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?

When most of them don't even care about the kids? Because surely if they cared about the children they wouldn't be sabotaging their education

How do you know most of them don't care? Evidence please.

You really don't understand strike action do you?

I agree with OP, yes its not all a bed of roses but most professions aren't. The pay scale is a lot better than a high number of careers out there as well as rises.

Schools were closed to some children during Covid... not to teachers FFS. We had vulnerable children in and depending on your area, that could be the majority of your class!!! About 3/4 of mine were in every day and while teaching them in person I had to plan lessons online for the rest which meant recording a video of myself teaching maths, English and an afternoon lesson EVERY DAY. So that's around 7 lessons a day and not taking in to account the time it took me to plan it all and mark it! Plus I had to do all of the break and dinner duties for my class as classes were not mixing at all so there went my break times! Teachers were working so hard during covid but everyone paints it as us sitting on our arsed because some parents chose to keep their children at home for safety or they weren't eligible to come in as they had parents at home!!!

Yeah I used to be working at least 60 hours a week in term time when I was teaching.

There was still work to be done during the (technically unpaid) holidays, and zero chance of a day off In term time for anything less than a close family member's wedding.

OP, you sound a bit young and clueless. And that's being charitable.

They worked throughout COVID! Unlike the furloughed.

You clearly don’t have a clue. They are not trying to sabotage their education at all, they are striking to ensure they get the best quality teachers to give the best education for our children, instead the good ones are quitting and going into different careers.

The stress of teaching made me ill hence my decision to quit. Very glad I did.

The work-life balance was zero to none, and not worth it.

82% think you’re being unreasonable, take your thick clueless comments to someone who cares

@ttcchapter1 Thankyou! Not only that but teachers with kids don't need to juggle working full-time with half term holidays and after school clubs etc. Because they're off the same time when their kids are off. Where as the rest of us have to fork out a fortune on childcare during the half term. YES it has its issues teaching. But EVERY profession does but I would say they have it wayy better than most other public services professions.

If you haven’t had a pay rise in 6 years that’s your problem, not a teacher’s. This is about more than just pay. Education is running on a shoestring, it is very difficult to get good people into the profession, an outdated and clunky national curriculum, and the reason teachers are going on strike is to highlight issues that are driving many good teachers away from the profession.

From the NEU FAQ:

"Pay for experienced teachers has fallen by one fifth in real terms since 2010. And now Britain is facing the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation. Yet while your bills keep going up, your pay is not keeping pace.
Energy bills are soaring, inflation is at 12.3 per cent (August 2022) – a forty-year high. But the Government is suggesting experienced teachers’ pay should only go up by five per cent this year. This is a seven per cent cut.
Long hours and poor pay are the main reasons teachers are leaving the profession in their droves. This Government is presiding over one of the worst recruitment and retention crises ever seen in education.
Children are losing out because there are not enough teachers. Even when there is a teacher in the classroom, increasingly they are not qualified in the subject they are teaching. Parents and grandparents hear their children and grandchildren talking about ‘new’ teachers in the middle of the school year; of lessons being ‘covered’ by supply teachers, of teachers leaving. Lack of qualified teachers harms the education that children and young people receive.
To save education, we must take action to ensure that educators get an inflation-plus pay increase."

It's not just pay.

Hope you reunite with The Brain soon, Pinky
Enjoy the rest of your trolling session.

I didn't even read past your first sentence. The holiday is NOT paid. They are paid for the hours they DO work, which is then divided across 12 months. August would be tricky to pay the bills otherwise ...

Simple logic is that if teachers had it so good, they wouldn't be striking. Striking is always a last resort.

In real terms they have had a big pay cut, with years of below inflation pay 'increases'. The hours of planning and marking, and various box ticking are a lot.

I'm not a teacher, but I support them.

If you think teachers have it so good then feel free to become one, after all, there are loads of vacancies!

If the pay and working conditions were so good, there wouldn’t be a critical shortage of teachers and a massive recruitment and retention crisis. The free market decides. The fact that nobody wants to be a teacher and existing teachers are leaving the profession for alternative jobs in the private sector in droves is indication that pay and or working conditions are insufficient for the job.

Clearly the general public doesn’t think that the pay, working conditions, working hours, holiday (only 28 days is paid like the rest of the country. The remainder is unpaid) is a good deal otherwise they would be queueing round the block to enter the profession.

Jobs where pay and working conditions are sufficient for the role don’t have difficulty recruiting or retaining people.

@scoutcat ok that makes sense! At least your taking the time to educate on issues that teachers face instead of resorting to name calling like others. Because I'll be honest alot of us here irl are perplexed as on the surface teaching looks like the perfect job. Especially if you have a passion in that subject. But I can understand the issues you mentioned make it not seem as good as it looks. However I still don't see how pay rises fix the problem?? If anything everyone getting pay rises will only make inflation worse. The order of the day should be keeping inflation below 2-3%

@Pinky1011 no I was a very caring empathetic teacher actually, the children were gutted when I left.

Perhaps look at the full issues surrounding problems in education before coming on here. Plenty of people have assured you in this thread that the responsibilities held by teachers warrant a real pay rise in line with inflation.

Lots of people don’t agree with you, just because you’re annoyed that your job doesn’t pay well. We’ll do something about it instead of vilifying teachers.

No dangerous or bad working conditions? Have you tried teaching bottom set year 11 (usually disengaged and very hormonal teenage boys) science? If it's not the chemicals, glassware, scalpels, Bunsen burners or all manner of electrical equipment, it's the potential to have to break up a fight at any moment or have chairs/tables/books etc thrown across the room any second. It's not exactly a walk in the park ...

@youshouldnthaveasked NOONE is vilifying teachers, I asked a QUESTION to get more clarity on the situation.

I'm ignoring the working 9-4 comment ...

A LOT is two words ...

Please don’t forget PENSIONS

Employers (the govt) pay the equivalent of around 25% of a teacher’s salary into a pension scheme that will continue to pay out a steady income until they die, as opposed to the private sector where employers pay just 3% into a pot that you have to make last as long as you do (unless you’re a low earner with salary per job under £10k in which case you get nothing).

The average teachers salary is £38k and £43k in London, rising quickly to over £50k for those with leadership roles (not head teachers, they’re on well over £70k). It is not a low paid profession. Teachers are also not the only people who work unpaid overtime. It applies to most people I know on a salary tbh.

The conditions within schools however I can understand are difficult.

I think teachers need to be clearer on what they actually want from the strikes. I also think unfortunately that there is a general feeling that teachers are always complaining and will never be happy which is damaging to what they really could be achieving. In part I blame the NEU for this and for how the public see teachers, as a union they’re very aggressive and which may be good in some respects but in others can ultimately serve to undermine the real and legitimate concerns teachers have.

Hi Rishi. We know it's you.

Sorry strikes do my head in...You signed up for a job knowing the pay, knowing the conditions etc etc so get on with it.....dont see my family members who some work 10 hours a day and still after almost 10 years same company basic wages going on strike...So if you dont like your job or just work to keep a family wd...Cant stand striking putting my kids education at risk putting my family's health at risk etc etc etc

Well do you have clarity? Do you still stand by that they don’t deserve a pay rise?

Please read back your comment saying ‘they don’t care about the children and are just sabotaging their education

@sanityisamyth bloody hell that sounds horrible! But surely just getting a 10% pay rise isn't going to fix that though? It sounds like the state school education needs wayy more funding, to do other things like more measures in place to deal with problem kids, pastoral support etc.