Teachers strike... what will actually happen in end?!

[SpringPop]

My school is striking again next week with others that have teachers from the particular union.

All that is happening is parents are getting massively angry. Kids are missing out. I've used so much holiday on strike days as I have multiple children. I know my anger should not be directed to school but exactly where can I direct it to? I'm pretty sure my MP wouldn't care. He's completely useless.

The government don't seem to care.

I personally think something needs to change in that profession and funding in my area is shocking! It's probably not attracting the best people to the profession and certainly is driving people away.

However, am I right in thinking rishi and co don't care?! Teachers could do 5, 10, 100 days and it seems they won't budge right?

Parents don't seem to care or get angry enough, short of tweeting about it or writing to MP. It isn't really enough to get this resolved.

How do you think this situation will end?

If I didn’t need to bring in a wage to pay the bills/mortgage, I wouldn’t be working. Is that an ok attitude to have if you work in an office/shop/WFH, but not if you are a teacher?

Not the working parents I know. School would call you at my school.

I repeat, teachers are not badly paid. Therefore no, I don't think we need to pay more for teachers.

Well they are very clearly not paid enough to attract enough people to the profession or make them stay in it, are they?
It's naïve to argue about whether it's the pay or the conditions/workload. The main problem is the latter, but more people might be more inclined to tolerate the serious drawbacks of a career in teaching if you paid them more.

I'd go back now in a heartbeat as financially I'd be much better off plus I actually liked the job, but nobody wants to employ a 50 year old it would appear! @TheSnootiestFox Have you actually tried? Plenty of jobs going in my area and I know several fifty plus year olds who have been snapped up by schools.
I've been teaching for over thirty years and education is on its knees. Recruitment is a huge issue, and there's a reason for that, but there are some experienced teachers who are sticking it out because we believe we have something to offer to pupils. I work sixty hours every week and yes, I am posting on an internet forum now, because having been non-stop all day in school from 7.15 this morning until 7.20 this evening I think some down time is justified. I think your criticism of @noblegiraffe daring to post on an internet forum is appalling. Easy to sound off when you are not now actually walking the walk....

Anyone who thinks they can say teachers don’t get paid enough. Come as. Be one for a day. What a joke.

There's some interesting thoughts here.

I actually considered being a teacher at one point. I have a science degree and have worked in private sector for years. Pay is decent but job security at moment is poor. I've already been made redundant this year and current job is looking a bit dodgy. It's really not making me happy either and I like the idea of making a difference and helping others. Pension is crap. Very little holiday.

The main thing that put me off teaching was:

1. the training - I can't drive and live far from good transport so getting around to uni or different schools would be a nightmare! I have kids now myself and couldn't spend hours travelling.

2. teachers saying "don't do it"

3. I'm a bit put off that 90% of job would be fighting fires and dealing with problem parents, problem pupils, behaviour, mental health issues, crappy headteachers, OFSTED etc. etc.

Anyone who thinks they can say teachers don’t get paid enough. Come as. Be one for a day. What a joke.

??

You could say the same about most jobs. Interesting that on MN the only group of people who moan incessantly about their job are teachers. You never see packs of carers or call centre workers on here collectively complaining about their poor post and relentless conditions. Went is it just teachers?

poor pay

I don’t understand how teachers get 24% pension contribution from their employer.
Wouldn’t it be more easier and fairer to fund say 15% pay rise from the pension Contribution and then employer pay a reduced 8% contribution?

The sooner we vote this utter shower if shit out the better.

How on earth they’ve managed to stay in power this long is unbelievable, they don’t give a shiny shit about the common people, only what can benefit them. I don’t understand how some people can’t see this.

No party is perfect but the others are not corrupt and morally bankrupt like this lot.

Yep, I kept losing out at interview to younger cheaper newly qualified teachers even though I made it clear I was willing to take a cut, I was top of the scale with a big TLR when I left. So I gave up and I'm quite happy in Local Government now. I walked the walk full time for 15 years so please dont try and make out that I have no clue about teaching. It's full to the brim of frothing militant left wing activists that dont give a shny shite about the kids they teach, only their own agendas and this was one of the main reasons I left!

It's full to the brim of frothing militant left wing activists that dont give a shny shite about the kids they teach, only their own agendas and this was one of the main reasons I left!

Really.

I walked the walk full time for 15 years so please dont try and make out that I have no clue about teaching

When you’re told your experience of schools is out of date and you say you know about pedagogy and assessment techniques, perhaps you should consider that it is not the physical act of teaching that is being referred to, but the state of schools.

