Teachers potentially striking again

[CitrusSparklePinkClouds]

Teachers want a pay rise above the rate of inflation this time.

1. Yes, don't we all?!
2. Haven't kids missed enough school?

I was a teacher for 27 years. I’d be striking.

In fact l hope there is a national strike.

@CitrusSparklePinkClouds just because you can't strike doesn't mean you should resent any other profession for doing so.

Go and retrain as a teacher if their pay is so great and conditions so favourable??

Teacher bashing has got to the most ridiculous level, it's no wonder people are dropping out of the profession like flies.

Teachers don't deserve less money because you get less money, everyone deserves more... and the only way that will happen is by supporting industrial action. Teachers aren't there to babysit for you while you work.

Hi UsforThem, you absolute non-teacher-haters 😂😂

If you think the government will fund an increase in salary for teacher without a strike, you’re in lalaland.

I fully support a strike despite the inconvenience I will be caused.

Yes me to.

But they also care about their own kids and keeping a roof over their head and being able to have luxuries like heating.

CitrusSparklePinkClouds · Today 06:37

Yes. Agreed this issue needs sorting. But adding to the shitshow we are all currently facing as a country is not the answer imo.”

what is the answer, in your opinion?

If the government cared they would ensure everyone was paid a higher rate of pay and would make sure their own wages weren’t as high. I mean who can live off of 9.50 an hour minimum wage for over 21’s?can you imagine our MP’s living off this?

support staff are paid low as well so I suspect if teachers strike so will they. Last year we got 2% which wasn’t paid until may this year! So not only is inflation going up but also we aren’t even getting it when it’s needed yet still expected to work.

teachers and support staff are often funding supplies out of their own pockets and parents are quick to mention when supplies are running low or out of hours subsidised activities are cut.

😆

If you don't want teachers (or anyone else) to go on strike then email your MP and tell them to support liveable wages and proper funding for public services. This government have cut everything to the bone in order to fatten up their own purses and those of their mates, this is the end result.

Many of these part time teachers are also doing school work on their days off to keep up with demands of teaching so if they are taking on second jobs they will have less time to spend on planning, marking etc.

It’s interesting to see that part time teachers often choose to tutor or do something outside of education to top up their wage rather than increase the number of days they teach for. I suspect this is due to working conditions and work life balance although that’s for another thread!

Many teachers work prt time or job share after maternity due to the lack of childcare because we also have a childcare crisis - also caused by this government and chronic underfunding of services.

Lots of the FT teachers I know have other jobs in a variety of sectors.

I'll be striking. I can't strike over funding cuts and the impact on education. I can strike over my pay and conditions.

Once upon a time, long ago, when I was a young teacher, there were a series of negotiations, involving strikes, which ended up with a settlement fixing teacher's pay to a particular level of civil service pay, and a promise that that arrangement would stand in perpetuity. I retired just before it was broken. And the breakage has been continued so that pay has declined against inflation.
This is not fair dealing, as Kipling had his Sussex peasant declare to his Norman master (Whether this was before or after Kipling complained about his employees at Batemans asking for a pay rise I do not know. It did him no good in the village.)
At about the time Kipling's staff felt they needed more, the government decided they needed to reduce teachers' pay by 10%, the Geddes Axe. Don't worry, they were told. we'll put it back when things improve. They didn't. Of course.
Governments can rely on every single one of us having dealt with a bad teacher, by whom we judge all the rest. Some of us have had the good fortune to meet a really good one, but there are enough who can drag that nasty piece of work out of memory when the subject of teachers' pay comes up, and decry any suggestion that the labourers are worthy of their hire. Governments cannot be trusted to stick to agreements, feeling that groundswell of support.

OP is completely ignoring the posters challenging her on her use of 'again'. The NUT last went on strike in 2016, for one day. My own union last balloted me about strike action in 2011.

It’s got to the point on MN now where unless you represent the ‘no one has it worse than me group’ there is no validity in your opinion.

It’s irrelevant whether you can or can’t strike in your profession and how much you do or don’t earn. If teachers have it so easy, go be one.

