Teachers balloting for strike action - school closures

[noblegiraffe]

A pre-ballot poll from the NEU suggests that the ballot will be in favour.

The NASUWT have announced that their ballot will open around 27th October in England, Scotland and Wales, and will close on 9th January, I assume that the NEU will be doing similar and it would be joint action.

Strike action would mean school closures around Jan/Feb time and obviously this will impact parents who need to start thinking about arrangements for this eventuality. Please consider emailing your MP asking them to forward any concerns about this to Kit Malthouse, Secretary of State for Education, as any pressure on him from parents to avert strike action by entering pay negotiations would be highly welcome.

The current pay offer of 5% for most teachers is unfunded, meaning that it has to come out of current school budgets. This means that the pay rise will result in cuts to education provision for your children. However, this offer is after over a decade of real terms pay cuts for teachers and with inflation at 10%, teachers cannot afford more pay cuts and to continue to shoulder the burden of government financial incompetence and deliberate running into the ground of public services any longer.

The unions are asking for an above inflation fully funded pay rise for teachers. A teacher pay rise, any teacher pay rise, cannot come out of current school budgets as this will mean a lower quality of education for your children. This could involve even bigger class sizes, even fewer courses on offer, even less provision for SEN children, fewer school trips and extra curricular activities.

School funding has been devastated by the Tory government over the last 12 years. SEN funding has been cut: the impact falls on schools and teachers to deal with. CAMHS funding has been cut: the impact falls on schools and teachers to deal with. Schools are being asked to solve more and more of society's issues, with fewer and fewer resources. It's unsustainable.

People will tell you that teachers are well paid and don't deserve a pay rise. However, we have a critical shortage of teachers, and the obvious conclusion is that if we can't get teachers for the pay that is on offer, then the pay is not enough. Market forces, right?

The government know the impact of increasing pay to attract and keep teachers; they have, this week, announced a big increase to the teacher training bursaries in response to the truly dire and alarming numbers of applicants to teacher training this year. They have also introduced early career payments in shortage areas. They have yet to extend this logic to increasing teacher pay to retain more experienced teachers - the ones who are crucial in training and supporting the new and early career teachers.

I'm not suggesting in the slightest that teachers are more deserving than other workers, or that we have it harder than other workers. If you have also not had a pay rise in years, that's unacceptable. If you are balloting for strike action, or undertaking strike action to try to improve your working conditions, then all power and support to you. I really hope that school support staff join us in taking action.

This government is ruining the country. I think everyone can see that now. Instead of proposing increases to public funding, they are proposing further cuts. But we've already cut everything.

They'll claim there is no money, but then propose tax cuts for the best off. They'll reject windfall taxes even when Shell is asking for them. They'll claim that higher wages will increase inflation so they can't possibly increase wages, while talking about how important it is to move to a higher wage economy. Not higher wages for the ordinary worker though, they mean the ones already on high wages. The ones who would have benefited from the 45p tax rate cut that they've already had to u-turn on.

The DfE have said that strike will damage the education of children, that they can't afford to miss out on more school. Teachers, if they vote to strike, will be voting for better education. We want a qualified, decent teacher in front of every class. This is absolutely not happening at the moment, and will not have a chance of happening unless teacher pay and conditions improve.

TLDR: Support teachers; the government are self-interested, public service destroying, incompetent shitheads.

I remember teachers striking when I was doing my O Levels (yes I am that old). In order that we could still sit out exams parents had to invigilate, we missed our out on additional revision, so please don't say it is for the children. It will be incredibly disruptive.

I am freezing at work. Heating is turned off in the afternoon so as soon as the students leave the classroom temperature plummets. Some of us have blankets and hot water bottles. It is ridiculous to be working in those conditions. Last year it got so bad i was wearing gloves in lessons as i have raynauds. And now it is going to get worse.

Absolutely agree that bit was the bit no one should ignore.

This government keeps telling people if they can't afford the current cost of living to get a better paid job.

Well...... when all the degree educated and highly able teachers do ......

A one day strike will seem like unicorns and rainbows.

Of course it will be disruptive. That's the point.

teachers do not invigilate external exams. So without proper funding YOU will be invigilating for your childrens exams.

It isn't just teachers working in these conditions

No-one is saying strikes won't be disruptive, they are saying the alternatives are worse. The unions have timed this to try and avoid striking during exam season, the hope is that things will be resolved by Easter.

Many schools close for a few days in the winter due to bad weather. We recently had an unplanned closure because the queen died (and actually the timing of that was quite disruptive for some of my classes). These things don't have a long term impact on the education of children.

But not having a fully staffed school is deeply disruptive for children long term. Not having TA support is deeply disruptive. Imagine, e.g., your children starting secondary school without a form tutor, because the school is short staffed.

Parents on mumsnet moan (or used to moan) when their child was taught by an NQT. Surely, therefore, an unqualified teacher, or a TA filling in a teacher role, or an ECT who is also not a subject specialist is worse? But that is the reality in many schools. And even worse is when they're taught by supply and teachers who are covering, because the school can't find ANYONE who will do the job long term...

It's not a race to the bottom Imissyou.

If others are also experiencing such poor working conditions they also have the opportunity to take action.

Not only have the government stated money must be found for this from existing (already planned and spoken for) budgets, but they've agreed to 5%, which now has to be given.

