Does anyone NOT support teachers’ strikes?

[Notbeinggoadybut]

I’ve got mixed views. Support that they, as all public sector workers, need a pay rise. And schools need more funding (but the NEU hasn’t badged this as a public reason which is a mistake IMP).

But 12% is a lot when you’re on a £40k salary. The TA’s deserve 12%, the nurses and ambulance drivers with dire conditions and worse salaries deserve 12%. But not from a starting salary of £40k.

Also public services can be dire. I work in one, it can be bordering on a joke and in so many ways such a waste of money. I will be striking on the 1st of February. But I don’t think it’s right - I voted against the strike. I want a pay rise, but don’t feel like it’s right to ask for 10% and strike if I don’t get it.

Nurses ? Firefighters ? Ambulance staff and paramedics ? Civil servants ? Railway workers ?
Or is it just teachers you disagree with ?

With inflation running at 10%, most teachers will see a 5% real-terms fall in their salary this year,” Sibieta said.

“Combined with past real-terms cuts dating back to 2010, more experienced teachers will have seen a 13% real-terms drop in salaries between 2010 and 2022.

In contrast, average earnings across the whole economy are thought to have increased by about 2% in real terms during the same period.

You'd better tell the government to start negotiating then. I don't know why I'm expected to put your kids above my own.

Jepet · Today 20:34
I’ve always thought that public sector workers should be given the option of a big pay rise as long as they leave the pension scheme and accept a 5%-10% contribution to a money purchase plan instead which is what private sector workers have to do. Bit like a flexible benefits package.

@jepet yes, I agree, that is what happened in my private sector job. I read that employer contribution is 24% for teachers? Not sure if that is correct? So, if average pay was 35k, the gross pay is really more like 43. It also has a big knock on effect on the cost of any pay rise. In the private sector, a chunk of my pay is ‘variable’, performance related and no employer pension contribution is made on that.

If you want good teachers you need to make it a profession where the good pay makes up for the poor conditions or vice versa. If you don't actually care about the education children receive, and having them in a school supervised by an adult is your priority, then fine. But at least be honest about it.

Teachers are asking for a pay rise that brings them back to where they were 10 years ago. It seems like a lot because the pay increases have been shit for a decade. They're also asking for the pay rise to be funded by the government so that the working conditions don't deteriorate yet again. Bear in mind that while conditions are getting worse for teachers they're also getting worse for the children.

I absolutely cannot stand the "it's a vocation" bullshit. It's a job. And one which fewer and fewer people are willing to so. Eventually something has got to give.

I have a number of teacher friends and I’m on a campaign to get them out of there. If their job conditions were their partners you’d call the police. This thread has appalled me with how entitled and selfish many of you are about the people who you leave in charge of your children all day.

. I read that employer contribution is 24% for teachers? Not sure if that is correct?

it's around 23/24%

Such a variation in salary.
5 teachers where I work. ALL on £40+
Maintained primary school.
I’m pretty pissed off that my year 11 has missed so much learning due to covid, and now we’re told of disruption at school due to strikes, on the run up to GCSE’s!

Surely most teachers (more than 50%) will have been in the profession more than 6 years. It takes time to build up your salary and progress in most professions

I’m going to get up to my 30 years pension, my mortgage will be paid and then I’m going. I love my job, I love the kids but it’s just not sustainable.

The holidays that people bang on about are not flexible. Holidays cost twice as much and you can't get a day off to watch your own child at sports day, nativity etc. I'm not paid if I go to a hospital appointment as have to take time off unpaid. So yes I get a lot of annual leave but it's not all it's cracked up to be!

Very much for real.
Midwifery is midwifery.
Nursing is nursing.
Teaching is teaching.
No I don't imagine your job has changed but I can imagine you have more paperwork and stress is all.

Are you able to answer a question normally without being sarcastic?

Do you think striking will achieve what you want? Just leave the job. You sound incredibly bitter and angry hope this doesn't translate in rhe classroom to your students

I started on 18k back in early 2000s. On 42k now as top of classroom teacher payscale and have a TLR.

