Bloody teacher strike!

[NoSchoolYesSchool]

Got a message last week saying class was closed because of strike. Not thrilled, but I support the teachers so took a day off work, booked to take kids to a soft play, let them stay up later last night because there’s no school. Just got a message from the teachers saying that the full school will be open today and looking forward to seeing the children! Are they taking the absolute piss? The strike I can support, but this is just fucking around the parents who’ve had to make an effort to sort childcare for the day? It won’t affect their cause at all, but completely screws me over! I’ve messaged and said kids won’t be in today because 30 minutes isn’t enough warning and I have things planned. Am I being unreasonable? Should I be sending them in? Just to avoid drip feeding, one child is neurodiverse and won’t manage a change like this after I’ve spent days gearing him up to being off

We've had 4 messages from the school since the strikes were announced, closed then open. Oh closed again. 7pm last night "open to all pupils tomorrow" well it's a case of tough tits. I've booked the day off work so keeping the kids off and having a nice day with them. There is no need to mess parents around like that, don't sodding tell us until you know for definite.
And ha ha bloody ha to school not being childcare I'm a single parent so school is very much childcare. What else am I supposed to do? Employ a full time just incase nanny and pay her in, erm, buttons?!

I think we need to separate the strikes from the inconvenience that has been caused to parents. I totally support the strikes and I understand that teachers can't or should not give notice.

I still expect the school to try to have a consistent plan and if there is uncertainty to make that clear by saying something like: "unfortunately, we will not be able to know if the school / your child's class will be closed till the morning of Wednesday." Then parents can plan accordingly and prepare their kids that they may or may not have to go to school. If I told my daughter that school was off and then she did have to go we'd have a massive meltdown especially if we'd made plans to do something else. But if you know there is a possibility that school might be Open after all then you can manage expectations. Maybe that's obvious (ie to not take anything for granted during a strike) but I've never been in this situation so don't know what to expect.

Strikes are designed to be disruptive but saying they are closed then on the morning of the strike opening after all comes across more as frantic and disorganised than disruptive.

I mean, no one is going to think ‘wow, they opened after all, this shows how much they deserve extra pay’, are they?

YANBU.

As a fellow ND I get it - it’s not about the strike - it’s about the awful communications and having to spin on a penny to readjust to other peoples poor execution.

You won’t get any recognition of the toll it’s now going to take on you, you put effort into sorting things out and being prepared and it is now expected you’ll undo all that for the new plan at the drop of a hat. DRIVES ME FLAMING CRAZY!

Also, school is child care. Didn't we realise that in the pandemic? Of course it's not the primary purpose of school but if parents can't rely on schools minding their kids consistently then how would anyone ever work? Well, in real life: how would women be able to hold down a job? You can't expect everyone to have a backup child care and pay for it. Right or wrong our society is based on school having kids between certain set hours.

This is another topic but surely if schools weren't expect to provide childcare why would school hours be so bloody long in the UK? When I grew up I only had school in the morning, which was brilliant from a child's point of view but of course impossible from both parents working point of view.

@IglesiasPiggl - I came on to say just this. It’s the schools lack of organisation/communication that’s at fault here. My DC’s school decided over a week ago to close for all apart from vulnerable/exam students because they could not guarantee there would be enough teachers in today.
OP YANBU - crack on with your nice plans.

Well it sounds to me like OP has been supportive of the strikes and on hearing school would be closed made the necessary arrangements to ensure her children were looked after and had something fun to do, sounds reasonable to me. The issue is the last minute, as in, half an hour before starting U turn to say yes bring them in. Sure some parents who have used precious annual leave will still enjoy a day off if they send them in, others are happy to lose money they've paid to secure tickets somewhere, but for those who aren't I don't think it's unreasonable to still keep them off if they want and the school shouldn't record their absences in a negative way. There's disruptive which parents prep for in case, and then there's just ridiculous.

Don’t see the problem, just have a nice day.

Of course school is childcare as well as education. Most families don't have the option of having a SAHP, or a nanny or other paid childcare ready and waiting in case of random school closures. Modern society's economic setup requires children be "looked after" during the day by schools for a large proportion of families, and I wish this slogan would stop getting trotted out.

However, that's separate from the right of teachers and other school staff to strike, which I fully support, and if the government hadn't underfunded and undermined schools for so many years, it wouldn't be necessary.

(OP you should just do what you think is the best choice for your own children today. The school is probably just as frustrated as you over trying to plan around this.)

