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.

Vast majority of teachers are taking home £2k a month.

They are not badly paid.

No one goes into teaching thinking it's rock star wages. £2k a month is a good salary. Is it amazing? No. Do they deserve more? Of course! Do they deserve 10%+ more?

Also, teacher pension is bloody amazing.

And yet despite the assertions that teachers have a cushy well-paid job with loads of holidays and a fab pension, we cannot recruit.

Why is that?

Nice to know teachers can afford to join a union!

I teach in private school and we earn much less than 40k!!
It's a myth that all private schools pay better than state

HereBeFuckery if your post wasn't so accurate it would be hilarious. What is even worse is that I have become totally conditioned into thinking that everything that you wrote is normal.

Honestly, I’m not doing anything special, it’s just my job. But it DOES take up a significant amount of my own time. There is no way I could do all of that if I only worked for the hours I'm paid for. That is what makes teaching so poorly paid.

I don’t make specific amendments for ADHD often, unless a child has something in particular that works for them outwith what I already do. Instead:
-I chunk instructions
-I ensure all my instructions are given in writing and verbally (and remain displayed throughout the task to refer to)
-I do a series of short tasks to scaffold a larger task
-I have very clear, well defined routines
-I am flexible as to where a kid works (within reason!)
-I offer opportunities to move around the class eg group work, or even just if I see a kid struggling to sit I’ll ask them to help me hand out rulers etc.

honestly, that’s just a tiny part of it - but at no point would a kid with ADHD (or any other kid) necessarily know why I do any of these things, or that I was doing it for them.

Oh and not 'teachers pension' in my school. We were taken out of it...

Im underlining basic economic reality.

I understand the why, however tofund it the government need more money to get that they will tax the rest of us more, our wages are not going up by that percentage in order to cover it. That makes the rest of us worse of in an economic crisis already. Plus ds1 is sitting gcse's this year so time out of the class room will impact his grades, ds2 has asd and routine is essential. The days out will create so much disruption it will take weeks to get him settled again. I totally understand they deserve it but in a system that is failing so many children with additional needs due to lack of funding I fear it will get far worse. These mps should take a pay cut and go after the big companies like amazon etc to find the funds needed but they won't.

@JustWantedACat What has any of that got to do with the price of fish? How exactly would teachers not striking help any of those people?

We can't afford not to join a Union, justwanted.

It's like day one of teacher training. You're sat down and told 'you must join a Union' because parents are more litigious than ever before and things can go wrong. Because some Head Teachers are bullies and will try to manage out teachers who's faces don't fit. Because how else can you organise when the whole of the education system is going down in flames? You need some protections. You need the personal legal cover.

It's a priority.

I support them as they are low paid when you consider their role but I feel a bit more notice that next Wednesday could have been given. I know the whole point is to disrupt everything but the poor parents juggling childcare/work are not to blame.

So now this is some species of checking their privilege?

It might save workers losing potentially 100s of pounds they can't afford in lost wages.

And the poster doesn't agree with your "reality".

I'm a full time teacher on 28k with 10years experience too!

I appreciate the reasoning behind it, but a lot of workers who need the personal legal cover really can not afford it because they can barely afford to eat or pay their bills.

I don't earn 40k.

I've seen the dates for this in publications since 17th January, and I don't even live in the UK. So no, not short notice.

OK. What you’re saying is that teachers shouldn’t try to improve working conditions in education and therefore improve the recruitment crisis, bedside some other people would struggle to pay for childcare.

It doesn’t matter if conditions in teaching continue to get worse, the recruitment crisis becomes catastrophic, as long as low paid workers aren’t having to pay for childcare.

Gotcha. Excellent long-term thinking, that. You should be in government.

I’m going to hazard a guess that your performance isn’t measured on how 30 11 years old perform in random testsbin 4 days in may? When on average a quarter to a half of those of those children are from disadvantaged backgrounds often with complex family issues, have special educational needs or speak English as an additional language.

And that is wrong, isn't it, Justwanted?

We live in a relatively wealthy country, yet so many are inches from poverty. How is that right?

How can we - a year before a general election - protest in a way that is disruptive enough to make the government listen and change its priorities?

Health and education should be priorities.

They are not. That needs to change. What else do we do?

The employers’ contribution into the Teachers’ Pension scheme is extremely costly at 23.48%, most employees in the private sector have employers contributing between 3% and 8%.

A lot of workers can't get childcare that quickly, if at all, so it'll be unpaid leave for them. But it's not just the financial loss for their individual family, its the potential their absence has at their place of work which could involve cancelled appointments in some cases (some being very important which could take months to reschedule) or places having to shut down/produce half the work for customers and clients or potential loss in earnings for the self employed. It goes far deeper than "just paying for childcare," and it has a massive ripple effect across workforces all over.

But as long as teachers get their 12% on top of their good wage and pension, sod the rest.

@TheMoth
If only. I do have a good idea for my placard though, but it's not quite as detailed!