Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this could solve teachers' problems

478 replies

NovemberRains · 03/04/2023 16:24

Teachers want higher pay.

Their employers currently pay a whopping ~24% into a defined benefit pension scheme!

AIBU to think that a lot of their problems could be solved if they were just given the option to either continue as they are, or get a 20% pay increase and have a 4% employer contribution to a standard defined contribution pension scheme like the vast majority of the population get!

I respect teachers, but based on my knowledge when overall remuneration is considered including pension and holidays, they really aren't underpaid compared to other professions!

It's a similar story for other public sector professions!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
Itstarts · 05/04/2023 17:03

Horni · 05/04/2023 16:48

@Changechangechanging
there will always be someone! Maybe they’ll only last a few years and so on and on….
don’t understand why teachers need to be near London!? Work outside London where the cost of living doesn’t bite so hard. It’s a great job as you can work anywhere!

🤣

So kids in London don't deserve an education?

Horni · 05/04/2023 17:11

The teachers who aren’t happy in London should do the job elsewhere! There are plenty of teachers not striking!!!!

Horni · 05/04/2023 17:12

Unless you’re all single mothers (I have respect for as my mum was a single mother raising 3 kids on her own) don’t your other halves contribute or have decent jobs?!

Horni · 05/04/2023 17:13

Most teachers I know teach because they enjoy it and don’t need to work as their oh’s earn 80k plus ( most teachers I know in London)

BlackFriday · 05/04/2023 17:17

Scroll past, scroll past...

LyndaLaHughes · 05/04/2023 17:22

Horni · 05/04/2023 17:11

The teachers who aren’t happy in London should do the job elsewhere! There are plenty of teachers not striking!!!!

So no children of school age in London needing to be taught then? What a ridiculous statement to make. Also, given I actually am a teacher in London, I can state that I don't know of any teacher in any of the schools I work with or have dealings with who only teaches for fun because their partner earns way more. What utter made up rubbish. No teacher teaches for fun- because there is absolutely nothing fun about it anymore. Any teacher I know who can afford to leave has already done so - usually for a lesser paid job (including quite a few who have indeed left London) and every single teacher I know left wants to leave and would if they could.

Fairislefandango · 05/04/2023 17:22

Stop complaining! If you don’t like the pay look elsewhere (re train). Simple’s!

'Simple's' Hmm

People are looking elsewhere and moving to other jobs. More will do so. That's part of the problem. Not nearly enough people are training to be teachers in order to replace them. Your 'simple' solution isn't very good, is it?

Schools and children are desperate for teachers. What's your 'simple' solution to that? Teachers care about giving kids a good education. They (mostly) don't want to just quit, they want a manageable workload and to be paid fairly for the work they do. You have no right and no good reason to order them to stop complaining.

lifeissweet · 05/04/2023 17:24

Horni (horrible username) is on a wind up.

Ignore.

Horni · 05/04/2023 17:24

@LyndaLaHughes
fair enough London is a big place and where I live that is the case!

Fairislefandango · 05/04/2023 17:24

Most teachers I know teach because they enjoy it and don’t need to work as their oh’s earn 80k plus ( most teachers I know in London).

How nice. I've known a few teachers in that position. Most aren't. Many teachers are married to teachers. Many are single.

Fairislefandango · 05/04/2023 17:26

@LyndaLaHughes fair enough London is a big place and where I live that is the case!

Presumably you mean that this is the case with the small sample of teachers you happen to know in the small area where you live.

LyndaLaHughes · 05/04/2023 17:26

Horni · 05/04/2023 17:11

The teachers who aren’t happy in London should do the job elsewhere! There are plenty of teachers not striking!!!!

I don't know of a single teacher who doesn't support the strikes. The other unions totally messed up their balloting process and the vote coincided with postal strikes. In my Union which is not NEU, I am the only
Member of my friends who actually received a ballot - those who did vote, voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action. So I'm not striking for that reason and many of my colleagues are in the same boat. But I do not know a single teacher who does not support the strikes. Those who don't are a tiny minority and you'd struggle to find one. I'm so angry about it that I'm changing unions - as have many teachers already.

