FFS - you have NOT had 2 days notice of strike action! Sorry, FB again.

[IHeartKingThistle]

School mums all over FB mouthing off about being given '2 days notice' about the strike on Thursday. We had a letter last week saying there may be action on that day and they would let us know. And IT'S A NATIONAL STRIKE! IT'S BEEN ON THE BLOODY NEWS!

If I hear one more person say 'let's fine the school, see how they like it' I may lose it. It's school, not childcare. It's a shitty time to be a teacher and no-one is listening.

Rant over. Feel free to ignore me.

the unions do, and have done, loads....

however, the strike (by the NUT) has been called after only 27% of the members could be bothered to vote one way or another. Most (of those 27%) voted to strike...

the other 73% either couldn't care less or did not want to stand up and be counted on either side.

I am a working mother, I will be on the sick as from tomorrow and Thursday will be very hard for me with no being able to walk.

I want my 2 DC to have a good education with teacher who are happy and not dealing with stress related problems.

I want the teachers who have paid thier way through uni and spent all that time and effort to actually get a career as a teacher to enjoy teaching.

Tbh even if I was paid to study to be a teacher there is no way I would do that job.

Our place is going through a massive savings programme and numerous restructures at the minute. I personally know quite a few people who have really strong and severe grievances about the way they have been treated and the union has done absolutely nothing for them.

In one case they were given some really duff advice about whether they had a case a few years ago which they have since found out was bollocks, but they are out of timescale now for taking it to tribunal. That person is considering fighting to get their subs back. They feel more let down by the union than they do by the employer. It's nothing to do with capitalism convincing them unions are in effective - it's actual experience.

I have worked in the public sector for 15 years. I've seen 1 day and 2 day strikes. I've even seen a 6 month strike. None of them have ever been effective. I think the most that was ever gained was a 1/2% increase on a pay offer, which had been wiped out for most staff in the first year by the days pay they lost striking!

Terms and conditions and pay have been massively eroded and I have yet to see any evidence of the unions preventing this. All of the positive things that have happened in employment (flexible working, increased maternity leave, parental leave) have had very little to do with the unions and have certainly not come about as a result of industrial action.

I had no idea about it until today! Haven't seen the news or heard it was coming. It makes little difference to me as a sahp and I'll be pleased by the idea of a day with the children but can see that it's a pita for working parents. I'd like to know though as my dd has a taster day in reception on Thurs and I'd like to be able to prepare her one way or another!

YouTheCat only about a quarter of the public support the strikes. The strikes in the 80s were a huge blow to the teaching profession. They lost the upward trajectory of status and power that they had been building since WWII. Even though working conditions improved somewhat in the first half of the Labour government, they didn't regain that status or power because they have failed to take control of their profession and drive standards higher. They are seen as ostructivist (I dont' think they are, but I think that's the public narrative) and they have failed to convince most parents that they are the best people to decide on the future of education.

Striking now without public support will provide the government, and the opposition, with the ability to disempower the profession further without being concerned it will pay for it at the ballot box.

So should they just do nothing then?

The teachers need a way of expressing their frustration at the job and striking is it. Too many teachers are walking away already. They are not being listened to in any other way so striking it is then.

Yes, it may be a bit of an inconvenience to you. But you know what might be more then inconvenient in the long run? Having your child taught by teachers that are pushed to the very limits, over worked, under paid and stressed to the point of long term sickness. As a parent who has faced the disruption not once, but twice, of teachers taking long term sickness due to stress I think things need to change to try and prevent this.

Have just recieved email confirmation from the school that four classes including my ds class will not be in school on Thursday due to the strike.
Whilst I see the Teachers have reason to strike I think that they should take their grievances out on Gove.
On a separate note I'm now in a dilemma as what to do with my ds for the day. I'm due in court on the 10th all day due to contact issues and I can't take him along with me and wouldn't put him to sit in the waiting room. Not to turn up is not an option neither is requesting an anjournment at short notice.

