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.

There is a difference between missing a day when no one is being taught, like a snow day or strike day, and missing a day when the rest of the class is learning something that your child misses.

@MountainRinglet I get paid for 195 days a year.

Holidays are not paid

I'm frustrated on a personal level because I have an autistic child who struggles a lot to recover from random closures. However, she will live and I'd rather this than bigger problems further down the line so I fully support schools.

If they're in school of course they don't, agreed. The curriculum deputy in any school I've worked at would have had no hesitation in dealing with a situation like this.

I seem to recall teachers pay is calculated via their working days (not holidays) and so when striking their daily pay is deducted by quite a hefty weight.

Current teachers feel free to correct me

Holidays are paid for teaching staff, not support staff.

No, it's deducted by 1/365 of their annual salary.

First they came for the train drivers but I did not speak up for I was not a train driver…

No they aren’t.

Your husband was a teacher for 40+ years and you ask a stupid question like "Why can't teachers strike in the holidays"?

Only really at primary level though and only for a couple of days. It’s fairly minimal in terms of disruption. It’s hard, as obviously you want to cause disruption but equally not too much!

Who are the public sector workers who got well below inflation pay rises and aren't striking or balloting? I dare you to name them. Not allowed to say police as they can't strike.

Its 1/365 as the courts recognise teaching isnt just the directed hours.

YANBU I'm fed up with all this striking. Lots of public sector workers have got well below inflation pay rises and aren't striking

Fortunately union members don’t seem to agree with you.

I’m 100% behind all strikers. This government has caused this.

For those at the back of the class who are not paying attention:

Teachers do not get paid during the holidays

Yes CPI dropped slightly last month and is predicted to fall further. So even less need for higher pay rises.

I am sorry OP but if your child’s school is still covering first teaching of syllabus content in February of Year 11 then you have a bigger problem than a few strike days.

Do they get strike pay

😂

I’m worried about my DC who will be sitting his GCSE’s this year too. He also is missing big chunks of learning, not because he has missed school, but because he is being taught by supply teachers. Why? Because the conditions for teachers is appalling (and getting worse).

I am another teacher who left and hasn’t looked back. My annual take home pay is approx £10,000 less. I get 21 days annual leave a year, but my work life balance is 100% worth it.

No. The unions have limited hardship funds for those in dire financial straits.

If anyone on here is absolutely devastated and horrified by the thought of their children's teachers striking for a few days, I very much hope you were channeling the same concern over the last decade, while these teachers were seeing post-inflation pay declining of 6% or more even before 2022 (per the OECD).

If we want great teachers for our kids -especially at a time when class sizes are high and with lots of different educational needs - we do need it to be better paid. I'm happy to take some days off, or with them in front of the TV and catching up at night, to help them achieve that.

No, because prices are still increasing, not dropping. The price increases from the period of high inflation are baked in, and inflation would have to drop a significant amount for the proposed teacher pay rise to still not be a pay cut.

YAB ridiculous. It’s a few days. They’ll be fine.

This.

Strikes haven’t even been confirmed yet and you are already overreacting. Being ‘terrified’ and saying that a few days off will be ‘disastrous’ really isn’t modelling the best attitude to your dc. Your defeatism will be far more detrimental to their potential results and future well-being than any strike.

I went to uni with 7 people who all wanted to be teachers. Out of 8 of us only 1 is still a teacher. One of them earns just 100 quid a month less at a supermarket than teaching and no stress.