Teacher strikes 5th and 7th July

[noblegiraffe]

Just announced, because Gillian Keegan has refused to clarify whether the DfE will accept the recommendation of a 6.5% pay rise from the independent pay review body, and is also refusing the publish the report.

She is also refusing to re-enter into negotiations with teachers and headteachers.

The NEU will be striking in July, all 4 teaching unions, including the headteaching unions are currently balloting for strike action in the Autumn term.

https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/teacher-strikes-2-further-days-next-month

Probably because that salary will not cover even rental/household cost monthly payments on a home?
I agree completely with your point, but the reality is the crisis level we have reached with retaining never mind recruiting teachers is devastatingly high. There needs to bee some very considered, proactive thinking applied into designing packages that are not only able to attract competent folks into the teaching profession. We also need to look at the environment they are entering and ensure this is one they will want to remain in.

I do feel for heads and governors in the current situation- the fact that budgets may have to all be rewritten over the summer is insane. In schools with an outgoing head (I know a couple of primaries around here where the head is leaving), I wonder if the new head will inherit an outdated budget?

@Butteredtoast55 💪 I hope the headteacher ballots pass.

I genuinely don't know how anyone can still be a headteacher after all the shit the government has thrown at them.

Absolutely agree...the government are fucking shits 👍

(Although I suspect you are not directing your ire at them, are you? 🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️)

Thank you, @noblegiraffe the last year has been incredibly hard and I grieve for the joy and job satisfaction that's dwindling in our profession. People have no idea what teachers and schools are dealing with right now.

I wish we coukd be brutally honest about the average day. Some pupils are being covered by people who no teaching experience at all. Behaviour is generally worse when it's a cover 'teacher' so learning is compromised. We are being good mental is a priority but staff sickness is high as re incidences of pupils in crisis yet the provision has reduced. I am considering leaving at 55 and getting a part time job to make up the shortfall. I know I am not the only person who feels like this. I will miss it but physically and emotionally I'm run ragged.

Our area has loads of teaching vacancies. My own school has several teachers leaving the profession as they've had enough and we're struggling to recruit teachers to replace them, let alone 'quality' teachers. And almost no one is applying for the TA roles.

Educating the children is becoming impossible at so many levels ... a couple of strike days pointing it out isn't the issue. It's the underfunding, the lack of funded pay rises, the lack of support, the impossible expectations...

But I decided that I'd rather go & do my fricking job overseas, for twice the take home & to see my kids taught by subject specialists in classes half the size.

I get begged to return to the UK constantly, by my old school & every agency I ever signed with
for 20 years... & guess what? I don't want to.

Now what? We are not indentured servants.

What a fucking joke. Lost all respect for teachers.

This whole situation makes me so sad. I've been a primary teacher for the last 12 years and things are so different now. It's so stressful and the only way I've managed to stay in the profession is to work part time so I can do the rest of my work on my days off. From what I've heard from Friday with secondary aged children or those who are secondary teachers it's even worse for them.

I'm a member of our SLT and we'll £200k in deficit this year so we've having to make some really difficult decisions. We've already cut everything back except staffing so this will likely mean losing TAs, putting our SENCO and deputy back into class at least part time.

The situation is utterly untenable. We have greater levels of need yet less resources to support. This has an impact on ALL children. I don't think parents realise how bad things really are in schools. Please listen to us. We want the best for your children and we truly need more money in schools. I would have voted in favour of the pay deal IF it had been fully funded.

My son is starting school this year and I'm so worried about the education system he's entering. My husband earns well so we are seriously considering going private if the state system doesn't suit him and this is something I NEVER thought we'd consider. This should not be the case in a developed country especially in an increasingly competitive global jobs market; our children simply won't be able to compete.

Luckily they don't give a shit about your respect

Something needs to give, schools are massively under-funded.
My DD has had a mix of teachers for the past year, including numerous supply teachers, there is one TA who does 3 days in DD class and two days in another, a few children with special needs and one with behaviour problems. DD’s reading book doesn’t get changed for 10-14 days and we haven’t had spellings for months, my DD doesn’t like school and I can clearly do why. I’m not blaming the teachers though but the system in place. The government are failing our children.

The people who say teachers should forgo a pay rise in favour for better conditions?

Why?

I want to be able to pay my bills, I don't want my colleagues to be having to use food banks.... I want to be rewarded in some small way for the fact that I go above and beyond every single day for my students. Oh and be able to afford my carefully scrimped food shop/bills each week.

