Teachers strike

[PaTCh64355]

I appreciate this has probably been covered a lot in here but I can’t find a good summary. please could some teachers explain why they are striking.

my natural instinct is not to support the strikes. Children have been put through so much over the last few years, not to mention the impact on working parents. I’ve never worked in the public sector so have no understanding of unions.

this is honestly not meant as a goady post - I really want to understand the teachers position so I can be informed.

schools are being expected to do more on more on tighter and tighter budgets.

the pay increase given to teachers wasn’t funded so has to come out of the already very tight budget.

teacher and support staff numbers are plummeting and morale is low.

basically the system is failing children. Not because of the staff doing the job but as a result of goverment pressure and cuts.

As Sirzy says. Education is an utter bin fire. No money, over stretched staff, vacancies not filled, recruitment and retention issues. We are failing our children especially those with Send - every day we fire fight just to get through the day. I’m a TA and not striking as my Union were instructed by its members to accept the below inflation rise. Sadly It looks like TAs will be strike breaking next week and expected to cover colleagues too.

There have been huge numbers of threads on this.

1. Teachers have had a pay rise but the government aren’t funding it. It’s a pay raise in name only and means schools have no money
2. Conditions are fucking awful in schools
3. OFSTED are completely unfit for purpose - they rated a school as “good” even though they locked a child outside naked as a punishment and yet schools are still held to ransom by them
4. Teachers have to work stupid hours and through their holiday to meet expectations
5. Schools have no money, they will go bust. They can’t afford support staff, they can’t afford books, they can’t afford glue…
6. Parents are a nightmare, it’s a minority but if you teach 100 children then even 1% being awful is a difficult situation to deal with every day. Look at the threads on here about teachers shouldn’t be allowed to vape or a teacher called my kid “bossy” etc.
7. Teacher recruitment and retention is dire. We will have none left.

But this thread will descend into chaos like the others with arguments about getting 13 weeks paid holiday (forgetting that the holidays are unpaid), that you’re guaranteed £40,000 after 6 years (absolutely untrue), that the pension is 27% (you don’t actually get that money, it’s essentially hypothetical money)…

Teachers can’t strike except on a few, very narrow reasons. So, technically it’s to increase pay. But the negotiations and the aim is to raise awareness for the fact that we need the government to fund schools appropriately and allow them to actually do their job of educating children rather than be bound by restrictions and red tape that make schools unsafe for children and teachers, and mean no one is getting the opportunities and education that they deserve.

I used to be a teacher. I wouldn’t send my children to a state school if you paid me. I feel sorry for parents who have no choice and even more sorry for the parents who don’t know how awful conditions are now.

Strikes force governments to change their policies. One person quitting won't do that. A hundred quitting in a profession of hundreds of thousands won't do that. Striking is the only way.

For every professional that is part of a unionised, cohesive, and strong workforce, there are hundreds of others who are not. They can't strike. But they should support those who can.

Mick Lynch is an absolute hero. His union members are the vanguard - they are leading the way, and the teachers, nurses and others who are following suit and the reinforcements. But the winners will be everybody in a low/medium wage job - private sector, public sector, corporate giant, small enterprise.

We should support them all - and not fall prey to the vested interests and client media doing the Tories' devil's work pitting one group against the other.

Some teachers who ate getting the 5 per cent pay increase will strike in aid of those not getting it. 5 per cent also does not keep up with inflation. Chickenly has outlined all the reasons thoroughly

As a frame of reference, when I was a teacher:

• I’d get to school around 6am to get all my printing and resources sorted for the day. I was a science teacher so I needed to prep my practical equipment myself because we had no budget for technicians. Things often can’t be prepped the night before due to health and safety and leaving things too long.
• My form group would arrive for breakfast club from around 7.30 so I’d be “babysitting” them and dealing with arguments and upsets and who didn’t have a tie and who was wearing trainers etc.
• Then, I’d have a briefing with my department, the whole school, my year group tutors etc.
• Then I’d teach lessons all day. If I had a “free” then it’d always be used to cover someone else because of shortages.
• Break times and lunchtimes, I’d have duties or detentions - every day.
• After school under 4.30, I’d have science club, teaching PE staff science so they can teach, intervention to help GCSE classes revising, a department meeting.
• After 4.30, I’d need to do all my marking, planning, making resources, as well as doing those for the PE staff who were teaching science. I’d reply to emails, I’d log behaviour and call parents, I’d make my classroom displays, I’d go to the shops to buy things that were needed for practicals or stationery that had run out, upload homework to online classrooms… I’d usually leave around 7pm but that’s because I personally preferred to get my work done at work.

