NEU tells teachers not to go to work on Monday

[Workyticket]

skwawkbox.org/2021/01/02/breaking-union-tells-teachers-not-to-go-to-work-on-monday/

Indeed.

Oops didn't mean to quote you FrippEnos

Should have listened more to my ICT teacher

I’m past caring what anyone thinks. After this shit show is over I fully intend to become the teacher that everyone thinks I am. I shall work to rule.
I will not be working in my lunch break.
I will not run any extra curricular clubs.
I shall close down my after school netball team. There will be no evening performances to parents- they will all be in school time only.
As will parents evenings. Consider them parent’s daytimes from now on people, best save some annual leave to attend for I will not be working my evenings for free, so that you can come and meet me after you have finished work.
I will not spend one single penny on lovely resources for my class.
I will not run any trips or residentials as they finish outside of my working hours.
I will leave the PTA
My evenings will be my own. No fun resources made- just some quick photocopying.

If everyone thinks I am inflexible and work shy then I shall stop doing all of these things for free and spend some extra hours with my own children, whom I often sacrifice time with to provide a better, more exciting education for yours.

Check yes. When teachers stick to the 29.75 - 34 hours a week they are contracted to work they'll be even more outrage.

daybath I am sorry you hate your job so much. I totally understand as teaching is not something I ever fancied (no patience). I'm still exposed to the same germs as my dc's teachers. My two little vectors bring them home at night. I just try not to worry about it as I know its best for them to be in school on balance.

Someone asked about whether my industry faces a recruitment retention crisis. Not exactly (its difficult to get and keep the right staff in many industries). Personally I think they need to increase teaching wage and stop taking advantage of low paid TAs but its a supply/demand issue and I think some people get into teaching without realising how hard it is then naturally they leave. In my industry you have to take a very difficult, lengthy professional qualification and the stress levels are well known so people tend to come into it expecting a challenge. Better minds than mine will have to come up with how they deal with making sure we have enough teachers in the future.

Also sigh at the hackneyed arguments you see on teacher bashing threads when someone points out that conditions in other non unionised industries are bad (see also discussions about pensions and holidays). Someone always says that we should get unionised/campaign. The fact is that most people can't campaign for better working conditions. Its just not realistic. Conditions in my industry are good actually but I have a work ethic so work hard (as do many teachers and HT) and unlike teachers I don't have job security. But I digress. If some teachers want to feel they have it so bad there is little anyone could do to dissuade them. It's just a shame that these minority views can lead to damaging demands by teaching unions.

I feel for teachers and think union views are not representative of the members mostly (my T/HT friends are very down to earth) but its still a massively better job than many people face and so that might explain the lack of sympathy.

I'd hate to think how much of my own money I have spent on resources for my classes.

I'm a science teacher, and I'm always buying things last minute for experiments, never mind the usual pens, white board pens, pencils etc.

Plus buying sweets for end of term prizes and things, too.

I don't resent doing this, because it benefits (or at least is nice for) the kids, but I do resent the implication that I don't care.

It's because I care about the safety of my students I don't want schools open as they were last term.

My DC teachers have always gone above and beyond, they deserve so much respect and already work many hours they aren’t paid for.

Disgusting attitude to teachers prevails on MN unfortunately.

Teachers have been pointing out that the virus is spreading and children / teachers are going off sick. They asked for masks / PPE / better cleaning / children more spread out.

Everyone ignored them So here we are at a crisis point.

Now teachers are pointing out the obvious again. The new variant of the virus will spread again in current conditions.

Will people or government listen? Probably not.

@ZenNudist. To clarify, I'm not actually a teacher, I'm a parent who sympathises greatly with them. I'm extremely glad my sister got out of the profession before the pandemic started. She watched her former colleagues treated like utter shit by this government and its helped her to decide never to go back.

@OverTheRainbowLiesOz

Agree! They’ve been crying out for it. The government is all about showing its about education but don’t put their money where their mouth is. Then teachers get thrown to the wolves by ignorant parents.

My 22 year old teacher daughter (NQT) regularly buys equipment and things for her students out of her own salary as the school budget doesn't stretch. She does loads of photocopying at home for same reason.

DayBath
This situation has me questioning whether I want to remain in teaching or have a career break. I've never wanted to be a SAHP, because I don't think I'm cut out for it and I love my job, but it's something DH and I are actively discussing for the first time.

I'm sure the usual goady ones would argue this is a sign teachers don't know the real world, but I have a previous career I'm experienced in and however much I love teaching, I'm not willing to have it negatively affect my health or family.

Teachers don't actually have job security, many schools have had to get rid of teaching staff due to budget constraints and mix year group classes as they don't have enough funds to have a teacher per class, so you end up with class sizes much higher than 30

Check, sansa and wierd you all sound very bitter and I know I can't say anything to make you feel better about your jobs. I think you need to reset your mindset that you are working "for free" when you have finished your 9 to 5 (or 3.30 or whatever that is). Teaching is a profession. This means you are salaried to do a role. Some of which takes place in school hours and some takes evening, weekends and holidays. I doubt your beleaguered HT is going to put up with a down tools approach.

Do you understand that saying these things which you probably don't really mean makes teachers look bad? Everyone I know in the profession is much more professional and I'm so impressed with my lovely dcs teachers who although they were not great at homeschool are fab in person and yes I notice the lovely activities they do with my dc out of their own funds. I send money in to add to this pot and I think its despicable that schools are so underfunded its come to this. Dm is a retired primary teacher and even back in Thatcher's Britain we had better arts and crafts supplies that poor teachers now shell out for. It is appreciated by some parents.