80% of the mere 27% who actually bothered to vote are expressing their frustration by calling for a strike.....

We have just received conformation - all but 2 classes are cancelled. So only Nursery and year 3 are in. Luckily I am at home any way. Had I not been I would have had to take leave (which would be impossible - as a nurse I could not easily swap shifts at 2 days notice or take AL).
Last strike DDs teacher worked, so I thought she may have been working this one, but Unison have joined the NUT strike (which I didn't realise, as all the publicity I have seen referred only to NUT strikes).
I support the strike, but a bit more notice would make it easier for parents who work, and the teachers would get more support if parents had a bit more notice.

Excuse my ignorance on this but how does this play out with the Ht and other Teachers that some not all staff are going out on strike? It is that some Teachers belong to a Union and have voted for strike action? Some don't belong to a union at all? Some belong to a union but didn't vote for strike action? Does the HT have any input at all? Just curious is all

Please can we stop saying teaching will no longer attract the best graduates?

I have a bloody good degree from a great uni and I start my PGCE in September, it's quite insulting to say that anyone entering the profession in the "Post-Gove years" will be some kind of inadequate option that won't educate your children properly.

Iscream -- only the National Union of Teachers is striking. Head teachers will know in advance how many of their staff belong to the NUT versus how many belong to the other unions (NASUWT and ATL) which gives them an idea of whether they are going to be able to open the school, but they won't necessarily know which of their NUT members will actually strike.

The strike is a complete pita for me this week. But you either support the right of people to withold their labour or you don't. I do so am sucking it up with a good grace.

YouTheCat they should get their act together as professionals. Start, as a profession not simply a few individuals, getting involved in furthering their profession in an evidence based way. Look beynd the immediate classroom influence and take on board parents', academics' and employers' concerns about what education is doing to and for various aspects of society. Develop a solid narrative about how those needs are best met and what they as a profession can do to deliver that. Instead of always trying to insist they are hard done by. Which is how they constantly come across.

It's not that I think teachers' working conditions are fine. But if they want to change things they need to present a narrative that people buy into that is about how good they are, not how bad the government is.

It is not only the teachers striking it is a public sector strike, including firefighters, local government worker etc........ There are millions striking on Thurs. So stop whinging about the Teachers, you are likely to be inconvenienced by a lot of other areas.

This is about the ill thought out cuts that this Government have imposed on everyone in this country.

I really want to make it clear to the majority its not just the NUT that are striking; the majority of public sector unions are also striking. The press are guilty of blaming teachers for closing schools, whereas in reality its Unison that will close schools guven the number of support workers that are in Unison.

You will find most public services will be unavailable on the 10th

Apologies for the spelling!

Whilst I see the Teachers have reason to strike I think that they should take their grievances out on Gove.

If they did what you're asking, they'd end up in prison I suspect!

Is not just teachers is most LA staff - I am
a member of UNISON but am choosing not to strike because I don't think it's going to have any effect.

The LA's have to make cuts, yes we have been on a 4 yr pay freeze but what else can they do?

We should all go down our local bank branches and stage a dirty protest IMO.

It makes me laugh when people say 'oh the teachers can't care about their students if they strike, why don't they do something else instead like work to rule'!

Yes, because that would really be in the best interests of the pupils

My son's school is fully open on Thursday. It's a shame because I would have liked him to come to the rally.

boomboomscousin I am actually embarrassed for you, you clearly have no idea what you're talking about.

The strike is just one way teachers are showing the Government the grievances they have. There is much more going on 'behind the scenes' (lobbying, discussions in parliament, multi-disciplinary reports and reviews submitted, etc) that the general public don't know about as it isn't as sensationalist as a strike.

Your suggestions actually made me laugh out loud - I strongly suspect you think that you are the first person ever to have considered reviewing the negative impact that teachers' current working conditions may have on education...

Also, I don't know how you can call a nation wide strike, with other public sector support, as 'simply a few individuals'?!

Honestly, you need to at least research the facts before trying to address this issue with your supposed 'advice'.