Little moan about the strikes…

[Postcovid]

DC has likely ASD and ADHD, year 2. His cohort I feel has been really affected by Covid as it is.

His school is 3 form entry. In the whole school only 3 classes are closing due to strikes - his class, one of the reception classes, and then one year 4 class. They’ll be closed on all of the four strike days while the rest of the school carries on.

This isn’t a direct attack at teachers striking, they have their reasons.

But I’ve just had to deal with a meltdown from my DC because we’ve booked him into (expensive) childcare for the day, we have no family nearby to look after him for the day and we can’t take time off work. His little sister is going to reception as normal so makes it very tricky for him.

I wrote to school asking if anything could be done for him on the strike days given he has SEN, and was essentially told “theme the breaks”.

I’m not interested in the “well if you care about your SEN child then you should support the strikes” because I’m dealing with the here and now, today, and a further four days where my SEN DC is going to feel the impact of the strikes. Whilst the vast majority of his school is able to carry on as normal.

That his teacher is striking but the other class teachers are in different unions, or not striking but they cant be asked to cover thr striking teachers work and TAs can only cover if they normally would cover that class. Its not bad orgsnisation its the legal stance.

@RobinRobinMouse is that true? For lots of posters (pro strike, teachers) it seems ideological. They want to stick it to the Tories. I can get behind that, but not when it has such a knock on effect for kids, parents, other parts of the economy's

^economy.

Ah yes worth a shot.

I'm all for strikes but for kids with SEN if schools can try and keep some sort of provision that would be most helpful.

Seriously ☝️

But that’s the point of strikes - they need to be disruptive to be effective. And if day of missing school is so awful for the kids, the Govt should cancel the extra bank hol for the King’s coronation.

@Inkpotlover I'm invested, I just don't back striking

That is exactly the reason why the teachers are striking. People like you, who have a lot to offer the profession, are put off because the cost of retraining is not then made up for in the pay that is offered. It makes no financial sense for you to make the move. If pay was better then you might be more tempted.

It is really hard for you and your ds and that is something I would discuss with the school, or consider taking hoilday and your dd out too so you can do something as a family, and he doesn't see her going to school when he can't, especially when there are two strike days together.

I have really mixed feelings about the strikes but I will say this about lack of SEN provision in the long term and how it will affect us all.

There is a boy in DS's class who is causing massive issues. He needs specialist support. At the moment he doesn't have a one to one and at break times he's not properly supervised.

He's controlling and violent. DS last week expressed that he and his friends were afraid of him and often did what this kid wanted otherwise he'd kick off.

The way things are going he will get kicked out of school eventually for a violent incident. Several parents are v worried about this because they don't want their kid to be on the recieving end of that. But equally it could be a member of staff and having a replacement member of staff will affect them. The disruption to the class itself is disrupting their education.

Years 2 and 3 are apparently particularly badly affected by COVID but it's had it's impact on the whole school. And that in turn is leading to teachers and TAs quitting. So the problem will continue for years.

What are the long term implications of this?

Firstly there's going to be a massive cohort who end up expelled or drawn into criminal/ violent behaviour because their SEN needs were never addressed at school (look up how SEN adults are over represented in the stats on that. That's only going to worsen).
Secondly a drop in standards of education in this country has economic implications. It will play out in GDP etc. There won't be enough people in relevant professions with the max number of skills.

So to say it's only about now is short sighted. It's massively important as our future is built on bringing through educating kids well.

When your child reaches secondary and there’s no TAs and is being taught by unqualified staff as they can’t fill vacancies, and they’re in a mainstream system that they can’t cope with because there’s no money for support, what then op ? Because that is the reality your child will be facing

Are people saying that if teachers earned say, £100K a year, they'd still be striking over the impact on children? Somehow I think the thresholds would not get met. And that's not a criticism, I support the strikes, but be realistic!

In my area there is a further 2 year wait for a place.

So the school, parents and services have spent time - months, years possibly - evidencing that a child's needs are not being met AND THEN THEY HAVE TO WAIT FOR 2 BLOODY YEARS.

The system is failing both SN and NT child.

We are not retaining teachers & we need them. Improving pay and conditions is vital but only half the story. We need more SN schools and specialist teachers and TAs and Ed Pychs and SLT.

If your child is in Yr 2 you've got another 11 eleven years in the system - it's not going to magically get better.

Support the teachers. They are not just striking for more pay. They are battling underfunding for SEN. They are fighting for your child

I stand with everyone from every sector that's striking no matter how much of an inconvenience it is for me.

OP you are also fine to have a moan, no one can take that away from you. It's hard especially in your situation with a child with SEN.

There is no wrong here.

I don't think you are selfish at all OP. More disruption to children's education. I honestly don't know where people thought the money from furlough etc would be coming from. I too work in the private sector and haven't had a pay rise of note in several years.

Exactly

Whilst rail strikes are annoying, it seems amoral to do this when children’s education is incovked

i would love to hear more from the teachers that have decided not to strike and their reasons for it

The only teachers I know who aren’t striking are ones from different unions so don’t have a mandate to strike. They still support the striking staff though

"I'm aLRiGHt JAck"

Lol I don’t think you are.

You seem nOt oK

You are happy they are striking I assume. I’m glad my dc are going in. You can feel differently so what

So presumably you'll all be lobbying the Govt to rescind the extra bank holiday in May for the King's Coronation? That day off is going to be disrupting children's education too.

Well, a lot of it could've been clawed back from the Government's fat cat mates who milked the PPE contracts. Or the £19.7 BILLION in bounce back loans that went to fraudsters and criminal gangs that have been written off now.

Would he cope better with days off if they were with your or his DF, OP? How much is the expensive childcare, and how much is it compared to you taking unpaid carer’s/parental leave?

If your child has SEN you should be fully behind the strikes… the cutting of sen funding is frankly disgusting. It’s one day.. think about your child’s whole educational future.

@Unexpecteddrivinginstructor retraining would cost me thousands up front, I couldn't afford it when I was early 20's and couldn't afford it now! I don't have that kind of money to pay for a course and couldn't live off a student loan either.

@jumperoozles I wish people would stop saying it's one day. It's not, it's four days in little more than a month. That's almost a week of school.

@NoSquirrels the childcare is far far less than losing a day unfortunately. I say expensive, it's not unaffordable by any means, but it's a few tens of pounds which we have had to pay out off the cuff! Same as a holiday club (it is essentially a holiday club, some businesses are doing well from the strikes!).

Thank you to everyone who's been understanding about the effect on a SEN child. Ironically I would be much less bothered if it were my DD's class that was closed as she hasn't had any impact to her education from covid, and she is NT so would cope far better with the change and going to a holiday club for the day.