AIBU to feel that teachers shouldn't really be striking?

[Pinky1011]

They have 3 months PAID holidays only work 9-4pm, no dangerous or really bad working conditions, great job security, good pensions, They had pay rises last year up to 8%!!! I work in the private sector and haven't had a pay rise in almost 6 years! I just feel compared to alot of other professions, teachers have it quite good? I mean their starting salary is the same as a junior doctor. I get it inflation has wrecked everyone, but surely the issue should be getting inflation down? Not just demanding for more money, which by the way only fuels inflation further. AIBU to feel that teachers just don't know how good they have it compared to the rest of us?

Schools were very much open to keyworker children and vulnerable children. This notion that teachers were enjoying a joly needs to be quashed.

I’ve said throughout that I would be better off on minimum wage - and stated that is based on our personal circumstances. My calculations are accurate, I used the Martin Lewis website to calculate them, and you are welcome to fact check them if you wish. I’d be interested to see if you came up with different figures than I did (hint: you won’t) - there are many reasons why people may work part time, none of which are any of your business - but in the name of transparency, as I’ve stated several times, myself working part time has been a very recent thing - previously, I was the full-time breadwinner while my partner was part time. A massive part in this decision is the fact that maternity pay is so poor for teachers - we only get 13 weeks on 90% pay. To compare this to the private sector, eg Asda, an employee gets 26 weeks full pay. I had to return when my son was 7.5 months old as we completely ran out of money - this was a completely planned and saved for pregnancy; but the cost of living meant we went through money faster than we intended.

Thing is, and I said this at the time but parents didn’t want to hear it, the parental fury in lockdown at their kid getting set shit work or no work or the work not being marked and nowhere near as good as what private schools are getting etc etc - do you think that things are any better in schools now just because you can’t see what’s going on? Parents got a view into the inadequacies and disparities in education, were really pissed off, then instantly as schools reopened, just went ‘kids back in school 👍 education back down the list of concerns’.

Not only to mention that private schools have good access to laptops/Chromebook’s/iPads so their curriculum is designed around this. In state schools, there are often 30 individual devices to be divided by 15+ staff members teaching 26 classes per week each. Meaning that our lessons are not set up to be taught in this way whatsoever - we had to completely plan new lessons. Also, state school pupils may have been less well equipped to deal with online learning (shared bedrooms/no workspaces/no internet/caring responsibilities/no devices) so all these issues needed to be addressed before we could even start the lessons. We needed to make sure we weren’t widening the gap.

Teachers have to work outside of class time. They can’t mark/lesson plan and teach at the same time 🙄 Are you just upset because your kids are going to be off school?

I would like to see the government put forward the below as a best and final offer:

A 5% pay rise for most teaching staff for 22/23 with a further increase of 2.5% in 23/24

A 7.5% rise for the lowest paid with another 5% next year

A two year pay freeze for those earning over £50,000

In return for:

Immediate suspension of all strike action

A minimum service level for future strikes to ensure schools remain open to pupil premium and disadvantaged DC and exam years

Schools to be designated as critical national infrastructure to ensure they remain open in future pandemic situations

Why would strike action be called off for a shitter offer than the one that prompted strike action?

You don’t seem to understand the concept of negotiation.

You also seem to want for education to lose even more staff and get in an even worse state than the current crisis.

The government can put that forward all they like. It’ll not be accepted, and the strikes will continue.

and again, schools were open during the pandemic. With no PPE.

If schools are critical national infrastructure, then they should actually pay people properly to work there. Who wants critical national infrastructure done on a shoestring?

@noblegiraffe

The government has got to weigh up and balance a whole range of different factors. I do think education funding should be substantially increased, however bumper pay rises would not be my priority.

I would like to see working conditions improved and a package of measures to encourage staff retention.

I would like to see working conditions improved and a package of measures to encourage staff retention.

Well, you can include that package of measures in your 'strike' offer then. Interested to see what you have in mind.

What measures can be put in place to reduce workload and improve retention then?

I would like to see working conditions improved and a package of measures to encourage staff retention.
Wouldn't we all?!

Teachers are trying to protest about the desperately underfunded education system. Budget cuts over the last decade have resulted in increased class sizes, staff redundancies, and essential services stretched to breaking point. Teachers spend hundreds of pounds a year of their own money on books, pens, pencils, and classroom equipment.

Teachers cannot protest about this, as it would be deemed political activism ; we are ONLY allowed to protest about our own pay and conditions. The pay rises you mentioned were not funded, they were awarded by a government who didn’t provide funding for them, long after head teachers had to submit their budget plans. We can all promise other people’s money- and in this case, money had to be cut from essential provision for children.

Teachers are losing money they can ill afford in order to ensure the government fully fund teachers pay. They do this to encourage the government to adequately fund all schools, not just their pet private schools which masquerade as charities.

The current inflation crisis isn’t caused by rising wages. It’s caused by recent fuel price hikes (energy crisis in Europe plus govt removal of price caps), and increased cost of food/goods production/ import as a result of brexit. Inflation was already soaring before any of the current industrial disputes began.