That doesn’t take into account Parents’ Evening, restorative justice meetings, open evenings…

In an appropriately funded school, teachers wouldn’t be babysitting breakfast club, we wouldn’t be doing technician’s work, we wouldn’t be covering through all our free periods, we wouldn’t be doing the entire pastoral role too. Admin would cover behaviour logging and emailing parents about lateness or wearing trainers.

But, aside from the funding, pupils are violent and the parents aren’t much better. Social attitudes are that it’s a teachers job to get children the grades they want and not a pupils job to actually earn the grade. I’m happy to work long hours, I work longer hours now but working those hours whilst being repeatedly told you’re not doing your job well enough by people who have no concept of what you actually do is simply not worth doing. That’s why I left…it’s why everyone else is leaving.

Before everyone comments with “if you don’t like it then leave” - EVERYONE IS LEAVING!

Disclaimer: not a teacher, but surrounded by a lot :)

Please don’t assume this is just about teachers wanting more money, although they are right to want this given how many years they’ve been underpaid. Most of those I know that are striking are doing so because they feel that education has been systematically deprioritised by a succession of Tory governments, culminating in a genuine funding crisis right now that the govt is making no attempts to help with. Instead they’re pushing the issue to councils, who are also struggling to fund vital social care services, amongst others.

We shouldn’t, in 2022 Britain, be in a position where we have to choose between educating our kids or providing the best care for our most vulnerable - the fact that we are is due in large part to fiscal incompetence on the part of our government. That’s a core sentiment for those I know that are choosing to strike, and one that I absolutely endorse, despite the temporary childcare inconvenience.

I support all strikers tbh because unions are important. I think what is being done to education is shocking, even if I don't feel that teachers are the worst treated around.

My secondary age child will be at home, so far both primary kids will be in.

Teaching is shit nowadays - as PPs have outlined. It's bad where I am in Scotland but 10 times worse in England. I don't know how people there can do it and why anyone would thinking of becoming a teacher.

my natural instinct is not to support the strikes. Children have been put through so much over the last few years, not to mention the impact on working parents.

People bang on about "Children having lost 2 years' education during lockdown" but they didn't. I found it more stressful doing online teaching during Covid than physically teaching. Lockdown wasn't the teachers' fault nor their choice to do online teaching.
The point of strikes is to impact people. Yes it may be difficult for working parents, but the strike would be pointless otherwise.

Many teachers ARE working parents!

Education is in crisis and parents need to wake up to that. I agree with everything that has been said previously. Personally after 26 years of teaching in state schools, my goodwill has gone. We are expected to do more, for example redundancies result in us picking up more teaching as staff are not replaced. This means I'm too exhausted to offer revision sessions during my unpaid lunch, after school or unpaid holidays. The way we were vilified during the pandemic ( I was teaching live lessons with my own child sat next to me being ignored mostly). For me it's not about pay but working conditions. I'm almost 52 and wouldn't want to be starting my career now.

I fully support teachers going on strike. I think it is a joke how they are treated. It's really not a fun job. They really put the kids' needs above their own and I respect teachers a lot. (I used to work in a school but I was not a teacher).

‘Impact on working parents’?! You are aware that school isn’t child care aren’t you?🙄

Brilliant post. Spells it out clearly. A day in the life of a teacher. Definitely not worth the money or stress.
I'm a midwife in the NHS it's much the same our numbers are down students leave soon after qualifying. The stress is huge to keep everyone safe with little staff.
Every shift is a slog.
I'm 100% behind the teachers their conditions for pay do not equate.

You don’t want to be goody but couldn’t be bothered to read the other threads on this? Th ones that explain in detail what is happening in schools?

I doubt I know a single teacher who would choose a payrise above a reduction in workload. Instead of worrying about the lost learning caused by a few days of (some teachers) striking, parents should be worrying about the huge amounts of lost learning caused by massive staff absences and failure to recruit or retain teachers, resulting in kids across the country constantly being stuck with ad hoc supply teachers and non-subject-specialists. Sometimes for months. This happens week-in week-out across the country. A few days' strike is a drop in the ocean by comparison.

In any case, it makes no difference whether your instinct is to support the strikes or not!

Social attitudes are that it’s a teachers job to get children the grades they want and not a pupils job to actually earn the grade

This is a massively important point. There is almost zero responsibility on children and young adults to engage in lessons and ‘try’. The attitude is ‘you are not making it fun enough’.

