To be really worried about proposed teacher strikes.

[katedan]

In England not Scotland for context. My twin daughters are year 11 and I am terrified about the impact of teacher strikes on their GCSEs. They have not yet covered the curriculum and every day counts to get them exam ready so strike days will be disastrous for year 11 and 13 pupils ( and lots of other children especially those who are vulnerable) these kids have had their education impacted by covid and now strikes. This will make the divide between state and private schools even bigger. Do you think they will go ahead or if a safety net will be put around exam years if it does.

I am a teacher and have been for many years.

Yes, based on the fact that you have spent an entire evening after a strike announcement trolling teachers about their working conditions and shrugging your shoulders and saying ' there are recruitment issues everywhere' when people point out the huge number of teacher vacancies.

How do you think you have demonstrated that you care?

Do you have a much better paid partner?

educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/01/16/everything-you-need-to-know-about-strike-action-in-schools-and-colleges/

This guidance worries me. My two are deemed vulnerable and it appears vulnerable children are to be prioritised. My Y3 child took over a year to recover from the covid chaos of YR and Y1. Mostly due to school being unrecognisable overnight. I'd rather not send her if school will resemble that again but it appears we are expected to send them if they are offered a place.

There are recruitment issues across the board, though. That's just a fact, unfortunately, at the moment since covid and brexit. It's not trolling teachers. It's pointing at they aren't poorly paid and you can't compare the salary to a ft one, as in ft in recruitment terms (52 weeks a year) like a lot appear to do when making comparisons. Unfortunately, though, If you dare disagree, you get allsorts of assumptions made about you that you must have no friends/not care about children/have no empathy/no critical thinking skills. All because you dare disagree.

Are you still here?

Just as much as you are yes

@goldenlilliesdaffodillies We don't need martyrs. You might impress a few people here who don't have the full picture, but you won't impress your colleagues. Refusing to strike is refusing to stand up for the rights of these children you're so protective of.

There are recruitment issues across the board, though. That's just a fact

So? Does that mean we shouldn't care about recruitment issues in teaching? That is what led me to suspect that you have no skin in the game, which you confirmed.

It's not trolling teachers. It's pointing at they aren't poorly paid

It's deliberately constantly referring to them as 'not full time' that makes it trolling. It's obvious what you're doing.

And ignoring the fact that it matters not one jot if you consider that they are not poorly paid when they are not paid enough to get enough people to do the job.

As you said, you wouldn't do the job yourself, despite the fact that it's 'part time' for the same pay you are on. So something needs to change.

No school will have more than four days strikes, and the teachers will ensure priority years (11 and 13) aren’t disrupted, or just very little if they are.

Of course we should care, but I was pointing out that it's not just a teaching issue, recruitment, or lack of, is an issue across the board at the moment so isn't unique to just teaching.

They aren't full-time, though. That's not to say they don't work hard or slack off, but they don't work full time.
I wouldn't do the job because I like mine, I don't want to work term time.

BTW - I have a son in year 13 and I supper these strikes!

I am not a teacher and have no direct skin in the game (so to speak).

Enough is enough, collective bargaining is the only way forward at this stage.

I support nurses and doctors too btw.

support

I've just read that any individual school will only lose upto 4 days, I'm guessing teachers will do as they've always done when children need to catch up, set homework.

I don't think the y11s will be learning entirely new subject matter this close to their GCSEs will they?
DD y10 has done pretty much all her learning, they go over and over and over the things they need to know for their exams. I know different schools and examination boards may not operate the same way, but surely 4 days lost can be overcome by then.

I'm more concerned about the long term impact on the students being taught by teachers who are not being compensated properly for the job they do.
Not only do they educate our children, they play a large part in helping to ready them for the world that awaits them when they leave school, many support their students in fulfilling their full potential, teaching them about wider world issues, and importantly they are an important in the role of safeguarding the most vulnerable children within our society.
We cannot afford to keep losing the excellent teaching staff that we have in this country.
My DD has a handful of wonderful, committed, approachable teachers who are motivated to not only realise their students educational potential, but also to guide them wherever they can in becoming confident, happy, successful people by the time they finish their school career.

I hate to think of these teachers using their undeniable skill sets elsewhere, which eventually they would if their hard work continues to be undervalued.

What on earth are you talk in about ‘they don’t work full time’

They aren't full-time, though. That's not to say they don't work hard or slack off, but they don't work full time.

You keep saying it and yet it doesn't make the job any more attractive to people who look at the longer holidays and still decide not to do it. Like you.

Normal people who aren't on the wind up say 'teachers have longer holidays', by the way. Not that they only work part time.

Full-time workers are paid 52 weeks per year, which includes their paid annual leave. Term time working is not full-time working. it's pro rata. .

School kitchen staff also have the same recruitment problem and they're term time also.
It's really not a teacher thing. You could offer me 50k a year, and I still wouldn't want to work term time. Been there, done that, not for me.

School kitchen staff also have the same recruitment problem and they're term time also

School support staff are fucked because schools aren't funded enough to actually pay them properly, just like teachers aren't paid properly. We can't get TAs and admin staff either because they can earn more at Aldi.

So thanks for giving another example of recruitment issues facing schools caused by severe government underfunding. That's all part of the same issue - the government not giving a shit about education.

It’s not term time working though is it, in terms of salary calculation.

They don’t say salary is 52k per year, but you get 13 off so you’ll only get 39k do they?

Teachers are entitled to BH leave and annual leave like everybody else and work extremely long hours on the days they do work, so I bet if you added it all up, they don’t come up short.

Add in school trips where they are loco parentis 24/7…

Even PE teachers (and I know many) - rarely get a Saturday off during term time, and often have to commute long distances to sporting events meaning they are back way later than a normal workday.

I think you really don’t understand how hard lots of teachers work and how much is done outside of their face to face teaching/supervision (I.e. 8:40-3:20)

Did the recruitment issue in teaching not pre-date Brexit and Covid? Yes it’s awful now but it’s been bad for a good while - like many professions the current situation is a culmination of years of neglect, not an overnight thing but the current cost of living has tipped folk over the edge?

Your logic is like saying someone who does 4 days on, 4 days off, is also part time.

They’re not! Their hours are just contracted and worked differently.

The ones I refer to are private contracts, which a vast number of kitchen staff are, so aren't paid by the school, and go above minimum wage. Still struggle to recruit since covid and brexit. You'd think being term time it would attract more people but everyone is really short staffed at the moment.

Yep, agree with this.
And I feel it would somehow be more effective too.

The ones I refer to are private contracts, which a vast number of kitchen staff are, so aren't paid by the school

Who do you think is paying the catering company?