Why are bloody teachers striking AGAIN?

[noblegiraffe]

Because, dear hearts, the government, when they offered us a pay rise of 4.5%, mostly unfunded for next September and all 4 teaching unions thoroughly rejected it, Gillian Keegan said that teachers would then have to take their chances with the independent pay review body and that there would be no further negotiations.

So teachers did. And the independent pay review body, who seem to have rather more of a handle on the current crisis in teaching than the government, recommended that teachers should get a 6.5% pay rise to introduce some stability into the system.

We only know this because the independent pay review body findings have not been published, but this figure was leaked.

Calls for the government to publish the report have been ignored. Most recently, a freedom of information act request to the DfE for the report was rejected, because the DfE says it's "not in the public interest".

Why is it not in the public interest to know what the independent pay review body has recommended? This report is published every year.

In the meantime, Rishi is briefing the press that he will reject the independent pay review body's recommendations, after making a huge fuss about how he always accepts independent pay review body recommendations.

Why should this matter to parents? Because headteachers are currently trying to write their budgets for September. The end of term is approaching. This job is currently impossible because headteachers don't know how much more they are expected to pay teachers next year, (6.5%? 5?% 4.5%?) and they have no idea how much extra money their school will be given to account for the pay rise (all? some? None??). This makes a massive difference as staffing costs account for the vast majority of school budgets. Should they be planning to cut GCSE subjects? Make staff redundant? Or will they actually be able to plan in some literacy support? That they don't know is intolerable.

A senior government advisor said that school budgets last year weren't worth the paper they were written on because of this same issue, and that it shouldn't be allowed to happen again.

Yet here we are.

The government are trying to drag this out to the summer before they make their pay announcement because then they'll be on their holidays and the 4 teaching unions' ballots will have closed.

Distinctly weird on your part.

Look back at my posts, I have never blamed teachers or unions for any of that...

Totally weird on your part!

As a parent of 3 children in different year groups at a state school.

I understand why teachers are striking and completely agree they should get a pay rise and better funding for schools.

I do wish however ( as a parent) that strike days be a bit more consistant, and organised a bit better, as one day here and one day there is a bit of a nuisance.

Not to mention on any strike day I may have 1/2 kids in school, while the other is off.
This becomes problematic.

@Wesel85 as a parent I feel the same it's the lack of bloody notice. I get that it's suppose to be disruptive but I would rather the school just close for 1 whole week rather than odd days and different year groups.

👏👏👏👏

@supersonicginandtonic

"The bloody government threw kids and teachers under the bus during covid"

++++

I would amend this to:

The bloody government and teachers unions threw kids under a bus during Covid

The point is that three years later when there is no masks in class or air purifiers or school closures and everyone is acting normal what has actually changed. Covid hasn't gone away, most people's covid jabs no longer offer much protection because they haven't had a booster.

The only thing that has changed is that there now isn't any money left for education which is critical to the country's future because it was all pissed away on Covid measures which in large part was supported by teaching unions.

Wow, teaching unions were responsible for all this spending? They are WAY more powerful than I thought!

Don't be silly.

Austerity measures began thirteen years ago.

Keir Starmer refuses to commit to a 6.5% pay rise for teachers due to the poor state of the economy.

news.sky.com/story/sir-keir-starmer-hopes-to-bring-state-schools-up-to-private-standards-in-first-term-12916027

"Sir Keir Starmer says he hopes to bring state school standards up to those of their private counterparts within his first term if Labour wins the next general election"

If he thinks he can achieve that without increasing investment in state schools then he's a fucking idiot.

But with the general election pencilled in for Oct 24, that's two teacher pay rises away so I'm more interested in whether Rishi is going to give us a 6.5% pay rise.

Noble you got me. Your title reeled me in to say "oh do fuck off" then saw it was you!
Brilliant explanation, as always.
Support the teachers 100%.

Your title reeled me in to say "oh do fuck off"

#sorrynotsorry

It's now two weeks before the end of term and the government have still not published the independent pay review report and still not told headteachers what they should be paying teachers next year so that they can actually write their budgets for September.

This government is literally stopping headteachers from doing their jobs (and adding to their summer holiday workload) in order to play politics. Fuckers.