If anyone wants to write to the current Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, apparently you need to use the contact form on this page:

https://www.gov.uk/contact-dfe

At least that's the automated response I received when I emailed her at [email protected]

One of our schools said prepare for them to be closed which could apply here

It’s not definitely the case but they advised to arrange cc

It’s easy for schools to be in position where they say this

As for school is not childcare line I’m glad to see many agree. Can finally put it in the bin post pandemic

Stop saying this about the effectiveness of stikesif people are aware. With eg trains they do a reduced service or no service but have the decency of advising people of the plans (with some last minute changes). It is still very effective.

I'm not a teacher but I can believe it. I assume most teachers know roughly the pay they can expect but what they might not know is how shit the working conditions are, how they will struggle to do a decent job teaching without adequate resources and on top of that how their pay will stagnate in real terms.

Also, there is nothing wrong with striking to.improve pay. To be honest I don't think anyone goes into the teaching profession because they think it's highly lucrative and they can make a killing. I think most people become teachers because they want to teach and help young people but then realise how bad the conditions are and that they aren't paid enough to put up with this crap.

Thousands have left the profession and found another job, I'm one of them. The UK is haemorrhageing teachers because the working conditions are atrocious.

Therefore, what will you do when there is noone left? You do realise that the education system is falling to pieces, largely owing to the complete disdain with which teachers are treated by the government and lovely individuals like you.

Not knowing who's striking doesn't absolve the school from bad communication, which is what the OP is rightly pissed off about.

They should have said to make alternative arrangements just in case, but they'd let them know by 8am on strike day.

My kids schools (secondary) have set work to do from home for years 8-10 and asked years 7 & 11 to come in, just to be aware they may have to combine classes if there aren't enough staff to cover each individual class.

Ah, ‘schools aren’t childcare´ - we meet again. Takes me right back to April 2020 (it was bollocks then as well).

School does, to an extent, serve as childcare, as well as an educational setting. That's simply a reality.

Do schools want the UK to go back to a setup of every family having a SAHM? Working parents pay tax - there'd be even less bloody money for schools if fewer parents were employed.

Her own life is allowed to be about her. It was about her when she had to take annual leave and it was about her when she booked the soft play but it’s not to be about her now? What a stupid thing to say!

I meant this as a reply to the poster upthread who advised teachers to "find another job".

No support from me
If they think are are not paid enough just get another job ffs

Ah, yes, that would help. We should say the same to the nurses, the railway workers, the ambulance staff, the 999 call handlers. If you don't like the pay and conditions, quit! Go find a better paid job at a supermarket.

Problem is, what would we do then, with no teachers, railway workers, ambulance staff, 999 call handlers? It's already a problem because so may have quit. But that's ok, because they were just greedy fuckers who should have been grateful for what they had.

The OP isn't cross that they're striking. She's cross at being told at short notice that the school expects the kids in having said they were closed.

It's true that strikes are supposed to be disruptive but the issue here is that when teachers strike they are disrupting the lives of people who don't have the power to change anything. The kids are the ones most impacted and what can they do to give teachers a fair deal? Parents, with all the will in the world can't do much either other than put pressure on the government, and unlike when miners strike etc there isn't a direct financial impact on the government when the schools shut for a day.

With that in mind teachers/ schools etc have to keep parents on their side otherwise they basically have no power at all. As soon as public opinion turns against the strikes then the teachers have lost so to fuck people around like this is really a bad idea.

I’d continue with your plans. It’s one day off and I’m sure they will all have fun! Enjoy your day.

Not all union members strike and teachers are under no obligation to let the school know their plans. The school has to make a guess as to whether or not they can safely remain open. They won't know until staff do not show up on the day of the strike. If enough staff do show up and the school could have remained open they will be sanctioned if they stay closed.

Next time, plan an event that won't incur a cost if things need to change at the last minute.

Yes it is because they are required to attend by law. Home educating is not an option for many because of the content and knowledge required and because it’s generally impossible to afford a house if you haven’t got 2 salaries coming in.
If school isn’t childcare then alternative childcare would need to be sought every day as a back up in case school was closed. How is that possible? Unless you want the human race to not procreate and die out because couples arnt having children anymore due to no alternative childcare?
Make schooling compulsory with hearty fines and this is what happens. Can’t have it both ways.

Strikes are suppose to disrupt. People on here seem to struggle with this aspect.