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.

@Efficaciou5 I'm guessing you don't have children in state education.... and hope you wouldn't need emergency medical care that you can't get privately because you would be sacking by a LOT of professionals who are striking for better conditions for children and patients.... that's without the need for public transport or a postal service... exactly how many people would you like to be claiming benefits because if you sack them all that's what will happen!

although in your particular case it’s all about the money as we’ve read in your original post

<sigh>

You don't understand the bit about the funding, do you?

Some posters on this thread really proving my point about the abuse teachers get...

😂😂😂
Do you know how many teachers are striking? If this happened schools would have to close. Where would the replacement teachers come from?

There is also the point of the 'divide and rule' tactics - offered by some elements of the population who seem to wish to reduce this country to the lowest common denominators - and the government tactic of keeping us as mushrooms i.e. in the dark and fed a load of shite.

In reality, deterioration of pay and conditions for teachers has a knock on effect on parents and carers - if we want our kids to do well at school - and there isn't a teacher for A levels - (which there wasn't in one subject at all for one year) - then we have to find ways to address that gap as parents, and it also means more work for us! I don't mean hiring private tutors as many can't afford it anyway but extra hours spent assisting them with learning, which if parents are really stuck for money - is time spent that we can't afford.

Ok shoot me down you randoms..I'm ready.

Yeah, kids here in state education.

I’d say there would be very few fired, because they simply wouldn’t strike.

If anyone who works for me decides that they’re striking for any reason, then that would be their last day. If they’re unhappy they’re quite welcome to do as they wish. In the meantime, they are where they are.

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

If you've got children in state schools, you should be concerned about the conditions of the school. Are your children being taught by teachers or TAs? Do they have subject specialists? How many cover lessons have they had this year? How many practicals have they not done because there's no money to buy the equipment?

I’d say there would be very few fired, because they simply wouldn’t strike.

Yeah there's barley been any teachers on strike this year....

There are 300, 000 teachers on strike today.

Is there anyone really so stupid that they think we can afford to lose all of them?

Survey say yes.

Teachers are parents too. We have families. We are also tax payers, nhs users, mortgage/rent payers, shoppers, voters. I never understand when people try to separate us from these groups as if we were not part of them.

It is what it is. The changes in schools are only a tiny symptom of a much more profound societal change.

And I’m really not concerned at all, I much prefer to focus my energy on positive things.

I much prefer to focus my energy on positive things.

I doubt it, I've read your posts.

Here's the solution!
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jul/07/ai-likely-to-spell-end-of-traditional-school-classroom-leading-expert-says
Sack the striking teachers and AI can take over instead. Home schooling all over again...

I remember my mum telling me - (she was born in 1932 and has now passed away) - how trade unions were involved in early health and safety regulations.

In the armaments factories as she said - some employers objected to headscarves for women - with the result that on occasion if their long hair got caught in the machines there was risk of serious injury and death. So the union enforced the wearing of head scarves.

I'm not sure how this dispute is any different. Crumbling buildings? Asbestos? Overwork and stress? Suicides and depression/life long illness caused by stress amongst head teachers and others in schools? Assaults on teachers and staff, not enough staff to manage and assess risk properly?

Lack of provision for SEN kids.

Yes there are issues to be identified and lobbied on - for example Keir Starmer allegedly saying 'we' can't afford free school meals.

Thank God there have been trade union movements to fight for such life enhancing measures...

And by the way. We not only want BREAD we want ROSES too or had some people forgotton.

Roses being in this case a right to an education system that levels up chances and cherishes human potential, for goodness sake we are needing people to solve problems in the world out there, and for that you need a functioning brain! Education is not some kind of add on...

