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.

My partner is a teacher and I’m terrified that we won’t be able to feed our twins so 🤷‍♀️ children can revise at home I’m sure 2 days won’t affect them too badly

Social workers have just received a £2k pay rise

Teachers don't want to leave your kids during their exam years, they will have back up plans in place to keep them learning at home, or with another teacher. On another note, not all teachers will strike- the last teachers strike that "affected" me only one of my 3 childrens teachers' went on strike, they were all in the same primary school at the time, so the other 2 still had to go in

@vulvacious theres no national
pay scale for social workers in the way there is for teachers and nurses, for example. Social workers are employed by individual local authorities and the are paid according to the local authority pay scale. Some social workers in some authority areas may have received £2k, it certainly wasn’t the case in mine.

Time to repost this

www.theguardian.com/education/2022/dec/21/teachers-and-social-workers-suffer-most-from-lost-decade-for-pay-growth-in-uk

If I am striking, I am withdrawing my labour: there will be no "back up plan". I won't be setting work, and I won't be marking anything they do whilst I am on strike.

Absolutely spot on.

If I am striking, I am withdrawing my labour: there will be no "back up plan". I won't be setting work, and I won't be marking anything they do whilst I am on strike.

And rightly so. I sometimes wonder if folk understand what a strike entails.

And I won't be covering for my striking colleagues, or providing any back up plans for their classes either.

It’s like the constant government whining about how awful strikes are for the population. That’s kind of the entire point, if they didn’t affect or inconvenience anyone why bother?

"I'm going on strike, y11. Whilst I'm at home not getting paid, here's an exam paper to do. I'll mark it when I'm back."
I don't think so.

Which local authorities don't pay the NJC scale?

It is a shame I agree, and it's perfectly OK to debate both sides of an argument, even with opposing and/or controversial views, which gets heated at times. But it's never ok to make it personal by name calling or patronising language. I'm happy to debate and will hold my hands up if I'm wrong, it's the whole point in a debate.

This isn't just about the current crisis though. Teachers have had our pay either cut or frozen year after year after year since 2010. Hence the recruitment and retention crisis. School budgets are in absolute tatters after years of neglect from our government.

Which local authorities don't pay the NJC scale?

All of the local authorities in Scotland. Did you see the article @Piggywaspushed linked to showing social workers pay has increased at the slowest rate in the public sector, closely followed by teachers?

I am more concerned about work! I have no more annual leave left and it is not feasible to work from home with my 5 year old there. My employer is not very sympathetic!

STOP VOTING TORY! It’s not convenient for any of us (I’m struggling to find work as an older mum of a SEN child and have zero childcare options). This country is a shit show thanks to this bunch, sadly you reap what you sow and yes you should feel guilty if you voted for them. I am so sick of having to live with the impact of informed, ignorant and lazy voting. The Tories will NEVER fund public services properly, when will people finally understand this?! Solidarity with the teachers, they’ve put up with too much for too long.

Absolutely this. After nearly 30 years in a classroom as either a TA or teacher, i left the classroom in Dec 2022. I earn more ph as a manager in a supermarket if you take into account the hours of free time I used to plan, sort my classroom, mark etc. I have more time with my own DC and DGC. It is a lot less stressful although customers can be just as rude and entitled as some parents 😁. I loved my job when I started. Watching the children learn and grow, but the pressure from above to meet targets and give up my tim, made the job unbearable. I miss the children but not the stress.

It’s not convenient for any of us (I’m struggling to find work as an older mum of a SEN child and have zero childcare options).

Im right there with you, of course it’s inconvenient - it’s meant to be. Perhaps if people remembered the inconvenience caused by this governments long term neglect of public services when it came to the ballot box things might improve.

Despite the personal inconvenience I absolutely support any public sector worker withdrawing labour - particularly teachers.

This for the win!!!

I didn’t go into teaching for precisely this reason, I now work with dozens of people who have left teaching roles because of the poor pay and conditions

you can contact your school and ask about arrangements for catching up but otherwise use it as an opportunity for your kids to learn about the value of organised (and unionised) labour and withdrawing our labour when it is absolutely necessary.

YABU - if you value education - you should value teachers. I want professional well paid teachers not teachers worrying about how to pay the bills and afford to live whilst they’re working all the hours to educate my children. If you want to blame someone, blame the conservative government who underinvested in our education system and teachers . And then ask yourself how many conservative MPs have children at a state school - I would bet hardly any - they don’t value state education because they don’t use it. My daughter will be affected but I will be supporting the teachers for the good of her future education.

This is what I am worried about too.
My son is also in year 11. Haven't they been through enough with covid and now teacher strikes. It doesn't help that, the marking has gone back to pre Pandemic. But our kids where still effected by covid.
Then the government, will moan, when these kids, don't get good grades and I know from my own experience, bad grades, follow you for life.

It's of course understandable to be concerned about work in your situation but you should also be concerned about the kind of education your DD is going to receive when she's only at the start of her school career. If the teacher recruitment crisis continues at the same time teachers leave the profession in their droves, how many kids will she be taught alongside by the time she's in Year 5 or 6? Would you be happy for her to be in a class of 40 or more? It's not just pay the strike is about, they're doing it to make the public and specifically parents realise how hard it is attracting and retaining decent teachers right now and if something's not done, it's going to get worse.

Feck the Tories and the Feckers who voted for them!

Then the government, will moan, when these kids, don't get good grades and I know from my own experience, bad grades, follow you for life.
They don’t need to, it’s entirely possible to do further study, improve grades, access university as an adult. Yes it’s harder (been there done that), but the idea that kids get one shot at academic success aged 16-18 is ridiculous and doesn’t serve them well.