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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

229 replies

jazzyfazzy766 · 02/05/2023 17:14

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!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
Pearfacebananapoop · 03/05/2023 21:45

Add to the strikes the school closing tomorrow to be a polling station. That annoys me more than the strikes. They don't need to use a bloody school as a polling station when the council has hundreds of empty buildings.

PaigeMatthews · 03/05/2023 21:53

Pearfacebananapoop · 03/05/2023 21:45

Add to the strikes the school closing tomorrow to be a polling station. That annoys me more than the strikes. They don't need to use a bloody school as a polling station when the council has hundreds of empty buildings.

Completely agree with this. Loads of church halls lying empty most of the time.

SunnyEgg · 03/05/2023 21:59

Pearfacebananapoop · 03/05/2023 21:45

Add to the strikes the school closing tomorrow to be a polling station. That annoys me more than the strikes. They don't need to use a bloody school as a polling station when the council has hundreds of empty buildings.

Ours isn’t but that would be the icing on the crappy cake

Clavinova · 03/05/2023 21:59

Vitriolinsanity
I often don't agree with @ noblegiraffe but in the points she's made she is right

I stand by my point that both you and noblegiraffe have made several incorrect claims/errors on the thread with regards to funding.

And I don't see why we have to believe everything the unions say, whether that's the teaching unions, nurses' unions... I watched Pat Cullen from the RCN on Question Time earlier in the year - she appealed to the audience saying how awful it was that newly qualified nurses in central London had to survive on £27,000 pa, but when I looked at the pay scales, newly qualified nurses in central London receive nearly £5,000 pa higher cost area supplement, bringing the starting salary up to £32,000 basic - not including extra payments for shift allowances/weekends etc.

As for the NEU - good grief, how did this guy get elected?

Teachers strikes are about "taking back control from a brutally racist state", the new hard-Left National Education Union (NEU) leader has said.
Daniel Kebede takes over as general secretary of Britain's largest education union later this year, replacing the current leaders Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney.
... in a panel discussion at the Socialist Workers Party's Marxism conference last July, Mr Kebede said the industrial action was "more than just about winning on the issue of pay"
"It's about reorganising society where we are free from racism, and free from oppression."
The comments will raise eyebrows, given teachers and their union chiefs have been adamant that there their strikes are about cash.
He has also accused ministers of "removing socialist ideas from the classroom."
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/04/racist-uk-daniel-kebede-neu-union-teachers-strike/

New head of National Education Union accused of 'inciting violence' at pro-Palestine rally.
https://www.thejc.com/news/news/new-head-of-national-education-union-accused-of-inciting-violence-at-pro-palestine-rally-OAGPBrOf4h9CkfUKvHvFP

Clavinova · 03/05/2023 22:03

noblegiraffe
Yes, because the Tories have utterly .... the country

I disagree.

I'm not a Labour supporter, as well you know

If I did know I had forgotten.

If it's not good enough for your kid, and you are worried that your kid might end up in it due to Labour putting private school fees up to the point that they are unaffordable

That's not my worry - more concerned about the relatives.

MrsHamlet · 03/05/2023 22:05

And many of us are concerned about state education as a whole.

noblegiraffe · 03/05/2023 22:16

I stand by my point that both you and noblegiraffe have made several incorrect claims/errors on the thread with regards to funding.

Clav mate, until a few posts back you were apparently blissfully unaware that there weren't enough teachers to go around. You have literally no idea what's going on in state education. The idea that you can come on here and 'correct' people who do know what's going on with your DfE propaganda pieces or right-wing press pieces is laughable.

I disagree.

Well that'd be because you apparently have the funds to be able to opt out of public sector services. Put your kid in a state school or on an NHS waiting list and then we can discuss further.

noblegiraffe · 03/05/2023 22:23

Also, why are you worried about your relatives working in the independent school sector? That they might lose their jobs?

There are loads of jobs going in the state sector. You think state school staff get a good deal, so what's there to worry about?

Clavinova · 03/05/2023 22:26

noblegiraffe
The idea that you can come on here and 'correct' people who do know what's going on

You have your own, exaggerated version of what is going on in my opinion.

noblegiraffe · 03/05/2023 22:29

Explain the graphs I've posted then, Clav. Where are all the teachers?

Explain the fact that all four teaching unions, not just the NEU, rejected the pitiful pay offer, including the headteacher unions who presumably know a bit more about school budgets than you. And that they are now also balloting for strike action.

I've got an exaggerated version of what's going on? I work in a state school. What's your experience? You didn't even know there was a shortage of teachers.

TheCrystalPalace · 03/05/2023 22:30

FFS, @Clavinova there are dozens and dozens of teachers on here who are telling the realities of teaching in the state sector along with @noblegiraffe

Trust me, she's not wrong.

Clavinova · 03/05/2023 22:38

TheCrystalPalace
there are dozens and dozens of teachers on here who are telling the realities of teaching in the state sector

Half of the teachers on Mumsnet can't even agree whether they are paid for the school holidays or not - so I don't expect they have the faintest idea whether the government's pay offer is funded or not.