Pay Up! Save Our Schools | Supporters map (payupsos.com)

I agree, schools were open. Not all pupils were in but a lot were, especially during the 2021 lockdown. When my then 12 year old attempted suicide and told his friend about it, his friend's parents were able to contact the school, who contacted me. I was then able to work out that his "migraine" wasn't a migraine and he was taken to a and e in time to save his life. School was there for us. Camhs were useless and we had no contact from the gp surgery but the school did what they could.

Best move Rishi Sunak can do right now is to allow strikers to be fired for their actions - just like for any other gross misconduct.

Unhappy with your pay? Find a better paid job. Can't/won't? Then you're worth what you're given.

Next day:

"Why hasn't my kid got a maths or science teacher, this is outrageous!"

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@noblegiraffe

"Sir Keir Starmer says he hopes to bring state school standards up to those of their private counterparts within his first term if Labour wins the next general election"

I think the key phrase here is "he hopes" - which is political speak for I'd like to do it but it will never happen, but at the same time not actually lying. You would effectively have to double the education budget to achieve this.

At least that is a slight improvement on Boris Johnson who would be happy to give a straight out lie such as the 40 new hospitals that never happened.

As for Rishi giving out a funded 6.5% pay rise, the harsh reality is that it won't happen.

On a more positive note there is forecast to be a drop in the number of pupils of approximately 9% between now and 2026. So if they keep the same budget (big if) and assuming savings are made (ie less teachers which shouldn't be difficult given the numbers already leaving) then that should mean a slightly higher per pupil spend. Although I recognise that there are a lot of "ifs" and "assumings" in that theory.

If you use this map you can find your local picket, go along in support etc.

Big part of the problem is that people are leaving and finding better paid work, which is leaving us quite short of teachers. I personally don't want classes of 60 or my kids being taught by unqualified teachers, but that is the reality for some now and will become more common if teachers pay and conditions aren't improved.

On a more positive note there is forecast to be a drop in the number of pupils of approximately 9% between now and 2026.

"Secondary pupil numbers are due to rise from 3,003,000 in 2020 to 3,231,000 in 2024, before falling to 3,216,000 by 2026. By 2026 the secondary pupil population will be around 7 per cent larger than it was in 2020."

I'm a secondary teacher and the critical shortage of teachers is in secondary.

The primary roll is falling, and this is the only reason that primary recruitment of trainee teachers next year is meeting targets. Secondary is only targeted to meet about 50% of its target.

Anyone with kids in secondary or near secondary should be deeply worried about the catastrophic impact that the lack of secondary teachers is going to have on their kids' education.

School funding is important, of course it is, so is teacher supply and we can't wait till 2026 to attempt to begin to fix it. Secondary kids can't wait till 2026.

Worth what you're given?

If only you'd had a decent Economics teacher, they could have explained about monopsony: when a single employer controls most of the market, they can force down the wage (unless countered by a union and/or legislation such as minimum wage).

That's awful. We had a shit time too. But as you say, school was on the other end of the phone and even distributing food parcels etc. We didn't need them but many did.

Economics for beginners (like me)
https://www.economicshelp.org/labour-markets/monopsony/

Best move Rishi Sunak can do right now is to allow strikers to be fired for their actions - just like for any other gross misconduct.

Unhappy with your pay? Find a better paid job. Can't/won't? Then you're worth what you're given.
People are already leaving.

The other thing people might want to consider is that there's a reason the government is trying to get ordinary workers fighting with each other, and then turning on the unions. By sucking fools into fighting for crumbs, the fools will sleepwalk into having basic workers' rights thrown in a bin.

Everyone has the right to appropriate pay and conditions. Maybe people should focus on the bar being raised for all workers.

Ahhh … I’m feeling so sorry for you !

It’s always somebody else’s fault isn’t it.

You’re inconveniencing all the children and their families by refusing to go to work and do the job you’re contracted to do because you’re not happy with the pay and some of the conditions (although in your particular case it’s all about the money as we’ve read in your original post), and then you complain about the abuse you’ve received from the media and the general public !

You’re an embarrassment to yourselves. You’ve dug yourselves a hole and are now digging yourselves deeper.

Such a shame that you don’t have any other aces up your sleeve !

Exactly this, which applies to everyone in the real world.