We dont have out of school activities now so at least you can relax on that front. And as for parents evening please do campaign for video conferencing appointments any time of day. This is the future.

@CheckMyLeftPhalange

I’m past caring what anyone thinks. After this shit show is over I fully intend to become the teacher that everyone thinks I am. I shall work to rule. I will not be working in my lunch break. I will not run any extra curricular clubs. I shall close down my after school netball team. There will be no evening performances to parents- they will all be in school time only. As will parents evenings. Consider them parent’s daytimes from now on people, best save some annual leave to attend for I will not be working my evenings for free, so that you can come and meet me after you have finished work. I will not spend one single penny on lovely resources for my class. I will not run any trips or residentials as they finish outside of my working hours. I will leave the PTA My evenings will be my own. No fun resources made- just some quick photocopying.

If everyone thinks I am inflexible and work shy then I shall stop doing all of these things for free and spend some extra hours with my own children, whom I often sacrifice time with to provide a better, more exciting education for yours.

Perhaps teaching isn’t for you.

My job is 7.30am-5.30pm FYI

@justanotherneighinparadise perhaps not. Best hope I’m not teaching your child then!

@ZenNudist

Check, sansa and wierd you all sound very bitter and I know I can't say anything to make you feel better about your jobs. I think you need to reset your mindset that you are working "for free" when you have finished your 9 to 5 (or 3.30 or whatever that is). Teaching is a profession. This means you are salaried to do a role. Some of which takes place in school hours and some takes evening, weekends and holidays. I doubt your beleaguered HT is going to put up with a down tools approach.

Do you understand that saying these things which you probably don't really mean makes teachers look bad? Everyone I know in the profession is much more professional and I'm so impressed with my lovely dcs teachers who although they were not great at homeschool are fab in person and yes I notice the lovely activities they do with my dc out of their own funds. I send money in to add to this pot and I think its despicable that schools are so underfunded its come to this. Dm is a retired primary teacher and even back in Thatcher's Britain we had better arts and crafts supplies that poor teachers now shell out for. It is appreciated by some parents.

We dont have out of school activities now so at least you can relax on that front. And as for parents evening please do campaign for video conferencing appointments any time of day. This is the future.

Saying I spend my own money on resources makes teachers look bad?

I've heard it all now.

The teachers on here have put their reasoning across perfectly well and I definitely can’t add to their information. Apart from to say I support them 100% in needing the best situation possible to open in.

I am amazed at the level of vitriol being directed towards them - child hating/lazy/entitled/wanting to sit at home and drink gin. And that’s some of “nicer” examples. Based on those views (and all the other teacher bashing posts on here) I can’t understand why you are all so desperate for schools to be open so that your children are taught by these despicable people?

Teachers - I really hope that the govt finally listen, get the correct procedures/equipment/funding in place so that you can be back in school again as soon as possible. Honestly can’t believe that everyone was, rightly, up in arms at the beginning re the shocking PPE situation in hospitals and care homes, but that such a large amount of people don’t think it’s a cause for concern in the one place that looks after their kids 5 days out of 7.

Good for them, 100% support them..

I can see why teachers are getting fed up reading all the negativity on here though.
I don't think this is how people think in reality, I hope not anyway.
I support the teachers as a parent, and I know lots who do as well.

BTW I have no job security as a teacher as such, because I have a one year contract that will run out in August.

But I do have job security in the sense that I know there are cities where I could walk into a job easily because of the shortage of teachers in my subject.

Teaching is a profession. This means you are salaried to do a role. Some of which takes place in school hours and some takes evening, weekends and holidays. I doubt your beleaguered HT is going to put up with a down tools approach.
Yes, it's salaried so there's a reasonable amount of preparation done outside of directed time.

However many of the things teachers do are done because they love the students and want to go the extra mile. You say no head teacher would put up with downing tools, but as long as they are working the directed time hours and the teaching is good (which will take some reasonable prep beyond directed time), they can't really do anything about staff having breaks where they don't work, not running sport clubs, not doing evening performances, not spending their own money on classroom displays because the school didn't have the money, not buying classroom resources out their own pocket, not doing residential trips etc.

Schools, like many organisations, run on a mutual understanding of good will, and give and take.

As with any organisation, if you take more than you give and endlessly batter staff then morale is low and even the most enthusiastic workers decide to stop giving.

@SansaSnark

Plenty of us that support you 100% and what you do, which is so more than a 9-5!

@ZenNudist

Check, sansa and wierd you all sound very bitter and I know I can't say anything to make you feel better about your jobs. I think you need to reset your mindset that you are working "for free" when you have finished your 9 to 5 (or 3.30 or whatever that is). Teaching is a profession. This means you are salaried to do a role. Some of which takes place in school hours and some takes evening, weekends and holidays. I doubt your beleaguered HT is going to put up with a down tools approach.

Do you understand that saying these things which you probably don't really mean makes teachers look bad? Everyone I know in the profession is much more professional and I'm so impressed with my lovely dcs teachers who although they were not great at homeschool are fab in person and yes I notice the lovely activities they do with my dc out of their own funds. I send money in to add to this pot and I think its despicable that schools are so underfunded its come to this. Dm is a retired primary teacher and even back in Thatcher's Britain we had better arts and crafts supplies that poor teachers now shell out for. It is appreciated by some parents.

We dont have out of school activities now so at least you can relax on that front. And as for parents evening please do campaign for video conferencing appointments any time of day. This is the future.

What don't you understand about nobody cares what you think of teachers' relative levels of professionalism? It's none of your business.