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.

Absolutely. I would support them, and everyone who's fighting for a high standard of living.

Yes I do. I fully support them. For their sake and their pupils’.

This is a good point. It could be argued that those choosing to stay or not strike are contributing to the worsening situation for students by accepting the endless budget cuts and an endless array of cover teachers which ultimately disadvantages students anyway.

GMB is one, I can't remember the other. I urge all support staff to join.

No.
Cream off some of the salaries of these Executive Heads to our back in the pot.

Schools can't afford pay rises for teachers as it's coming out of current funds with no extra from government.

In addition the schools have increasing fuel bills.

The only ones to suffer , again , are the pupils.

I don't want to be difficult but I think your schools may be the minority here. Whilst I do agree pay is better than it used to be (starting pay in particular), it is no where near the levels you suggest in my area at least. I have been a teacher for 8 years across 3 schools and still do not reach £40k mark, even with UPS 1. At one point even with UPS1 and a responsibility I was still not on (in fact a few thousand away before tax) from that mark.
It may just be East Anglia has low pay brackets, but this is the same pay across most of the schools I have seen here. We have a lot of academies and they can set their own boundaries which doesn't help...

Back to OP's question. I am in the same boat. I hate striking and think with all the time parents and children have already missed of work/school it is a horrid thing to do. Equally, teaching as it is is unsustainable.

I have worked in the charity sector for over 20 years op. I get paid a lot less than you. I am also in senior management. I don't think you are underpaid.

Yes and teachers also have an obligation to their own families. They do have lives outside of school and bills of their own to pay.

More fool you then. It’s no wonder that your employers take the piss if you’re unwilling to do anything about it.

The reason careworkers don't strike has nothing to do with some journey to self sacrifice.It is a non unionised role and thus employers take huge advantage in terms of contract and pay.

Join. A. Union.

Sorry, but teachers have an obligation to their students.

The pay rise being unfunded is effectively a direct cut to the money available to spend on students. Teachers objecting to this are actually fighting on behalf of their students.

Join a Union.
Support striking workers.
Educate so this bunch of charlatans never ever get to take power again.
Support PR.
Never ever trust a Tory.

They will reduce your power, your money, your ability to protest and will enforce this by police action.

Never trust the bastards.

Sick of you bootlicking

The recruitment and retention crisis (any science teachers need a job, we're desperate for at least one) shows that teachers pay and conditions are not good enough. There needs to be a strike, if things don't improve god only knows who'll be teaching all these kids.

You're right - the classroom won't function without them but there is literally no other choice. There is no room in the budget for anything else. Schools are already failing to function in many ways because of cuts that have already happened.

There's no other option.

This is literally the only option.

If we don't give a pay rise to teachers we'll lose our teachers. We are already several staff down and unable to recruit. Any good teachers can walk into a job wherever they want, we know several other schools who are also advertising with no luck.

Our state schools are going to deteriorate more and more unless money is put in. Already those who can (even if it's tough and they have to scrimp and save) are jumping ship to private.

I mean I suppose the other option would be not to give a pay rise and to accept we won't have any teachers in 5-10 years and it'll be unqualified TAs providing childcare.

Problem there is that we can't recruit TAs either. They can get more money working for Aldi.

These people saying 'I don't think teachers are poorly paid' need to understand that their opinion is irrelevant as we don't have enough teachers for the money we're offering.

The lowest paid teachers are being offered an 8.9% pay increase but this isn't anything to do with inflation, this was a manifesto promise to increase new teacher pay to £30k (this will raise it to £28k). This was deemed necessary in order to improve the recruitment of new staff. That pay rise would now be completely eaten by inflation so what impact that would have on recruitment is probably lessened.

The usual argument is that recessions are good for teacher recruitment, but now people can't afford to train as teachers because the govt cut the bursaries. They'll need increasing next year.

noblegiraffe is as usual right about TA recruitment too. TA recruitment relies heavily on people who are invested in local communities and who love the job doing it and the enjoyment and sense of achievement helping children, ease and convenience outweighing the supremely crap pay. The reasons for doing the job will stack up less and less as the cost of living increases and people can earn more elsewhere.

Ultimately whatever solution anyone tries to come up with there simply isn't enough money being put into state education.

I have considered teaching but I wouldn't train without a bursary (I've got my own kids to feed) and I wouldn't touch teaching with a barge pole right now because I think the way things are going teachers and school staff are increasingly going to be put in a position of enormous responsibility without the resources to discharge that responsibility effectively - and yes, I think that includes safeguarding. I'm not surprised so many are leaving.

We are a "Good" school in a historically low earning area- lots of retail/food producing/ manufacturing and distribution employment. But we can't currently employ staff, teachers but especially Teaching assistants because we can't pay enough. Yet we have children who have been waiting months and months for places in specialist provision who rely on the TAs we do employ to keep them in school, we have children who have been waiting 2 years for CAHMS support who are only in school because of the emotional support teachers and TAs provide, we have children who don't meet the criteria for social service involvement who we are supporting with food and clothes because no one else will or can. The role of school staff has widened exponentially as other services have been cut, but we are now down to the bare bones of staffing- we don't replace any support staff who leave and, if we have to fully fund the recent pay awards, we will be cutting the ones we do have. That is the position we are finding ourselves in and it will only get worse.

we have to fully fund the recent pay awards, we will be cutting the ones we do have

And that is an awful position to be putting teachers in too. Knowing that the crappy pay rise we have been awarded is potentially at the cost of colleagues' jobs. But what can teachers do? Everyone has higher bills to pay.

I don't think teachers are underpaid. And I see all the salaries in my workplace. Support staff on the other hand are ridiculously underpaid. Office staff work harder than teachers in a very stressful role and no one appreciates what they do.

Can you quantify in what ways office staff work harder than teachers?

Are you office staff by any chance?

You realise pay across all sectors is related to level of qualifications obtained? Teaching is a postgraduate profession.

Disclaimer : not suggesting office staff don't work hard.

I don't think teachers are underpaid.

It doesn't matter what you think when we cannot recruit or retain teachers for the money being offered.

Unless you think not having anywhere near enough teachers isn't a problem? Maybe you don't have any children in school.

I think most teachers I know will be striking mostly because they see that children are being let down by the lack of funding in schools and because they know they are getting to a point that - no matter how brilliant and self sacrificing they are - they simply cannot fulfil their responsibilities to these children with the current lack of funding and cuts.

Nothing else seems to work, so striking is the only option really. I seriously doubt most of them will be striking about their pay alone.

Great post.

This is exactly the situation in my school.