Makes me laugh watching people get all angy over a couple days of no one wanting to teach their kids when there are thousands of us who have had years of it 😂

Your kids are your responsibility 🤦

Teacher pay has been cut by between 13-20% in real terms since 2010. This means that teachers are now working one day per week unpaid compared to 2010.

School budgets have been depleted and destroyed, there is no money left for basics including stationery, the job is dreadful and the children are suffering from the lack of resources and staff. If your child has any kind of special educational need or disability then they almost certainly will not receive the support that they are entitled to.

I support the teachers/ teaching staff striking. My children's school remains open as usual on Wednesday but whilst it would inconvenience me if they were I think it's for the benefit of our children in the long run.

Long term investment is needed in schools but an immediate "plaster" for the issue would be to make sure teachers/ school staff are adequately paid to try and stop so many experienced teaching staff leaving and making the situation worse. It would also hopefully entice others back to the career or those with an interest into it. The strikes are highlighting the huge issues in the profession and the impact this will have on our children's education if things aren't improved is likely to be grim.

@Chickenly

I've been attempting to find this out online but not found the answer.

"Teachers can’t strike except on a few, very narrow reasons."

What are the reasons and why are we so limited in what we can strike on? I've read a few government guidance docs but they all focus on how to strike not reasons why you are allowed to strike as a teacher. I'm intrigued and want to be able to answer questions from family and on the picket line as to why we haven't called a strike about working conditions?

Thank you!

I have been teaching secondary for 24 years and at times still love it. Those wow moments are what keeps me in it for now. (I gave up all extra responsibility when I had my children.)
However, I am given 5 hours per fortnight to plan 45 hours of lessons. That includes the prep, the resources and the subsequent marking follow up for each lesson. Therefore like all other teachers I have to work before and after school hours, evenings and weekends to ensure it is all done. Usually somewhere between 100-120 hours a fortnight.

We are also dealing with an incredible amount of need from our students and sometimes from the parents. And behaviour is declining all the time. (Last year I was assulted, hit in the face, mainly due to lack of support for the student.) We simply do not have the support staff to cope with it so much falls on form tutors or heads of year. Trying to balance the needs of my own children and those of the job is heartbreaking at times.

My wages have 20% less purchasing power than they did 10 years ago as we have had either nothing or inadequate pay rises. My pension scheme was changed and is not what I signed up for when I joined the profession.

At my school we have a number of vacancies we cannot fill, therefore lesson are taught by supply who can be any specialism not ideal for GCSE classes. I hear in other schools of exam classes of up to 90 students being taught in school halls by the only subject specialist available. No school is going to advertise this but its becoming the reality.

Conditions in schools are rapidly declining and striking is the only way of bringing attention to the dire straights we are in. Teachers and leaders trying to make their voices heard has not worked. What else can we do to?

Quite simply schools need to be adequately funded and teachers pay needs to be more in line with where it should have been if the government had treated us fairly. Conditions now are not what I signed up for.

Personally, I'm not sure how much more my family can take so something is going to have to give.

@Fairislefandango that is so true on every level. I wish somebody would actually do a reality thing about what being a teacher is really like.
However we'd probably still not get a lot of public support. All the public seem to see are the long holidays.
I don't know what can be done to change the public perception of the job.

Why do academy schools need such a huge SLT? My child’s school has 9 head and assistant head teachers, surely this needs looking into?

Pay for teachers has fallen in real terms over the last 12 years. Public sector pay freezes, or capped to 1% mean that pay has not kept up with inflation. And the worst hit have been the more experienced teachers. As a result, there's a massive recruitment and retention crisis, been going on for years, and the wheels are falling off.

Conditions in schools are utter shit and many teachers are leaving, because the money is not worth it.

You may also see that teachers are asking for fully funded pay rise. Currently, schools are given a budget roughly according to how many students they have, and the school pays everything, including teacher wages, out of that budget. If employer costs rise (NI changes for example, pay rises) the school has to absorb that. As school budgets have been squeezed so much in the last 12 years, you often see schools that can't afford more experienced staff (as they are more expensive). They have made class sizes larger, got rid of support staff, chosen less experienced staff over those with experience. You can imagine the problems that brings to schools, where support staff are slashed, budgets slashed, class sizes maximised, and run by new teachers. Teachers don't want a wage cut in a cost of living crisis, and neither do they want the school budget to have to absorb the cost of a pay rise.