Of course parents will be rightly concerned if teachers and TAs go on strike. To deny them that because you constantly compare to your own situation is ridiculous and also shows a complete lack of understanding of how bad things ALREADY are for YOUR child and will get MUCH WORSE given the situation with school budgets. In 2 years you’ll have wish they went on strike because lots of teachers at your school will have been made redundant, see how you feel then.

People really need to educate themselves on a topic before posting utter bollocks and then flouncing off.

Of course you should be concerned about any strike. Of course they shouldnimpact people (that's the point of them).
Direct your anger at the government or companies who aren't treating their staff fairly.

I remember first few days of lockdown learning where people were posting on social media and forums 'teachers deserve a massive pay rise". Funny how quickly people forget.

Why does it have to turn into 'well I worked more than my teacher mate during first lockdown' and 'my kids teacher is crap so doesnt deserve ampayrise anyway'.
Can we not just accept that it's properly fucking shit all around and things need to change? Teachers and their unions are doing what they can to ensure a fair and reasonable pay rise. Every other person in a similar situation would do the same.

Whoever it was upthread who said they'd lose their job if they went on strike. You can't be sacked over any form of industrial action if done legitimately and legally. Don't make ridiculous statements which aren't true in an effort to support your argument

Don't teachers earn around 40k a year? They're hardly on minimum wage

If you want decent education for your children you should support this whole heartedly

Only the most experienced. Please remember that teaching is a graduate profession and that most teachers hold a postgraduate qualification in addition to their degree.

www.nasuwt.org.uk/static/c4b7b523-eeb7-4f92-bd1fa0d8d97bb250/Teachers-Pay-Scales-2022-England-exc-London.pdf

@Vastlyunderrated

We’ll like any profession, everyone is not paid the same 🤔 But since you ask, starting salary is around £25k. For that you need a degree and post grad qualification. Those with more experience are obviously paid more.

Isn't that the way it should work? 25k for a graduate isn't the worst salary in the world. Plus they get around 30 week's holiday a year it's not all bad

1. There has not been a teacher strike for years.
2. Support staff are being balloted for strikes too (quite rightly, they should strike).
3. Teachers are leaving the profession in droves. And I don't mean moving to the private sector (I taught it in for years and have many friends still in it) because teaching is one of the careers where the private sector is not a better place for staff pay and terms and conditions and working hours, unless maybe you are at one of about 3 top prestigious boarding schools (at least at secondary level). They are quitting teaching altogether.
4. Salaries have been frozen. My childcare bill takes most of mine. Soon it won't be viable for many teachers with pre school children to work.
5. The issue with the payrise is it isn't funded by the government, so not only will it not stop teachers leaving because it still isn't enough to live, but it will also mean redundancies and more hours for those left. I already work 60+ hours a week.
6. This will lead to more teachers leaving the profession. You see where I'm going?
7. I taught full time through covid, both lockdowns. Stop using it as a red herring.
8. All the pps complaining their kids' teachers are awful? I hear you. I have some colleagues we would rather not have hired because they are useless. But there weren't any other choices because of all the above. Having less capable teachers is a reason to support teachers striking so you can keep the good ones and your school can interview and choose.

This year, we are grateful for the 'bad' teachers because at least they are there. We have whole classes not being taught by teachers in a couple of subjects. A teacher sets some work (above and beyond their own full timetable) and a cover supervisor sits with them. Maybe one of the teachers in the department might find time to look at or mark some work, but they already have a full timetable of their own classes to mark for. I dread one of my department leaving and us ending up in this situation. This isn't education. But there were zero applicants for the jobs and the supply agencies didn't have anyone either. This is a nice secondary comp in a 'nice' area. Even 5 years ago we would not have imagined this as a problem.

So OP, it looks like your choices (in the real world, where teachers are people who need to pay their own bills and feed their own kids) are:

1. You support teachers now and cope with a short strike of a day or two. OR
2. You get used to it. 3 or 4 day school week due to teacher shortages coming soon. OR
3. You accept your children won't be taught and won't get an education. They will be babysat by cheap gap year students because there are no teachers left.

This isn't saying other professions don't have it tough. They do. And I totally support them striking even if it is inconvenient to me.

And like other professions where things are also difficult, this is reality in education at the moment too. There aren't any fairytale options on offer. Just these ones.

Which do you prefer?