The education system is in crisis. Teacher supply is close to collapse, the SEN system is close to collapse, children’s mental health services have basically collapsed, children’s school attendance has dropped dramatically, and behaviour issues have gone up.

Dealing with the impact of all those issues means that the job is now radically different and more stressful in many ways than even a few years ago.

Talking about the reality of teaching today and having someone say ‘I can contribute to this discussion in any meaningful way because I know how to deliver a lesson’ is just so spectacularly missing the point.

But isn't that the real issue? If the system collapses or seizes up, the money will appear. Strikes don't achieve that; they just alienate parents - who will have their own work and employment difficulties - and make the profession look bad.

If you don't like the terms or experience of a job, leave when you can. If you can't leave because the job market and wage levels don't allow it, then you have your answer about what's acceptable pay.

That said, I strongly suspect that in primary and - particularly - secondary education the biggest issue is an inability to teach as well as teachers would like to, because the behaviour of some children and parents is so atrocious.

If the system collapses or seizes up, the money will appear.

That’s the thing, and why teachers have been driven to strike action. The system is in crisis and the money is not appearing. Headteachers have been on the news talking about the serious building issues with their schools and how their applications for funding to fix them have been rejected.

The independent pay review body got submissions about how teacher supply and recruitment is in crisis and recommended a pay rise of 6.5% to bring some stability and Rishi is on the news talking about rejecting the recommendation. The Treasury (who are a massive part of the problem here) have been rejecting DfE requests for more funding for years.

You are acting like the government can be expected to act rationally in a crisis, and if they’re not, it can’t be a crisis. But this is not a functioning government, look at state of it after 13 years.

The education system is in crisis, the money is not appearing, there seems to be no political will to do anything about it and that’s why the NEU are striking and the other 3 teaching unions are reballoting.

So long as the NHS, the armed forces, the judicial system, the police, the prison service, immigration and nationality functions and many, many other public sector providers, central and local, seek ever more money, teachers will not be high on the list.

What a teacher regards as a crisis and the remedies for it and how others view the state of education and the reasons for any problems are unlikely to coincide. I'm not saying that's right, but it's a fact of life.

I'm generally very supportive of teachers, but I just do not see how striking will further their cause, just as it didn't in the '80s. In fact I trace the loss of reputation and prestige in teaching back to those strikes. Teachers just became another set of round-the-brazier public workers on strike. And given the opposition of teaching unions to the Blair reforms - i.e. even after the Tories had lost power - it's hard to imagine that any government will satisfy them.

What a teacher regards as a crisis and the remedies for it and how others view the state of education and the reasons for any problems are unlikely to coincide

They are increasingly coinciding. Look at the threads on here where parents are complaining that their kid doesn’t have a teacher. It is, probably thanks to the strikes, increasingly being reported in the media. The latest story about unsafe school buildings (which I’ve been posting about for ages) has actually made the news headlines.

If education isn’t a high priority on politicians’ lists, then parents need to get off their arses and put it there.

I don't disagree about the importance of teaching. It's the foundation of everything else in society, ultimately. Neither do I disagree about the parlous state of school buildings or the shortage of staff. Things are bad.

But these are not the headlines that dominate. Outside of the Guardian (that's not a slight: the Guardian just happens to be the only news source that covers public sector concerns in any depth) the headlines are about schools not bothering about aggressive and violent pupils (see the numerous threads on here too), unaffordable uniform imposed by schools and teachers promoting fringe social ideology.

Strikes will just create more disillusion with teachers.

One benefit of the strikes is that it forces this conversation. Not with Government, clearly, but certainly within forums like this.

I am so baffled, though, by the number of people who STILL aren't getting the problem. It feels wilful at this stage. All the evidence is staring people in the face that education is in crisis and all some can STILL say after ALL this debate is 'but teachers earn plenty'

Some people clearly hate teachers. Fine. But don't pretend it's about anything else - and don't throw your children and the whole next generation under the bus because of it.

This pretty much summarises the situation we are in.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣You had me going there, but you properly jumped the shark with that last comment! There’s no way you’re an ex-teacher.

The unions are but the government is refusing to met with them.

I don't agree with the teacher strikes. At the end of the day it's the innocent parents and children that suffer rather than the government. When the teachers get a payrise it comes out of existing school funding so the schools will be even more run down and poorly funded.

However, you are happy that teaching is so poorly paid for the work and qualifications needed- there is a huge teacher shortage. How does that work? Children are suffering already.