Explaining teacher strikes to children

[mids2019]

How are you explaining the strikes to school children?

Is anybody discussing industrial relations and public sector pay to their kids or do you avoid the politics.

Obviously teachers promote hard work and conscientious attendance at school so how do they themselves frame their action to children.

My children think it's unfair that they have to have high attendance but teachers can strike so have had to explain the paucity of public sector pay and poor working conditions in teaching but then again I am quite left leaning. Have others done the same!

I would say teachers are refusing to work to show they are annoyed with pay and lack of money to buy equipment that schools and by default yiur children need. They have tried to talk to politicians in London,but they are not listening

Most teachers are striking because they believe education as a whole should be better funded, so we could have better ratios and better support for SEN.
As the government haven’t funded recent pay rises, this means schools are short of cash which affects children directly.

i've explained it in the context of "fighting for what you believe in" a bit like the suffragettes and highlighted the importance of standing up for yourself if you aren't being treated fairly. My 7 year old has understood this perfectly clearly and is very supportive of teachers doing what they need to do

My dc never complained about strikes. They knew from an early age that strikes were for good reasons. So l never had to explain anything much.

Their teachers want them to have a better education and they need people’s help to achieve this. They hope the strike will make people listen. All the fun things like art and science need resources to make them enjoyable and schools do not have enough money to buy them. Soon they might not have enough money to buy pencils and glue sticks if things do not change. Teachers want there to be enough grown-ups in school for everyone to get the support they need e.g. to help them with their work, hear them read most days, give them time when they are sad or worried. There are not enough adults in schools to keep everyone safe and happy and teachers think that children deserve the best!

DH's parents are retired union-leader teachers so DS (8) is well versed!
We even have a Christmas bauble that says "deck the halls and fuck the Tories"!

He knows what it says and why but is too polite to say the f word out loud bless him.

Well tell your kids life isn’t fair 🤷🏼‍♀️ Different rules for kids and adults. It’s a great lesson for life.

I told DS it's because schools don't have enough money or enough staff and teachers care so much about protesting about this that they feel their only option is to get together and make their voice heard by striking.
I told him it's definitely not about laziness or wanting a day off or just wanting more money for themselves, which i know he will probably hear from other parents and kids.

You explain that the amount of work teachers are doing is too much so both the children and adults at school are suffering and it will get worse unless we stand together and ask for change, that was sufficient for my 8 year old.

I’m a teacher. I’ve told my class and my DSD, broadly, that we want more money and better conditions in order to improve education standards for them.

My children were loving strike day Tuesday first two weeks of term. Apparently teachers should strike every Tuesday forever more; no reason required. I suspect they are lacking in moral fibre.

This In the 70's we went on rallys to support our infant school teachers. I didn't understand the finer details of the strike but understood the pay campaign and knew our milk had been stopped.

I told DS age 6 that they are protesting against their pay and the amount of money the school get. I said neither are enough to make sure you learn everything as well as you can. He knows I support it too.

www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/64290897