Surely they speaks to parents who want the best for their child; the government certainly do not.

And I think all teachers support workers in other sectors who are choosing to strike.

But the reality is that teachers are leaving the profession in droves. TAs are leaving. Other support staff are leaving. And recruitment onto teacher training courses this year has been the lowest since something like 2015.

The education system is crumbling, and as a teacher I obviously feel educating young people is very important. I could walk away and get a different job which pays more and contributes less to society (I wouldn't need to retrain to do this, it would be similar to the job I had before teaching). Many other teachers are in this position.

So I feel like we either strike, or we let the state education system crumble.

I’m a teacher and voted for strike action in the preliminary ballot.

I work at a primary school in a deprived area. We already have several classes taught full time by unqualified teachers and full time trainee teachers in others. Some classes are covered for part of the week by TAs. There are several TA positions vacant, as they are leaving in droves to go and work in supermarkets/McDonald’s/anywhere else basically and can’t be replaced as there are no candidates applying. It’s not uncommon to see support staff broken down in tears as they are stretched so thinly.

We have no luxuries - there is no wiggle room for ingredients for cookery or consumables for science experiments. Trips are minimal, because our families find it hard to contribute and we can only afford so much. We have been asked to watch our energy usage carefully as the school is genuinely concerned about how they will pay energy bills this winter.

No way can schools afford to pay 5% pay rises. These need to be funded. It’s just pure insanity for the government to suggest otherwise. Education is in crisis, even if you don’t believe it from what you see.

💕

Totally support the strike action. The government are bleeding us dry.
more professions/ industries will strike and I will support them too.

I always think of this quote fromSam Seaborn on the west wing when it comes to teachers pay:

^Education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don’t need little changes, we need gigantic, monumental changes. Schools should be palaces. Competition for the best teachers should be fierce; they should be making six figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge to it citizens.

^
I have a child in reception year, and one who will be starting in 2 years time, and i am thinking about their educational future. I fully support the teachers action. I moved jobs after being offered a 4.5% rise this year, which i thought was insulting in the current economical climate. 5% when inflation is 10% ain't that great. And it cannot be funded from existing school budgets, for all the reasons people have explained already. I want well paid, highly valued teachers who love their jobs educating my children.

So what will the situation be?

Nurses, ambulance workers, care home workers, retail staff, train drivers and staff, postal workers, teachers and anyone who either is or feels that they are underpaid for what they do, all on strike?

How does that work?

You know what really fucks things up? When we let the government get away with running public services into the ground whilst lining their cronies' pockets, because "it's not fair."

My partner left teaching last year and has joined the police. I have been a teacher for 15 years, I’m looking to retrain as a speech and language therapist.

And how do you think my hard-working year 11 DD will feel when not only has she missed a ton of school due to Covid, has to put up with sub-standard teachers who can’t even spell and/or supplies half the week and has been ignored by pastoral staff who seem to spend most of the day chatting to other staff members is told sorry, you’re going to be missing even more school because we’re not coming in?

I don't believe for one second that Labour could make school better. Where would the money come from to sort out Sen when there is a deep veined distaste among teachers to help Sen?

You are joking right?

l taught under Labour’s ‘Education, education, education’ policy. And l taught under this shitshow and under Major.

It’s like comparing Switzerland and North Korea. Small classes, working equipment, big IT budgets, schools training other schools, lots of support staff, happy staff.

And now it’s like being starved on North Korea.

l taught a practical subject. I left 2 years ago as l was sick of using equipment that didn’t work. And trying to teach classes with equipment that didn’t work. And best of all trying to get A level into university using shit shit equipment. And yet under Blair it was refreshed every 5 years…..

And even worse is when they're taught by supply and teachers who are covering, because the school can't find ANYONE who will do the job long term...

I don’t understand - there are teachers on here (and other threads) saying they can’t get a job.

Which is it?

has to put up with sub-standard teachers who can’t even spell and/or supplies half the week

She might understand the state of education and the impact of lack of investment better than you then.

Has it occurred to you that the poor quality of staff and the number of supply teachers is directly caused by the issue of underfunding?

But cannot you not understand that, with experienced teachers leaving, and not enough newbies joining there will not be enough teachers. Full. Stop.

So your order and stability can so, so easily be fucked by a resignation. No-one to replace them. So a series of supplies/cover/no quality teachers to recruit.

I am behind the strikes 100%. Teachers deserve more.

And something has to be done to improve the shortages.

Do you not realise you’ve just listed plenty of reasons for teachers to actually strike..

Also love that your daughter can witness pastoral care teachers over the entire school day (I’m sure she must attend maths/English occasionally) and now understands their remit and workload. But talking.. how awful..

Yes- that's what we're facing this winter.

If people can't afford to live, or are right on the breadline, what else are they meant to do?

There are solutions open to the government, that don't involve cocking up the economy as they have already done. Or we could have some kind of political change. I think if people felt things would get better, and there was an end in sight, it would be different.

But right now, across many sectors, people feel they are fucked, or worse, the essential service they provide is fucked. So they're faced with the option of walking away, or trying to fight for something better.

For me, state education is worth fighting for, but this does feel like a bit of a last stand- if things don't get better, or we don't have some sort of change in government soon, I will probably be looking at other options. But co-ordinated strike action by lots of unions could actual cause some positive change in this country.