Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

More teacher strikes, Thursday 27th April, Tuesday 2nd May

151 replies

noblegiraffe · 27/03/2023 19:21

Fair warning, the NEU have said that if their members vote to reject the derisory government pay offer, they will immediately announce two further strike dates.

"If you vote to reject this offer, the executive has agreed to notify two further days of strike action on Thursday, 27 April and Tuesday, 2 May. The executive has agreed to seek local agreements with head teachers to ensure exam preparation is not interrupted for Years 11 and 13."

From the response on edutwitter and from colleagues, I think the offer will be rejected.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4772501-up-yours-gillian-keegan-teacher-pay-offer

Up yours, Gillian Keegan - teacher pay offer. | Mumsnet

Mumsnet makes parents' lives easier by pooling knowledge, advice and support on everything from conception to childbirth, from babies to teenagers.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4772501-up-yours-gillian-keegan-teacher-pay-offer

OP posts:
Thread gallery
11
BlackeyedSusan · 27/03/2023 22:52

Like ripping a plaster off quickly?

Honestly one really struggles to understand the lack of connections they make between teacher retention and recruitment and conditions and pay.

I left to move for marriage and family. Never went back as kids were too disabled for me to work.

Mexicocalling · 27/03/2023 22:53

It’s a disgusting offer. I wish the press would explain to the general public just how bad the situation is with teacher wages and school budgets. This offer would mean teachers in England will be paid thousands of pounds per year less than those who work in Wales and Scotland… like almost £9,000 pounds less in the case of Scotland. How is that in any way reasonable?

The offer is a disgrace. I voted reject,

MrsHerculePoirot · 28/03/2023 07:11

Woken up and am even angrier about the offer this morning than I was last night.

I am at least heartened not to have seen anyone calling to accept at least.

We really need parents to be angry about this as well - and not with teachers but with the government. If that offer goes ahead loads of schools will need to make budget cuts which will entail redundancies….. FFS.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

General education
PuttingDownRoots · 28/03/2023 07:16

Will the other teaching unions really for strike action?

Completely respect the stand NEU is taking. Teachers deserve respect.

quiteathome · 28/03/2023 07:22

One of the points of the strike was for a funded pay rise. (at least that was my understanding)

I think parents are so exhausted trying to keep themselves afloat that it is getting to be a struggle. We all want to be angry about everything, but it is turning into a struggle I think. (At least for why people are not angrier)

Cherryana · 28/03/2023 07:32

What it would be helpful for non-teachers to understand is that even IF we would vote ‘yes’ to this pay offer, because it’s un-funded, it would actually be a vote for our own redundancies and less teaching staff in school/worse strain on an already collapsing system.

SpringIntoChaos · 28/03/2023 07:34

bluechameleon · 27/03/2023 21:17

I also haven't received the email.

Mine went into my junk folder...👍

SleepyMathematician · 28/03/2023 07:44

BlackeyedSusan · 27/03/2023 22:52

Like ripping a plaster off quickly?

Honestly one really struggles to understand the lack of connections they make between teacher retention and recruitment and conditions and pay.

I left to move for marriage and family. Never went back as kids were too disabled for me to work.

Same, I left for kids. I never went back because the pay was getting worse and worse in real terms and the conditions too. I never went back because I can earn as much money in 3-4 hours teaching maths at home as I could in a day at school. Because being offered sometimes only just over £100 a day for supply when I was getting £110 twenty years ago is an insult to my training, knowledge and years of experience. Because Maths and Physics teachers can earn a fortune elsewhere if they choose and we are asking them to struggle financially instead just for the sheer love of teaching. My daughter is a science teacher. She and her partner both have a masters in Physics. After only a couple of years since graduation he’s earning double her wage in a different job. The PGCE was the most mentally challenging thing she’s ever done in her life. And they wonder why they can’t get teachers.

It’s a crying shame. Every single school in the area where I live is crying out for maths teachers and I used to love the job. But I can’t at my age keep up with the relentless conditions or the dire pay. The government seem too stubborn to make this connection.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 28/03/2023 16:35

Gillian Keegan has said that the shit offer is the only offer teachers will get and there is in fact now no offer.

I don't know anyone who has voted to accept so I suspect the strikes are ON.