I'm not part of the striking union but voted to strike. To be honest, I'm not in the job for the money. No teacher is. I'm not in it for the holidays as I spend a lot of them marking, planning or getting over some illness that has been lurking in my system for the half term. I'm on the job because I love my subject and I like working with kids.

I voted to strike because of the fact schools have had to find the 5% pay rise not the government. I voted to strike because of the take take take all the time. I voted to strike because of the way I was spoken to today by a group of teenage girls. Utter contempt shouting at me because I wouldn't let them sit with their friends cos all they do is piss about. I voted to strike because of the severe lack of funding for schools, for SEND pupils, for basic equipment. I voted to strike for the massive issue that is teacher retention. We are leaking teachers left, right and centre. Experienced teachers who realise that they can have a better work-life balance by working elsewhere. I voted to strike as my kids deserve happy teachers. Give it ten years and the job will be done by graduates and there'll be no experienced staff left. I voted to strike as class sizes are huge. I would rather my conditions of work improved - better funding, resources, more money for TAs, better pay for TA, better support from parents, no more snowflake parenting. Own you kids poor behaviour. I voted to strike as this profession means so much to me. I'm not paid for my holidays, I'm paid during them. We don't start off at 40k, we do at least 9 years and jump through ridiculous hoops to get there. I voted for a better work like balance so I can be a mum to my kids. I start school at 7.30 and leave 4.30 to collect my children. Most nights I do another hour or two. I work at least 4-6 hours each weekend. I pay a premium for a foreign holiday as I can't go during term time and I have to move heaven and earth to see my kid's nativity, assembly, sports day.

I voted to strike as there are car parking spaces in inner city London earning more than me.

I don't support any strikes. I don't disagree that things are far from great in some public sectors...but things are not rosy in the private sector either. I have not had a payrise in years!!! I don't get the option to strike.

Re teachers, I cannot support this. Kids need to be taught. I am not sure why you are saying I am putting my kids ahead of yours. No idea what point you are seeking to make. I just want teachers to deliver an education. Like they are paid to do and signed up to do.

I used to work with someone who likened our job to being in an abusive relationship. Only in teaching, sometimes you're being abused by management and the kids.

Planning: slavishly planning lessons with umptythree vital components because ofsted
Differentiation is hugely more complex due to the more complex needs of students
Marking: umptythree expectations of what and how and when because ofsted
Bigger classes
Less non contact time
Emails. The endless bloody emails wanting info at all hours. Often requesting information that is stored electronically if only someone would bother to look
Fewer support staff to help students
The expectation that we will be available to students and parents all the time
Propping up CAMHS and social care and medical care

The advance of technology has added so much work. Constant emails. Constant data entry. Constant data analysis. And because what you do is online, constant scrutiny. So much time spent in front of a screen now. I guess that goes for most jobs.

There's an awful lot of processes which I'm not convinced are efficient. Has Ofsted really improved the quality of education in schools over the years?

@primeoflife if only teachers had know their holidays would have to be term time 🙄
Lots of people don't get paid to for appointments and can't go to sports day.
That's not just Teachers.

You're wrong. The OP very clearly said £40k was the starting salary. And she was wrong.

This is nice to read. Parents are the worst part of my job. Thanks to mn I am even suspicious of the nice ones, as some of the posts on here (not just this thread) are shocking.

Yes I’m angry, angry at stupid questions.

Well I hate to disappoint you but if the gov sits down tomorrow and says ‘here’s what you asked for with this strike’ you won’t get any of the things you mentioned there, just a good pay rise.
I would rather my conditions of work improved - better funding, resources, more money for TAs, better pay for TA, better support from parents, no more snowflake parenting.
How on earth is striking going to help snowflake parenting?!! It’s also not for more funding or even for a pay rise for TAs.

Thanks for taking the time to explain to me. I feel very conflicted about teachers striking. I couldn't do the job personally and have respect for those that do, and do a good job.

But there won’t be the teachers to deliver the education, we’re leaving in droves

Half the teachers I know don’t actually want to strike they just feel they have to. They all earn decent-ish salaries and get loads of holidays. Yes, yes they have work and marking to do in the holidays. They don’t work ALL holiday though.