Asking teachers & doctors...

[PolkaDotMankini]

Would you rather:

a) Be paid more
b) Have your working environment fully resourced, with enough time to do everything well in standard hours, the right number of staff, decent equipment, computer systems etc.

The rules on strikes seem to force strikes to be about pay when actually pay would be ok if it wasn't for the awful conditions. Conversely, IMHO no amount of dosh is going to make up for a terrible working environment and ridiculous hours.

Obviously both would be best, but am I right?

I'm going for C as well noble.

We will only get B if we are in a job that is valued and properly funded. My colleagues' DH dropped her at school recently. He said 'fucking Hell, when did the TARDIS come and take me to the 1970s?'

B
We need more staff to be able to a proper job. Especially to cater for SEN.

A pay rise wouldn't have kept me in secondary school teaching. Better conditions, supportive management and better behaviour from some pupils and the parents would have been a bigger hold.

I now teach in primary, albeit not as a paid teacher. Most of our teaching staff would vote for B than A. A would be nice. B should be the minimum we expect.

And if and when A is happening it should be fully funded; not be expected to come out of existing budgets.

Work in education. Definitely B.

*What we actually need is

C) a government that values education (and health).*

You're right noblegiraffe.
And tbh A and B would happened anyone, if C was in place.

Teacher here. 23 years in and it gets harder every year. I would definitely like easier daily working conditions but I reached the top of my pay band 13 years ago and my pay has stagnated (decreased with inflation). I've learned so much these last 13 years and I'm not being financially rewarded for this. I think I'm worth more. I think all my long- standing colleagues are worth more and my students deserve the best.

Doctor: B

Agree with this. Also a teacher of 23 years! Every year we go through the appraisal process - I have to prove that I’m constantly improving but there’s no reward for it but if you don’t prove you have met the targets then you go through disciplinary and pushed out.

Interesting. I'm also for C but wanted to get to the bottom of a and b.

I don't work in either of those professions but I do have two DC in school (junior & secondary).

I'd find this very demoralising. The pay roses coming at the expense of cutting elsewhere are bonkers too.

My SIL is a GP. She works PT on very decent pay but hates it because there's never enough time to actually help people.

*rises. If I got roses instead of a pay rise and the equipment needed to do my job, I'd be MN-fuming!

@PolkaDotMankini i am a teacher and would definitely rather B but you aren’t able to strike over that. You can only strike over your own personal pay, that’s why the TA’s aren’t able to come out in support of the teachers.

Exactly this.

Definitely B (teacher) but it was be nice to be paid properly.

Teacher and 100% B

In fact I've got an interview on Monday to leave teaching - on a 10k pay cut to work a 36 hour working week. This would easily halve my time spent at work.

It's a shame as I love teaching, and my last observation I was old if graded would have been a solid outstanding. Been teaching 25 years, but now I just want a life.

That’s it exactly! You get someone with less experience telling you to jump through hoops doing xyz, when you did that last time it was a fad ten or fifteen years ago. You have to do it and prove you are doing it, or face disciplinary and losing your job.

Very similar experience here, except I worked in early years rather than as a teacher. I miss the direct contact with children but the working conditions are so much more manageable.

Honestly, A. I was a high flyer at school, have a First class degree and now see all my peers far out-earning me in jobs that don't necessarily carry any more responsibility or require niche-skills. I believe we need well-educated, academic teachers, and the entry requirements to the job should be higher (but as it is, not enough people want the job anyway). I work in a nice school though. I do my best with what we have and think the children get a good deal - they're happy and overall have a nice primary experience even if we don't have all the resources we should in a rich country.

b …. I don’t think more money makes you happier and our salaries are absolutely fine. Working environment is not fine currently :(

Teacher here - absolutely option B.

Work conditions are ridiculous and I'm only three years in and want to leave!

B. I'm a teacher

Ex teacher and B for me.

Doctor - B absolutely. Not just better for me but also for the patients

Teacher here B for me.
My take on it is that the whole country is now in the reaping what you sow part of having a Tory government for 13 years. The lack of funding in so many sectors is now coming home to roost.
In my school the main issues are caused by an absolutely massive upswing in children with huge SEN needs that we are simply unable to support due to a lack of funding and poor wages for support staff. If we could pay someone really good money for being a 1:1 we might be able to employ someone who could really support a child but when you get better pay in Tesco, no-one is interested and I completely understand why. Parents had all of their support systems withdrawn with the dissolving of Sure Start centres and many people simply don't know how to parent their children. There are very few educational psychologists because, again, the funding isn't there and as for places in specialist schools - absolutely no chance. We currently have 30 children who are unable to access mainstream classrooms and more starting in reception in September, we are at the end of our tethers.

Nurse - B. But I just can't imagine it