MrsHamlet · 03/05/2023 22:39

The fact that it's unfunded is why we're on strike.

Clavinova · 03/05/2023 22:47

MrsHamlet
The fact that it's unfunded is why we're on strike

Make up your minds - noblegiraffe has been going on about inadequate pay and bankers' bonuses.

MrsHamlet · 03/05/2023 22:51

The pay is inadequate.
The proposed payrise is unfunded, as was last year's.
The two are not mutually exclusive, as you very well know.

TheCrystalPalace · 03/05/2023 22:52

Oh give it up, Clav, ffs.

Clavinova · 03/05/2023 23:03

TheCrystalPalace

Well I am going to bed now.

noblegiraffe · 03/05/2023 23:11

Clav if my version is 'exaggerated', explain the graphs. Where are all the teachers?

And explain why the headteaching unions rejected the pay offer and are now balloting for strike action.

ilovesooty · 03/05/2023 23:41

noblegiraffe · 03/05/2023 23:11

Clav if my version is 'exaggerated', explain the graphs. Where are all the teachers?

And explain why the headteaching unions rejected the pay offer and are now balloting for strike action.

She's gone to bed. Finished her winding up for the night.

KatherineofGaunt · 04/05/2023 18:22

Clavinova · 03/05/2023 19:37

KatherineofGaunt
Yeah, you're right. Primary teachers aren't important. Kids don't need to be taught to read, write and understand different aspects of Mathematics until they're 11.
Only secondary teaching is important enough for a payrise.
Your understanding has shone a light for me on my own illusions of grandeur that my teaching actually makes a difference in pupils' lives.

Oh, don't be so melodramatic - postgraduate teaching bursaries and scholarships already exist for some subjects such as physics. All teachers were offered a pay rise - I don't begrudge the pay rise you have already been offered;
https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/03/28/teacher-strikes-latest-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-teacher-pay-offer/

🤣🤣🤣

I was being sarcastic, not melodramatic, dear.

Bursaries exist because there are more primary teachers than physics teachers. When they introduced them, they didn't need to attract people to primary teaching courses.

Anyway, you weren't talking about bursaries. You were talking about pay rises, so trying to backtrack just makes you look like you don't know what you're talking about. Which is probably true.

"And I don't see why there needs to be the same pay rise across the board in the state sector - I am fine with paying physics teachers more than primary school teachers for example."

lavenderlou · 05/05/2023 02:55

FrippEnos · 03/05/2023 11:54

@justteanbiscuits

A HLTA would have been a teacher with a cert ed in old money.
They are trained teachers under a different name.

Absolutely not true. I have worked with many lovely and effective HLTA's over the years but not one has a had a teaching qualification or a degree. Many have not even had A-levels. They were regular TAs who had additional training.They were good at supporting in class and carrying out interventions and fine for covering classes for PPA but absolutely not ok for teaching full time (nor should they expect to have to do that on their salaries).

I often read on MN about all these qualified teachers working as TAs. In 20 years of teaching, I've never met one. I teach in a deprived area - maybe they're all in the leafy schools. These days we can barely recruit TAs in any form thanks to the lowly salary and high expectations.

Shinyandnew1 · 05/05/2023 09:53

There is no specific HLTA any more-heads can make anyone one if they decide to. They might get a pound more an hour and can be used as cheap cover. Many heads just use TAs though and don’t pay any extra! They certainly aren’t the same as a Cert Ed teacher from the 70s. Many of ours don’t have maths/English O levels!

Shinyandnew1 · 05/05/2023 10:15

Shinyandnew1 · 05/05/2023 09:53

There is no specific HLTA any more-heads can make anyone one if they decide to. They might get a pound more an hour and can be used as cheap cover. Many heads just use TAs though and don’t pay any extra! They certainly aren’t the same as a Cert Ed teacher from the 70s. Many of ours don’t have maths/English O levels!

*HLTA training

FrippEnos · 05/05/2023 15:09

Shinyandnew1 · 05/05/2023 09:53

There is no specific HLTA any more-heads can make anyone one if they decide to. They might get a pound more an hour and can be used as cheap cover. Many heads just use TAs though and don’t pay any extra! They certainly aren’t the same as a Cert Ed teacher from the 70s. Many of ours don’t have maths/English O levels!

The last time I mentored someone through a HLTA is was pretty much exactly the same hoops as a ITT had to jump through including having a pdp folder.

I know that where I work a HLTA isn't recognised as a qualification but I hadn't realised that they had undervalued it so much.

Sartre · 05/05/2023 15:28

It all depends on which union the teachers are in and also personal preference, some teachers will opt not to strike. If the school doesn’t have enough teachers to open then they can’t, it’s as simple as that. Your DC’s teacher’s obviously chose to strike whereas your niece’s teachers didn’t. Not really sure why you think this is ridiculous, it’s happened all over the country so not unique to your situation.