AIBU that some children are missing 7 school days due to strikes and others none

[jazzyfazzy766]

So today my childrens school was closed for strikes for the 7th day, not even partially open. My children have missed 7 full days of school since February. My nieces go to a school 2 miles up the road and they haven't missed one day as they have only closed classes of striking teachers and none of the teachers have striked for the full 7 days as they say it isn't fair on the children.

The local secondary has been closed as well apart to year 11's but the secondary in the next town has been open.

It just seems unfair that some children have missed over a weeks education whilst others haven't.

I understand why teachers are striking and if all schools closed and all children were treated fairly I would find it easier to accept but this just seems so unfair on some children having to miss out. Our school has cancelled 2 school trips as well which probably can't be rescheduled!!!

I found out today as well that in my kids school only a handful of teachers were striking but as teachers don't have to give much notice the Head decided it was better to close to all classes so parents could arrange childcare rather than give very little notice to parents on which classes were closing when the teachers had given their intentions.

If the next three back to back strike days go ahead that means my children will have missed 10 days of school and twice a week at the moment they need to be at school for 745am for catch up lessons because of covid!!

Makes me so cross that SOME children are suffering. It needs to be consistent across the board. This isn't our childrens fault and SOME are being penalised!

I don't think we're banned from mumsnet. Or from having an opinion.

@noblegiraffe ah yes it was a 5.4% automatic rise last year. Thanks for pointing that out.

The point still applies that 12% was their starting point. That’s what they thought less than a month ago that they should get from the public purse, after Covid has ravaged our finances, and as you point out they rejected 4.5%.

they rejected 4.5%

unfunded.

I have no personal issue with parents taking their children away. I think family time and travel are invaluable. But from the perspective of disruption to education, there is a difference between pulling your child out and teaching continuing as normal for a week or two, and strikes where the learning if effectively on pause for all and caught up later on.

Which teachers were these? People you knew personally?

Clearly I imagined teaching keywoker children and vulnerable children as well as imaging teaching online; silly me you clearly know better

@Lisbeth50 lots of friends who are teachers and also my dc school.

Oh no the teacher are all out to attack me now 🙈

Only NEU members have a mandate to strike. Teachers who are members of other unions are not allowed to strike so while that’s the case some classes will be off and others in. There’s not much the school can do about that.

yes it was a 5.4% automatic rise last year.

No, it was 5.4% on average. Most got 5%. This had to come from school budgets and headteachers had to make loads of cuts at the last minute to account for it - in the schools that applied it, that is.

The point still applies that 12% was their starting point. That’s what they thought less than a month ago that they should get from the public purse, after Covid has ravaged our finances, and as you point out they rejected 4.5%.

Yes, teachers should not get another real terms pay cut after 13 years of real terms pay cuts. That isn't unreasonable.

The 4.5% that was rejected was also, except for 0.5% of it, supposed to come from school budgets. So more things would need to be cut.

Do you think that's acceptable? That teachers have had their pay cut for 13 years and that the offered pay rise, which is another pay cut was supposed to come out of money for classroom supplies or support staff?

Incidentally, due to the 13 years of pay cuts, the government looks set to recruit only 47% of the number of secondary teacher trainees it needs for Sept 2023. What do you think it should do about that?

Do you actually want children to have teachers or not?

There are two reception classes at my sons school. The other one has had no strikes. Mine 6. We were meant to get information for homework for them and got nothing. So whilst the other class has got 6 extra classes my son’s has had all the strikes. Luckily it’s only reception but if this was higher levels then it’d be quite bad for the affected class (which is what op is mentioning)

That's true, but we have some GCSE and A level
classes without specialist teachers. There's no phase in which specialists are not vital.. which is one reason for the strikes.

Yes but because it is the entire class, the work will be revisited. Teachers still have to teach the entirety of the curriculum, it will just be condensed. When children are pulled for a week or two, there will be some objectives that are not revisited. It happens and it is not a huge deal. Like I said, I'm actually supportive of family holidays and think it is far less damaging than persistent absence. The fining is a government initiative and very few teachers support it.

It won't hurt them for a week or two not going to school, when DS was at school you could take them out for 10 days for holidays, we did every year.

@noblegiraffe ah yes, like a chugger who says ‘don’t you want to help the babies/animals/trees’. Emotive language that misses the practical point so I will say it again.

We are already in the mire with Covid which cost between £310bn to £410bn. And yet people want more. And then get so surprised/shocked/upset when someone states the bleeding obvious ie: there are going to have to be tax rises and people will feel poorer for a bit. Yes teachers have had a real pay cut. As have we all. But having my own business I have to make it up by just getting more work. SMEs in the UK provide our economy with £2.1bn of turnover. We provide jobs, tax, products and services. We make something out of nothing. So excuse me if, in an economic crisis, I don’t think public servants should get a huge increase in salary automatically.

If we are going to get emotive, maybe we should remember the kids who actually suffer most by this action - the disadvantaged kids who had their education cut through Covid. Teachers couldn’t help that. They could help this.

sorry trillion not billion

@noblegiraffe thank you for the information. Will keep an eye out for more when/if it's announced.

The disadvantaged kids who are losing out because we can't afford to run trips / provide additional resources / qualified teachers / experienced teachers?

@Glasshalffullorempty you really don't seem to understand the issue here.

If teachers are not successful in their strike action to get a fully funded pay rise, then it will be the kids who miss out. All of them, not just the disadvantaged ones.

1. Because it means that next year's pay rise will have to come out of school budgets, to the detriment of kids' education and
2. it does absolutely nothing to address the critical shortage of teachers. And by the way, which schools do you think are suffering most from the lack of teachers? It's the ones with the highest levels of disadvantage.

So excuse me if, in an economic crisis, I don’t think public servants should get a huge increase in salary automatically.

So excuse me, if in an education crisis, I think that the government need to actually get off their arses and do something to address this.

Do you want kids to actually have teachers or not? It's not an emotive, rhetorical question, it's a practical and realistic one. There are many kids out there at the moment without a teacher, and this number will only increase.

What do you want to do about it?

We’re not at ten days yet, not far off though.

Not true at all (sadly!!)

I'm a primary teacher (wrong Union so not striking) but in my school, 10 out of 18 teachers have been striking.

However (much to our disgust!) our head REFUSES to close as she 'doesn't believe in strikes' and has made it VERY clear that she doesn't support striking staff 😢

All classes have been in school every strike day, covered by TAs and other support staff, eg the nurture staff and even final year student teachers!!

Our TAs are very badly treated anyway and are constantly told to cover classes for days at a time. We never get supply cover (even for long term sickness) - just TA cover 🤷‍♀️

Student teachers absolutely should not be doing that!

And their mentor should help them to refuse (assuming the mentor isn't SLT and also unsupportive of striking)

SpringintoChaos
You should be contacting the local union rep who should be meeting with your headteacher. Personally I would be so angry with this that I would be looking to move jobs. It is outrageous behaviour.

They would have teachers if the teachers weren’t striking.

I'm the mentor. I told the head that there was no chance of them doing it... he told me there was no chance he'd ask!