We are paid from (roughly) 8.15 until 3.30. How many hours of overtime over the years does that accrue? Most of my colleagues get in at 7.30 and don't leave til 5.30, and go home and mark/plan lessons/write reports/fill out referrals/email parents/do the hours of admin required to go in and do it all over again the next day... that's discounting parents evenings, staff meetings, CPD, trips. I don't think anyone appreciates how much we do for free. Why shouldn't we ask for more money? We literally have the future in our hands. Your children's future.

I would love to have paper/pens/exercise books/functional blinds/windows/whiteboards etc in my classroom. I can't even get batteries for the clock in my room and have to replace them myself. I would love to have ten minutes uninterrupted every day to have lunch/go for a wee/have a chat with my colleagues. I would love to go home and spend time with my family without having to ignore them as I have too much work to do.

I would love to not get ill every single holiday as I literally carry on until I collapse and it's less stressful to just go into work with all illnesses that other people would take a good few days off for. I'd love to be able to go and see my own kid in a nativity play/sports day/take them to an long awaited nhs appt when it's finally been referred but that I can't take them to as it's not deemed as a good enough reason to not be in.

And if you only knew the woeful calibre of student teachers coming in these last ten years (the dwindling few of them that actually bother), you would be very afraid for your children's future. I am terrified for the future of mine. I want my child to be taught be specialists who have passion for their subject, not any old warm body who happens to be free, and who want to be in front of a class, and have to training and education and expertise that it takes to actually inspire children, and help them achieve their potential.

That's not going to happen, it's already not been happening for the last five plus years. And it's so scary.

Last year I had a KS3 tutor group. They had a geography teacher who left at Christmas due to ill health and could not be replaced. We were short of science teachers and about 50% of them did not have a qualified science teacher for all their lessons. We lost some maths teachers through the year, so progressively more of them spent lessons without a qualified maths teacher as well.

Due to all of this chaos, there were a lot of teachers taking more time off sick, as well- by the start of the summer term, some of them were telling me they regularly only had 1 "normal" teacher a day, or sometimes a full day of supply/cover work.

As you say, the learning is compromised, and that, combined with lockdown, means they'll go into their GCSEs with massive gaps. I'm no longer working at that school, but my understanding is the situation with science has got worse, and there are still issues with maths too- so some of them will go through this year without permanent teachers in those subjects.

The school has changed its timetables to try and protect Y10 and 11 in science. This limits the option to do triple science, but that's a separate issue. Even with the timetable changes in place, most of them will get to the end of Y11, having never been taught by a physics specialist. Many of them will come out with a weaker science grade than they might have hoped for.

A 5 instead of a 6 means maybe they can't do science A-levels. A 6 instead of a 7 maybe limits the uni courses they can apply to. A 3 instead of a 4 may mean they have to do a level 2 course at college, instead of level 3.

But I think it's such a slow drip, that people don't always see the impact until it is far too late!

I doubt you hold much importance to them. So not a problem. You keep being angry though. Anyone who works in a school gets it and sees what is happening.

Thry need to stop bitching and get back to work like everyone else.
One of the jobs with the most time off and they will do anything for a few extra days off.

Yeh more days off to look after our kids while the tablets stay at home on their asses again.

Fair enough.

So you won't mind when they all leave the profession, the country, or both, because they are pissed off & can do better elsewhere.

If only you had respect! I'm sure they'd all be signing on for another year in gratitude.

The thing is, it's all very well telling teachers to put up and shut up, but many of us are highly qualified professionals with lots of options. It's pretty easy for a lot of teachers who want to leave teaching to find new jobs outside the sector- many schools are massively short staffed already.

So what happens then? Should secondary students have to "teach themselves" with just anyone present to supervise? Would you consider that a good education?

I’m assuming that you’re not interested in whether your DC’s school has sufficient funding to provide basic facilities or any qualified teachers?

Yes, god forbid you should have to look after your own children. How horrible for you.

I assume you don't care about their education, either?

Actually I have alot more respect for teachers now. They are trying there hardest to improve schools, unlike certain parents who just want to slag them off. I'm fully with the teachers

We're in the north west and those aren't our transition days

I absolutely agree!

To the person who mentioned about part time I agree with yiu. I went part time this year due to excessive work load and poor work life balance. Use my day off to plan so I can have weekend off.Been told this is not an option next year- dreading it.