OP posts:
MrsHerculePoirot · 28/03/2023 22:25

I think she’s proper shot herself in the foot here. Those teachers who weren’t enraged before seem to be now, including members of my SLT who were a bit blasé before, but the fact she’s offered a payrise UNFUNDED which they can’t afford seems to have pushed them over the edge.

surreygirl1987 · 29/03/2023 22:12

Absolutely. I don't know how she's going to claw back from that.

Easterfunbun · 29/03/2023 22:13

Parents don’t give a shit though now they’ve adjusted to the strikes. Sigh.

Vixx60 · 30/03/2023 06:18

I understand that the local agreements will allow teachers to go into school to teach exam classes only, and then leave. Like most teachers, I struggled with the whole concept of striking, and to lose a day's pay and pension at a time when it's hard to pay the bills has added to the angst, but the education system cannot sustain this continued erosion of funding.

MrsMurphyIWish · 30/03/2023 06:23

Vixx60 · 30/03/2023 06:18

I understand that the local agreements will allow teachers to go into school to teach exam classes only, and then leave. Like most teachers, I struggled with the whole concept of striking, and to lose a day's pay and pension at a time when it's hard to pay the bills has added to the angst, but the education system cannot sustain this continued erosion of funding.

How will that work?

I have Yr 11 and 13 on the strike days? Am I paid for teaching those classes?

Will have to speak to rep.

MrsHerculePoirot · 30/03/2023 06:25

We haven’t been given any information yet as reps. They haven’t had the official results from the ballots.

SleepyMathematician · 30/03/2023 10:18

noblegiraffe · 28/03/2023 16:35

Gillian Keegan has said that the shit offer is the only offer teachers will get and there is in fact now no offer.

I don't know anyone who has voted to accept so I suspect the strikes are ON.

I cannot stand Gillian Keegan. She’s my local MP and utterly, utterly shit. She doesn’t give a damn about her constituents. I knew it was going to get even worse for schools when she was announced as minister for education.
But we are a hugely Tory area and I imagine she will, depressingly, get voted back in by the idiots who would vote for anything wearing a Tory badge. Grrrr!

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 03/04/2023 09:21

98% of NEU votes were to reject the pay offer so the strikes are on.

OP posts:
RoyGBivisacolorfulman · 03/04/2023 09:26

She need to fund any pay rise.

More teacher strikes, Thursday 27th April, Tuesday 2nd May
Tsuipen · 03/04/2023 09:28

Here’s hoping results from other unions are similar.

MrsMurphyIWish · 03/04/2023 09:35

I’m not sure how the strikes won’t impact exam classes. I have Yr 11 and 13 on both strike days.

gkd1234 · 03/04/2023 09:35

I'm a Y13 parent, broadly in favour of the strikes - but anxious about how many lessons have been missed in one particular subject now (which happens to be her weakest). I hope patchy teaching for exam years over this last term will be taken into account but nothing has been announced by exam boards.
Final year of older child's degree has also pretty much fizzled out due to striking lecturers. Boy, has that cohort had bad value for money - starting with a year of Covid and finishing with strikes. It's criminal that they've been charged so much for such a poor experience.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 03/04/2023 09:40

I hope patchy teaching for exam years over this last term will be taken into account but nothing has been announced by exam boards

They don't need to. If this cohort are badly prepared because of the strikes and do worse because of them, the grade boundaries will be adjusted to be lower. The grade distribution will be the same as it would have been if the strikes didn't happen.

OP posts:
Cinderellaspumpkin · 03/04/2023 09:43

Not the main point but why don't they at least do the strikes on a Monday/ Friday do families can enjoy a 3 day weekend??

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 03/04/2023 09:44

The Tuesday is after the May Day Bank holiday so you get a 4 day weekend there.

OP posts:
PrivateSchoolTeacherParent · 03/04/2023 09:52

noblegiraffe · 03/04/2023 09:40

I hope patchy teaching for exam years over this last term will be taken into account but nothing has been announced by exam boards

They don't need to. If this cohort are badly prepared because of the strikes and do worse because of them, the grade boundaries will be adjusted to be lower. The grade distribution will be the same as it would have been if the strikes didn't happen.

I would be happy to strike in solidarity with state-sector colleagues, but indie-school teachers weren't balloted (as we reach our own pay deals with individual schools, and my place has just announced 7%). I hadn't considered it, but one knock-on effect of this is that our kids won't have had any strike-related disruption in the run-up to the exams, giving them yet another advantage.

Swipe left for the next trending thread