this is make it a job worth being in. Now, lets be realistic, we all work for the money don't we, so surely that would be the place to start. Teachers are striking because their pay rise is below inflation and makes it hard for them to make ends meet. It's all very well saying leave the job, but that is a very short-sighted and unhelpful approach. As for the conditions - well that is largely to do with the national curriculum and all the extra work that entails. Part of the argument is that teachers should get paid more for all that they are taking on. So it is related to the conditions. As for the complaints about SATS etc, this is something we should all be taking up because it affects all our children. Why should we expect teachers to take a day off work unpaid to complain about an education policy that many of know is not benefitting our children - we, the parents, should be taking action about this,
"Most people chose to teach because they want to teach. Fifty percent leave after the first few years when they realise the reality. This cannot be good for our education system"
They would have more sympathy from me if they were striking about the way the job has changed irrevocably over the past 20 years or so from a job where you were in charge in your own classroom to a job where you have to not only teach, but be seen to teach, and prove what you have been teaching. It strikes me that what is a reasonable level of pay for a job which is essentially 8.30 - 4.00 with some marking in the eves, but not so much lesson planning if you've been teaching for a number of years (what my impression of teaching 20 years ago is), and a reasonable rate of pay for something that also covers all the paperwork / SATs / proofs needed today is a totally different thing.
Highly doubt they would, stix, because most people on the news today are complaining about the strike because they have had to organise childcare and are worried about the detrimental effects having one day ONE day off school will have on their child. Doubt this would change if teachers were striking because of the national curriculum. Most people chose to teach because they want to teach. Fifty percent leave after the first few years when they realise the reality. This cannot be good for our education system and surely recognising them for the hard work they do would be a start.
) were really yelling about resources and materials, text books and pencils etc. Conditions in which they work and pay rises. 
