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.

Terrified! That's abit of an exaggeration. What about the kids who had GCSEs during covid. They had months not days!!!!

I'm a teacher and I have voted to strike. It will impact my students but it will impact me for more, it will be my job to re plan the work and try to fit the curriculum, assessments, exams, feedback phonecalls etc into the time available. I might not be at work on strike days and I won't get paid but you rest assured that no one will do my job for me when I'm not there so I will be increasing my workload on others days.

We are not chosing to do this lightly, the government needs to properly find schools. The pay rises awarded last year are coming out of school budgets, there is no extra money so it is having a direct impact on the quality of your child's education. Reduced school budgets affect staffing, resources and maintenance. We are struggling to retain and recruit staff at my school. This means lots of supply teachers, non subject specialist's, who do you think is planning the lessons and setting all the work on top of their own timetables for all these non specialist's and supply staff? huge class sizes and increased workload for other staff. That sort of thing will have a far bigger impact on your child's education than me as a subject specialist with 20+ of experience missing a few days to go on strike in a bid to get the government to act.

Strikes are challenging. I’m in Scotland and apparently there will be another 4 strike days before Easter. On top of tomorrow’s and the two previous ones.

I have no annual leave left so it’s a nightmare for me logistically. Also have a child in S1 who’s having to be left home alone as they have separate strike days.

I respect peoples right to strike but seven days missed school is a lot. Possibly more in the summer term.

This is really interesting and I agree with the main point - but how much of a cohort has to be impacted for it to have a change in grade boundaries as presumably there are teachers not in unions, teachers in different unions and some schools will have covered much more content.

OP, I support the teacher strikes but, like you, I'm also concerned about the hours missed in the classroom.

My DD, who's in yr 13, was told at Christmas that her class is only half way through the physics curriculum. I'm not sure why that is but feels that ever lesson counts at this stage.

I also wondered about whether private school teachers would be striking or not. I suppose if all schools have strikes it brings the grade boundary down so, broadly speaking, things even out?

Have to say I know some Y13s to whom a day of strikes will make very little difference as they do not have a subject teacher for their A-level due to a shortage of teachers and have been self-teaching for months.

This. We have A level and GCSE classes with no Teacher, we're struggling to get supply teachers and cannot recruit experienced TA's. We also have Teachers under pressure to teach subjects they have no experience or confidence in because it is becoming near impossible to recruit for some subjects.

You seem a little obsessed with private school kids when it’s irrelevant,

as a pp said the strikes are unlikely to be so extensive that it impacts grades, kids do get sick and have time off. When school is closed rhey can make sure they are perfect on the other stuff they have covered freeing them up for the rest

i would say it’s better trying to get your anxiety under control as it could worry your kids.

Christ, this is not a terrifying prospect. Be careful, your daughters will pick up on your anxiety about their GCSEs and could potentially make them feel anxious too, resulting in a poorer frame of mind for the actual exam.

It’s a non issue. Really.

I bloody hope they do strike though….!

I have voted to strike. Been teaching 23 years - education is unrecognisable to what it was when I began. My children have only been educated under austerity. I am striking for them (and all students), not just myself. Of course we can only strike about pay but it’s more than that.

Yes, my vote to strike (NAS so no bloody point it seems) was a vote in anger at the entire shitshow.

Results in - strike!

For those asking if teachers in private schools go on strike, they sometimes do.

Totally agree with @WineDup

"You know what you should be concerned about? Good teachers quitting because they can get a similar take home pay working in Asda.

Bright, inspiring people not applying for teaching positions because they know it’s not worth their time or money to train, to do a job that they aren’t suitably compensated for.

It isn’t the strikes you should worry about, it’s a long term work to rule that would have far more impact on learning"

if they are steady workers amd are generally doing well, they will be fine.

I am.a teacher and like all the rest know how unsustainable it all is. Something needs to be done. Also have a DC in year 11.

@ilovesooty , spoke to head of year who told me if he was in charge, he would deal with the teachers not showing up, but it was above his pay grade. Could go higher up, but to be honest I am done with schools/ teachers. Agree salaries should be higher to attract a higher calibre to the job.

"Deal with" how?
Teachers don't get to just not show up.

What did he mean by that?

I'm calling 🐄💩 on that. Deal with teacher not turning up 🙄

Also the point about it impacting all year 11s and 13s so the marking will just lower is not accurate as children in private schools where there will be no strikes will just get the higher grades

Private school teachers can also strike. They’re not in a special posh union. They’re in with the rest of them.

Re the teacher not showing up. I taught for 26 years teaching and never didn’t ‘show up’ to a 6th form lesson. It’s a disciplinary issue. You can’t just choose not to turn up because you cba. If it is really happening you need to get to the bottom of it.

However teachers do have things like training courses or even medical appts (gasp!) which can make them miss lessons.

Yes what did he mean. Sounds like a threat.

I saw!

I'm a TA and your post about austerity and schools is so accurate. So many times during planning the words "I would love to do xxxxx with them but there just isn't the money" are said. And I'm not talking about extravagant things like giving every child a solid gold iPad, I'm talking about things like plant pots and seeds when learning about plants or a trip to a nearby farm when learning about animals or enough tambourines for music so that its not one between three. We have to go out to parents for donations of pots/seeds, we don't run trips because the coach is too expensive and we can't afford to subsidise any of the children who can't afford it, there is no money for new instruments so we made do with the few we have. We don't even have a kitchen. The school is expected to be £90,000 in the red by the end of the year.

The government magically find money whenever one of their mates needs a hefty government contract for their brand new business (usually in a field in which that mate has zero experience), why can't they find the money to fund education?

For reference, private schools were given access to a £157m government fund during covid that state schools were not eligible for and the VAT breaks on private school fees amount to over £1b a year - money that could be spent on state schools.

The government don't give a shit about state schools and have underfunded them for years, they are now reaping what they've sown and I hope the repeated strikes across multiple sectors finally bring the fucking Tories down.

The kids will be fine as can work at home. Unfortunately the businesses with a majority of mothers as employees will be hit far harder. Why can't teacher's 'strike' during the school holidays for which they are paid? It makes no difference to them whether they lose a day's pay during term time or during the holidays whilst striking.
9% increase to starting salaries and 5% increase to others is fair for this year. DH was a teacher for 40+ years and only got 2 or 3% increase each year.

@BotterMon teachers aren't paid for the holidays...

Sometimes, they are even (further gasp!) ill.

Plus I think you have misunderstood the whole point of a strike...

It will be 1 or 2 days in a month and kids coming up to exams are protected. So panicking.