"Bread and Roses" is a political slogan as well as the name of an associated poem and song. It originated from a speech given by American women's suffrage activist Helen Todd; a line in that speech about "bread for all, and roses too"[1] inspired the title of the poem Bread and Roses by James Oppenheim.[2] The poem was first published in The American Magazine in December 1911, with the attribution line "'Bread for all, and Roses, too'—a slogan of the women in the West."[3] The poem has been translated into other languages and has been set to music by at least three composers.
The phrase is commonly associated with the textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, between January and March 1912, now often referred to as the "Bread and Roses strike". The slogan pairing bread and roses, appealing for both fair wages and dignified conditions, found resonance as transcending "the sometimes tedious struggles for marginal economic advances" in the "light of labor struggles as based on striving for dignity and respect", as Robert J. S. Ross wrote in 2013.[4]

Already on it, loneyplanet!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4843724-ai-likely-to-see-end-to-traditional-classroom-says-leading-expert

@Forestfriendlygarden

"Also untrue because the schools were NOT closed.
They were open to kids of NHS staff and vulnerable kids which numbered quite a few."

+++

Just to put some facts on "which numbered quite a few".

The first school closure only 11% of pupils attended school in person as children of key workers etc. By the second school closure this had risen to 20%. So between 89 and 70% of children didn't attend school.

The reason the 4.5% was rejected was in large part because it was almost totally unfunded. So you might have a little more in your pocket but with less resources or support staff.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul, effectively.

😁I thought you might be!!

The facts are, according to lived experience - as I have described (I was THERE)...

Where we lived - (in an area of multiple economic deprivation according to government indexes) that there were around half of my dd's class going in to school.

So you can average out the figures as much as you like one day at a time, but that doesn't change the lived expereince which I and others had - living in similar areas that the numbers of children in some areas attending school, were much higher than others.

As I've said, at the time I was too busy HOME SCHOOLING and getting my daughter through G.C.S.E year which it was - to do an in depth analysis of other areas of the country to find out how many kids were attending school -

And for anyone else questioning the bloody home schooling and for how long it went on for - I was BLOODY there. I'm not blaming the teachers or the schools, but where we lived at least for many months there was TOTAL confusion and lack of provision online and what there was was CRAP.

So YES I home schooled for probably longer than the ten months stated, and I don't have to face a grilling by anyone for that thank you very much it was bad enough at the time!

#Teachers are parents too. We have families. We are also tax payers, nhs users, mortgage/rent payers, shoppers, voters. I never understand when people try to separate us from these groups as if we were not part of them.*
It's divide and rule, and as this thread shows some people are stupid enough to fall for it.

There's a rush to the bottom on working conditions in some parts of our country. I'm not sure why they've got such a problem with ordinary working people wanting appropriate terms and conditions.

I'm starting to conclude that people who want to stir working people fighting against each other, especially against unionised workforces either if have a troubling little fantasy in their head where the rich can get richer, poor people can get poorer as long as they enrich the wealthy, or they're too stupid to see that their own rights, terms and conditions could be attacked next.

It's no different to the stirring about human rights law. Some people freely talk about how it's fine for governments to ignore the law, paint judges as villains, and attack the ECHR, because they're probably too naive to realise that they're also going to be negatively affected by the consequences. Useful idiots in my opinion.

And I’m really not concerned at all, I much prefer to focus my energy on positive things.

Like slagging off teachers online?

Yes and lack of awareness of history, which suits this government...

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

—Martin Niemöller

This quote is attributed to the prominent German pastor Martin Niemöller. It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a poem.
After World War II, Niemöller openly spoke about his own early complicity in Nazism and his eventual change of heart. His powerful words about guilt and responsibility still resonate today.

FFS. This is a very foolish, ill-judged comment on a thread about teachers striking.

It isnt a comment of mine it is an internationally well known historical piece of writing...

..mentioning trade unionists...and it is a strike....so our course it isn't ill judged.

Of course it’s not a comment of yours. It’s Niemoller’s. It’s very famous. It’s inscribed at many Holocaust remembrance sites, including Yad Vashem.

Given the history and purpose, it’s crass to quote Niemoller in respect of teachers in the UK striking for more money.