Would you support a teaching strike?

[Strictly1]

Unions are currently talking to teachers regarding the proposed pay rise and government funding.
I do not want to strike but also know changes are needed for our children’s sake. With dwindling external support from agencies - schools are being expected to do more and more on limited resources that I predict will reduce due to squeezed budgets. The proposed pay rises are not funded. None of it is sustainable.

I honestly do not know what the realistic solution is.

YABU - you do not support teachers striking
YANBU - you do support teachers striking.

My point is, are you saying that everyone should get a pay rise in line with or above inflation every year? How would that work?

You really think office staff work
harder than teachers?

Teachers have had real terms pay cuts since 2010. Wages have decreased significantly, compared to the private sector, to the point where we are critically short of teachers.

Would you prefer that was not addressed, and teachers awarded yet another pay cut? Have you got kids in state education, in which case you should be very worried, not just about the teacher market, but also that the pay rise offered will be coming out of education provision for your kids.

If you’re going to say ‘oh but there isn’t any money to give teachers a decent pay rise’, we’ve heard it every year for over a decade. And it’s clearly a lie. When this government wants money for something in its interests, it finds it.

Last real terms pay rise teachers got was when Tony Blair was PM.

It was that long ago. We've effectively had over 20% pay cut since then.

It's unsustainable. There's just so few people out there. If I check TES (and loads of schools don't advertise on there any more!) there's 12 jobs in my subject within 20 miles. Bear in mind I am semi rural. I have never, ever seen this before. Not in October! March maybe as teachers move schools for September but before October half term means massive recruitment and retention issues.

We have hardly anyone coming for SCITT this year too.

Why on earth would you? Get underpaid by other masters level job standards to be abused daily, do a 12 hour working day, be responsible for results but have absolutely no agency over how you do your job, get pilloried by the media for what? Is the (not so good) pension worth reducing your lifespan over?

Because you sure as hell don't have time to fit in an hour's exercise, look after your own family and do your job.

I genuinely would far rather we went to 8-4:30 working hours with nothing past that time, and work the holidays doing admin/other things whilst kids are off and get paid for the extra 8 weeks of work I might do and to have my evenings and weekends back.

Jonathan Gullis, schools minister has said that he will do anything to avoid strikes but also said the govt won’t budge on the 5% pay rise.

I’m wondering if they will actually give schools funding for it.

Guess he’d better hope there aren’t any teachers out there with mortgages up for renewal on the new Tory fuck-up interest rates.

That's a normal day in my school - high need and no support. We all just have to work so much harder and pull rabbits out our asses to make it though :(

We're on day 6 of 10 strike days in FE. Stay strong, know your worth 💪

100% support the strikes!!

Absolutely support the strikes. I’m a HLTA in primary school and our school is so overwhelmed with SEN and so inadequately supported in every way.

I’ve not had my ballot paper. They’ve sent 3 and none have turned up. I’ve asked if I can go pick one up now.

In FE the problem isn’t low salaries. It’s colleges getting rid of full time permanent staff in order to hire hourly paid staff through an agency. This relieves the college of all responsibility for holiday pay, maternity, sick pay and pension. It also means they are only paying for time actually spent in the classroom, and staff are forced to do prep and marking unpaid.

These staff usually aren’t Union members. They can’t afford the fees because they get paid so little. They also can’t afford to strike and lose wages. So the issue that needs fixing is not low pay. It’s zero hour contracts and insecure jobs with no benefits.

As teachers got a 5% pay rise this year, much higher than other public sectors, no they do not need a pay rise as much as ambulance workers, nurses etc

Anyone who says teachers don't need a pay rise are supporting the further deterioration of the education sector which is already in crisis.

Hope you don't have kids in state education.

jenny, I'm not sure you are right about this. Maybe look back to the previous year as well.

But why are we allowing public sector to fight against public sector? We are all in this together.