I have been a teacher for almost five years. I knew getting in that the hours would be long, the pay would be less than I was earning elsewhere and that there would be no 'perks'. However, the decision to become a teacher was mine and I wouldn't change it for the world - those that teach will recognise that total sense of accomplishment you feel when a struggling student finally makes sense of a topic and produces a brilliant piece of work, or a child with learning difficulties gets 20/20 on a spelling test because you've spent every break time with him for the last week doing extra work. It doesn't feel like a chore because, at that time, it's not, it's an absolute joy.
What I was never prepared for is the absolute vitriol that is spewed at me by non-teachers who see our lot as an easy one. To say that we have 30 children to look after is only a half-truth - yes, we may only have 30 to look after at any one time but this year, as a Secondary English teacher, I've taught 8 different classes across 5 different year groups, not including the pastoral care of my own Year 8 form. I start work at 8am and finish at 5.30pm, I work through my breaks running detentions and 'Curriculum Enrichment' clubs, I eat my sandwiches at my desk whilst marking (because I can no longer afford the school canteen that offers no subsidies and charges the teachers VAT on top of all food and drinks), I get home at 6.30pm so that I can spend a couple of hours with my own family and then, when the kids have gone to bed at 8.30pm, I begin the marking and planning that will take me through 'til about 1am. It's a hard slog and yes, I repeat, I CHOSE this.
What I didn't choose though was the torrent of verbal abuse from students when you dare to confiscate the phones they're playing with in class or the make-up they're plastering themselves with. Or the threats of physical abuse from students who don't like being told that they can't come into a restricted area. Or how about the verbal abuse form parents when you phone to tell them that their darling child has failed to do any work for the past week or perhaps the physical attacks from parents as you tell them that their child is being expelled for their own violence towards pupils and staff.
Most of the complaints I have heard so far about the forthcoming strike from non-teachers is how it will inconvenience them, how they'll have to take time off from work to look after their children - very little about the loss of education for the day. The union members care very much about pupil welfare, that's why they've chosen a date that's after the exams so pupils will suffer as little as possible. It's also why we've put up with budget cuts, redundancies, loss of authority and pay-freezes with no national strikes since 1986. As someone has already pointed out, ATL, the moderate union, has never called for strike action in its 127-year history.
The simple fact is, we were promised a good pension (one of the few upsides to this job) and now we're having it taken away. As a working parent the Government have already taken £450 a month away from me in Working Tax Credit while my childcare costs are still over a £1000 a month and now they want to take more money out of my salary so that I can work for longer but with less at the end of it.
Teaching is a vocation, and it's the one I chose. I shouldn't have to change that just to be guaranteed something I was promised in the first place.