to ask WHY in the name of Gove are teachers striking again?

[loftyclopflop]

DD's school is closing on 1st October because they have chosen to strike. Is it over pay, pensions and conditions? Did they achieve anything by striking a couple of years ago other than massively inconveniencing a lot of parents?

I know Gove is a twat but do they really expect to change anything by taking the day off?

Well, if it's the same issues they face from then, clearly whatever else they have been doing to speak out against these issues isn't working so maybe they feel this is the last resort to being heard?

I would hate to be a teacher. They're not listened to and if they strike parents just blame them instead of looking to Gove.

I feel sorry for them.

yeah because they just fancied a day off so they could watch Jeremy Kyle?!

I would hate to be a teacher atm.

in my area free schools are popping up and there are surplus places.

I think that's the point, I think it is simply to remind everyone Gove is a Twat.

It won't change anything, having a general election and getting a different education minister won't change anything.

Education is just politicians equivalent of Mummy's iPad. They shouldn't mess with it, but they can't resist.

Pissing off parents and causing inconvenience all round is not really the way to get public support imo.

How else would you suggest we make the depth of our feelings of anger, despair and fury obvious to the government. They won't listen to anything we say.

Also, we have a democratic right to strike, and this right has been fought for for hundreds of years. I intend to uphold what the thousands in the past fought for, because it feels morally wrong not to.

How else are they going to be listened to?
Gove isn't listening to them.
Parents aren't listening to them. Instead they are forever complaining about how shit the teachers are. How often do you hear people saying how good teachers are?
Teachers are under ridiculous pressure to achieve often unattainable goals.

I'm rapidly losing sympathy for teachers.

Inconvenience all round is the very point of a strike.

Teachers won't be the only ones either: I expect university and college staff will be striking in the spring.

But striking wont help, will it? I mean, won't it turn parents against you rather than to support you. Annoys parents, disrupts parents (children will be pleased and tbh, one day won't do anything to them though) and Gove won't ever listen

But WHY?!

My T&Cs have changed more times than I care to mention, my job is high stress for low pay but that's the contract I signed.

Teachers T&Cs are actually pretty bloody good compared to many sectors

If Gove were prepared to meaningfully engage with the unions there would be no need for a strike.

A strike is always going to inconvenience someone isn't it? It's never taken lightly. I am striking in October. I lose a day pay which I could really do with not losing. I am aware it will inconvenience parents but at the end of the day I will not go against my striking union and I also believe teachers need to speak up.

I will be teaching until I'm 68 (my expected retirement age from Mr Gove - yup thanks for that). My pension is in dire straights compared to what I was told it would be when I started teaching. I work a 70 hour week. I am tired. Very tired. I dread to think how tired I will be in 30 years time when I'm nearing retirement and still teaching very young children who are getting progressively harder to teach. Increases in difficult behaviour, mountains of paperwork which only gets worse, increasing SEN, class sizes of 30+, individual detailed marking of 120 books daily, new intiatives, old intiatives revised, extended school hours, expectations to run clubs, Ofsted becoming stupidly busy (a friend recently left teaching as she was told she was unsatisfactory during an Ofsted lesson. They came in 10 minutes before the end of PE. They saw 5 minutes of a lesson - a cool down and the children getting getting their clothes from the cloakroom. The children were deemed not to be making progress at cooling down and not making progress while getting changed. Absolutely ridiculous). Among a million other issues with the increasing stress.

As for the inconvenienced parents - we are not a babysitting service. We teach. The conditions we are striking about making it increasingly difficult to teach so we need to speak up. You have been given notice so can find child care.

Yes you are not child care but you are a consideration in the child care plan for working parents

Well, bottom line it is because Mr Gove's badly-thought out policies are continuously eroding educational provision in this country for young people. Those include 50% increase in pension contributions and pay cuts, because high standards of education require skilled professionals, (and over half of teachers want to get out of teaching) as well as those policies that directly impact on the children - like the reduction in specialist support for students with SEN. We've been trying to take action without striking since 2011, but Mr Gove won't even get involved in talks.

What else can we do?

Fully support them.

Does anyone know if they are striking in Scotland?

In any case, I fully support teachers. They are fighting for the right of our kids to have a decent education, which includes attracting excellent staff who don't up and decide to go into much more lucrative and less stressful careers.

The teachers we have engaged with in the past year since moving to UK have been bloody excellent. I find it sad that there is a feeling of 'they want the day off'.

I'm a teacher. My job is extreme high press for not particularly good pay. I have also had pay cuts to pay for a pension, which was entirely sustainable except Cameron wanted more cash. So he in effect stole my pension.

The pressure of Ofsted is like a witch hunt, and entirely out of control. If your job is that crap Soured, perhaps you should try striking too

Was just about to say 'school isn't actually childcare and it's nothing to do with inconvenience for parents'. But itsametaphor said it far better.

Gold plated pensions in comparison to private sector and six weeks off in the summer. Hmmm.... Sorry if that offends any teachers on this thread but that's the way the public views it.

I agree that a teacher's job is a hard one but most people across all industries are facing cutbacks and difficulties. Striking won't solve anything and the public won't be on their side.

Great post itsametaphor

If I and my colleagues went on strike lives would be put at risk.

We don't all have the same luxuries as teachers

What do you do Souredstones?

And training days, don't forget they are always our fault too