aibu to think that all those striking on thursday are being selfish and greedy?

[hellospoon]

And they should be thankful that they even have a job?

In a day where thousands of people are unemployed and living in poor conditions surely these teachers should be thankful they even have a job!

Many parents are having to take leave, some unpaid I presume the effect that it will have on family's is ridiculous.

And you should post more. We need more voices of reason

ah thank you! will do.
but should probably confess I am planning to spend the day with another teacher doing action planning (after the march of course!)!
you see this is what I think people don't get - the last thing we want is to disrupt the kids so in some ways this is great, lots of work can get done without taking us out of lessons etc!

clemetteattlee - I apologise. It was an unfair comment. I was shocked that as a teacher you would take something as fact just because it was written. You didn't, I hadn't read back up the thread far enough.

"That there free market economy is doing us all proud isn't it?

I have never met a person in real life that thinks that footballers DESERVE more because they operate in an arena based largely on the whims of Russian oligarchs. Holding such views is abhorrent in my opinion, but luckily it is not a widely held view."

I certainly don't think footballers DESERVE more than a nurse; far from it. What I absolutely do think is that whoever is employing them should be free to pay them whatever they feel their subjective value is, assuming they can afford it.

so that's the point then shelly - teacher's are trying to make it clear what their value is. obviously it won't even be close to the real value of actually educating/safe guarding/caring for children but without hurting those kids we can't do much else

without reading all, or any of the thread apart from the last three entries, the OP sounds like either a really dim person, or, a stooge for the Daily Mail. Or possibly both. Which is likely.

Teachers aren't teaching kids what they actually need to know to get on life, they are too bogged down with political correctness and liberal ideology.

this is nothing to do with teachers; we get told what we have to teach and how we are to teach it by the government (you wouldn't find many of the profession who agree with the curriculum or methods we have forced onto us

There are far too many teachers that have gone straight from uni into teaching, with no real world experience. If I had my way, I'd make teacher training available to only 25 year olds only. That way the teachers in schools would have first hand knowledge of work, and be able to give more rounded teaching, rather than just purely academic as is the case at present see the above reply......

YABU

YANBU

Oops hit send to soon
YANBU
.... If I want DC to miss a days school it's Up to permission of head, or potentially a fine... But ok if they want to strike about golden pensions??
Final salaries stopped in private sector ages ago, it's not financially viable any longer
I understand supporting peers but as I can see it only a couple of years of people, older females, will be particuaraly effected, they have my sympathies, but therefore 80/90% won't really have a big change and are therefore just being disruptive...
If they think it's that bad look to private schools as an alternative- but that won't be any more preferable which surely again proves how rare and unsustainable it would be to continue as is...
As for causing half country to have serious childcare probs .... Selfish

What about people doing hard physical labour in their late 60s? people such as cleaners? car mechanics? builders? shift workers in factories?

All those jobs are far less suitable to an older person than teaching

Written by someone with no idea whatsoever about the job. I expect they are imagining a teacher standing talking at the front of rows of desks-not someone sitting crosslegged in a circle or running around a netball pitch.

Do you really want your 5yr old starting school with the teacher going through the motions, but who has had enough and is counting down the days?

If you are counting down the days in the factory or garage or building site it doesn't matter-it does to a DC who gets one crack at education.

I dont think I am being selfish striking. It wont affect anyone as I have no students about and have nothing booked in. The only one it will affect is me!

Teachers need not be teaching a class full of teenagers or running around doing PE with a primary class at 60+. They should be taking on the managerial roles or doing the one to one teaching and ensuring no child leaves primary unable to read.

Why is it OK for factory workers/brickies/plumbers to work till they drop? Many of them will have left school at 15/16 and worked 48/52 since.

In reply to the OP. I don't think they are being selfish or greedy because they do seem to believe they are hard done by. They are being very naive if they think tomorrows strike will make any difference. Most parents will just put up with one day at this point in the school year. If it grows into anything more serious next term they will lose public support rapidly.

I support the teachers' right to strike but I'm not entirely sure the information about pensions out there is right and I'm not entirely sure that this strike hasn't been whipped up for broader political reasons than to protect teachers' pensions. Personally, I don't think professional people who should strike, they should have the skills to put forward complex and sophisticated arguments instead. I am going to speak to Teachers' Pensions later today because what I am hearing on here and in the popular press isn't what I was told at a Teachers' Pensions Seminar three months ago.

I have lost quite a lot of respect for the head at my daughter's school which is closing tomorrow because the letter cancelling the strike was rude, did not convey an apology for the inconvenience caused to the school community and has I feel done more harm than good for relationships with parents.

Far too many kids that are not academically minded are just allowed to slip through the net rather than being encouraged into vocational education.

This is only going to get worse under Gove's Ebacc. RobF, you don't seem to realise that it's not teachers who decide what goes on in schools, but the whim of the government.

Whoever was talking about falling education standards earlier, my school has had to lose a maths teacher (among others). We have lost our TAs for intervention with the weakest and our extra support for C/D borderline kids. We will be teaching bigger classes next year. Results will inevitably go down. I hope the parents realise that it's because of this Tory government's education budget cuts and not because of the teachers who will be working even harder next year.

We had aletter saying My year 9 son wasn't to come into school for 'health and safety' reasons. His older DB is post 16 and he is going in. The other DS is on exam leave and old enough to look after himself.

DH and me are already considering what we do next term if this really does 'kick off'. DH can remember his Godchildrens education being well and truly 'f**d up by the teachers strike in the 80's. They were mid teens at the time. Younger DC can catch up or do reading and work books at home. Older DC will be the ones that suffer. DH and our older DC are all science/maths graduates and we will buy extra books. We will pay for english tuition. Don't know much about MFL!

onceamai what do you mean by "Personally, I don't think professional people who should strike, they should have the skills to put forward complex and sophisticated arguments instead"?

You think people striking are stupid? Or that they haven't tried? The government isn't releasing actuarial information on pensions to allow reasoned debate, they're not having proper talks - they're announcing the changes they expect without full discussion - how is that professional?

Private sector workers shouldn't just accept crap terms and no pensions either - this has been a problem well before the economic crisis.

Late arrival to this thread, but, imo OP YABU.

Good luck to all those teachers striking tomorrow. This government need a huge wake up call. I only wish my industry was had mass representation by Unions too.

Power to the people.

There are very few workers that could cause real harm to the government.
Teachers certainly can't and the private sector masses won't strike to help them. Most doctors, nurse, etc. probably won't.

Tanker drivers, train drivers, power supply workers......They could do real harm. We all know that fuel and basic food stuffs start to run low after 2/3 days. And if the power goes off nobody works.

UNISON will ballot soon. If they strike in Autumn the public will notice.

Robin Hood Tax.

Ilovesooty.......Would that be the bin men, crematorium staff, lower paid hospital workers?

Yes they could do it too. Another winter of discontent?