"Stop trading fatuous sound bites" headteacher union tells govt as 2-day strike looms

[noblegiraffe]

Usually mild-mannered Geoff Barton, head of the ASCL (union of school and college leaders) is very pissed off with Gillian Keegan. She is the first education secretary since 2006 to not attend the ASCL annual conference. She claimed she wouldn't be able to make it as she would be in pay talks with the unions. Except she's not.

She's not only holding teachers in contempt, but now school leaders too.

The teacher strikes are being depicted by the government and Keegan as the NEU playing silly buggers. In fact, the NEU are being supported in their stance by the other education unions.

Geoff says in his article "Predictably, no talks are taking place, and the government has rejected calls from education unions, including ASCL, to bring in the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) to arbitrate in an attempt to break the deadlock.

To recap, the deadlock is as follows. Talks between the education unions and the government had been taking place until the government decided upon a new tactic which was to call off further talks (with all the education unions) until the NEU agreed to suspend strike action.

The government wants the NEU to do this without there being any offer on the table, or indeed any hint of an offer.

Unsurprisingly, the NEU has rejected this demand.

The government is cross about the NEU stance and has been busily putting out communications venting righteous indignation.

God knows how this is meant to help achieve a resolution to the dispute.

This leaves us with the stark fact that there is still no settlement and that further strike action, barring a last-minute miracle, will take place across the country next Wednesday and Thursday."

Kids once again missing out due to the total lack of value placed on education and bullshit posturing by this shitty government.

www.tes.com/magazine/analysis/general/snow-strikes-and-soundbites-pay-dispute-must-be-settled

I have no words - all very depressing. I'm a HT and feel thrown to the wolves by the Government really as their anti-teacher rhetoric filters through to parents who are increasingly unpleasant towards staff. What do you think the end point will be? (I have no idea)

Headteachers were treated so appallingly by the government during the pandemic that I'm surprised there any any left.

Pressure being put on HTs to undermine teacher strike action by covering striking teachers and keep kids in school even if they don't have teachers is also unacceptable as it is attempting to set headteachers against their staff, where the teacher dispute is actually with the government. And it's creating a huge workload for HTs that the government could remove by seriously negotiating with teachers.

I feel so sorry for HTs continually being dropped in it like this.

What do you think the end point will be?

Given that the only thing the government appears to be putting money into education-wise is Oak Academy, I suspect the end point is huge numbers of kids in the hall watching videos (already happening) and that being the new 'education'.

I feel so sorry for my headteacher as they are under so much pressure to keep the school open at all costs to the detriment of their relationship with the staff. I do try to remind people it's not them but they are rightly pissed off.
It's causing a massive divide, almost as if that's what the DfE wants ..

@themimi it must be so hard.

Our HT includes a line about the strikes “not being about the school but a bout govt policies” in every letter to parents, which I think is great.

It's causing a massive divide, almost as if that's what the DfE wants ..

The government are also trying to pit union against union by saying to the NEU 'well the nurses agreed to call off their strikes, why haven't you?'

And the response there is 'I dunno why nurses seem to think that the negotiations they are having are in good faith, but the government has done nothing to demonstrate that any talks with teachers would be anything more than hot air, given that they literally just recommended another pay cut for teachers next year, give us an offer to discuss if you're serious'.

As a teacher, the thing I most hate kids doing is lying to me.
Stop lying, Gillian. It's not an attractive trait.

Now that teachers in Wales and Scotland have pay rises, there is an appreciable pay gap, too. How can that be sustained?

This government doesn't care about your children's education, mental health or anything else!

I think the government think it weakens teachers by it only being the NEU. I wish the NASUWT had met the thresholds. Keegan can continue to claim that most teachers are perfectly content.

That other thread going right now shows that it's probably because teachers are reluctant to ask for a pay rise, not because they are content!

The terrible recruitment and teacher vacancy numbers should speak for themselves.

Yes, teachers seem uniquely averse to asking for money. And yet, the government positions the profession as a bunch of lefties.

Yes, we're the ones who are 'ultra militant' in the press and yet the NAS didn't even get close to 50% turnout on the ballot and the NEU only squeaked over the line.

Junior doctors on the other hand, 77% turnout! How?

I heard a speech by Ruth Kelly last year, when she described herself as being in the last government of adults.

I felt that was insulting to children to compare them with this government. Talks should be without conditions.