Horni · 05/04/2023 17:28

I wouldn’t be a teacher precisely because of the pay! I’ve chosen to work in the private sector as does my husband because we live in London and have 2 kids and need to work these types of jobs to be able to afford to live in London and go on holidays abroad, have savings for them and us for the future, pay for mortgage etc etc give them a good life etc etc

MrsHamlet · 05/04/2023 17:31

Horni · 05/04/2023 17:13

Most teachers I know teach because they enjoy it and don’t need to work as their oh’s earn 80k plus ( most teachers I know in London)

If you say so

Itstarts · 05/04/2023 17:32

Horni · 05/04/2023 17:28

I wouldn’t be a teacher precisely because of the pay! I’ve chosen to work in the private sector as does my husband because we live in London and have 2 kids and need to work these types of jobs to be able to afford to live in London and go on holidays abroad, have savings for them and us for the future, pay for mortgage etc etc give them a good life etc etc

That's nice dear.

Horni · 05/04/2023 17:34

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

lifeissweet · 05/04/2023 17:35

Horni · 05/04/2023 17:28

I wouldn’t be a teacher precisely because of the pay! I’ve chosen to work in the private sector as does my husband because we live in London and have 2 kids and need to work these types of jobs to be able to afford to live in London and go on holidays abroad, have savings for them and us for the future, pay for mortgage etc etc give them a good life etc etc

What a mad situation. That teachers and nurses that society need to function, can't manage without being married to someone wealthy.

Someone should go on strike about that.

Horni · 05/04/2023 17:35

It’s a fact don’t moan or do something to change your situation! If you’re unhappy re train, move, do something! You only get one life!!!!

Sherrystrull · 05/04/2023 17:36

Horni · 05/04/2023 17:13

Most teachers I know teach because they enjoy it and don’t need to work as their oh’s earn 80k plus ( most teachers I know in London)

Literally no teachers I know simply teach because they enjoy it. Many are married to teachers, many are single parents and many are the biggest earner in their house.

How insulting.

lifeissweet · 05/04/2023 17:36

Horni · 05/04/2023 17:35

It’s a fact don’t moan or do something to change your situation! If you’re unhappy re train, move, do something! You only get one life!!!!

😂

MrsHamlet · 05/04/2023 17:47

Horni · 05/04/2023 17:35

It’s a fact don’t moan or do something to change your situation! If you’re unhappy re train, move, do something! You only get one life!!!!

We are. It's called "going on strike"

Fairislefandango · 05/04/2023 17:49

It’s a fact don’t moan or do something to change your situation! If you’re unhappy re train, move, do something! You only get one life!!!!

Uh huh. And by whom are the nation's children going to be taught then? If every teacher who supports the strikes followed your advice, there would be almost no teachers.

Shinyandnew1 · 05/04/2023 18:01

Most teachers I know teach because they enjoy it and don’t need to work

Really…

Changechangechanging · 05/04/2023 18:13

Horni · 05/04/2023 16:48

@Changechangechanging
there will always be someone! Maybe they’ll only last a few years and so on and on….
don’t understand why teachers need to be near London!? Work outside London where the cost of living doesn’t bite so hard. It’s a great job as you can work anywhere!

How? How will there always be someone? We are at the point where teachers are quitting far faster than they can be recruited. I am aware of several local schools (North West) that have been unable to recruit in my subject, despite extensive advertising. As I formerly taught supply, I can tell you I am contacted daily and offered long term work. I don’t need that work - I now work in an independent. There is absolutely no need for me to put up with the absolute shite that is the state system right now.

Young teachers now lack experienced mentors - expensive staff have been ‘managed out’ in many cases. Schools are full of inexperienced staff with no one to bounce off, discuss strategies with, observe and learn from. There’s no one holding them up when the going gets tough. So they leave. There have been many examples given across MN forums - classes taught by none specialists, no long term supply so classes taught by a long line of short term supply staff, whole cohorts taught in school halls or gyms with the one teacher available…..not isolated issues, this is now the norm up and down the land.

You can tell yourself that plenty of people will follow, even if for a short time. And that might be right (vanishingly so). But they won’t be experienced and they may lack qualifications - maths teachers with a GCSE at grade C, French teachers with a degree in psychology and a 2 month sabbatical in Paris, science teachers with a degree in sports science…all fine until it’s your child who wants to study medicine at uni or who’s dream requires hem to have A Level French.

This is not a world class education. It is not the education of children who will emerge aged 18 ready to take on the world. It’s half assed, poor quality and utterly unacceptable. We should demand better - not just for our children but for our country nd our future as a whole.

BungleandGeorge · 05/04/2023 18:59

Is there any data regarding drop outs (both for the course and the job) comparing the different routes into teaching? Eg pgce/ 1st degree etc? Is some of it to do with selection criteria and vocation?