Parents - how do you feel about teaching unions?

[Musicaldilemma]

Following various exchanges in real life and on here, I was wondering what other parents currently feel and think of teaching unions? Do you know a lot about them? What do you feel their role is and should be in this pandemic? If you are able to, please clarify if you are a parent married to a teacher or teacher parent. Or just a parent like myself with a few friends who are teachers. I was interested to see that teaching unions in Switzerland, for example, really pushed the message that schools must be and stay open for children’s mental health.

And yet, better conditions for teachers means better provision for kids. Teachers who are working for lunatic heads, in a culture of fear, maximum contact time multiple break duties, no support re behaviour will be reluctant to go to extra mile. They're too busy surviving. Or they do the extra, but burn out. Parents are always told to look after themselves, otherwise they have nothing left to give their kids. Works in other arenas too.

Actually, what on earth is the point of this thread?

What the hell does it matter what parents feel about teaching unions? They're nothing to do with parents (as the "closure" of school buildings is not down to them) in the same way that, say, the condition of the staff toilets aren't.

@Bitbusyattheminute

And yet, better conditions for teachers means better provision for kids. Teachers who are working for lunatic heads, in a culture of fear, maximum contact time multiple break duties, no support re behaviour will be reluctant to go to extra mile. They're too busy surviving. Or they do the extra, but burn out. Parents are always told to look after themselves, otherwise they have nothing left to give their kids. Works in other arenas too.

This.

Up until the point where ‘better conditions’ means not doing any work 🤷‍♀️

Having been told endlessly since September when I have been posting about making schools safer that I have been campaigning to close them (total bollocks, schools being closed makes my job a lot harder for a start) I am always suspicious when people claim on here that reams of teachers want schools closed.
Sometimes these people have an agenda. Sometimes they seem to have very poor reading comprehension skills. Or maybe don’t want to read what is actually written.

Schools weren't closed because the unions wanted to keep teachers safe. Schools were closed because the government finally realised the massive role schools were playing in community transmission. Just as it took them a massive amount of time to realise that masks might be helpful to reduce the spread of an airborne virus

I’m not so sure it’s as much ‘finally realised’ as ‘finally admitted’.

They were doing a pretty good cover-up job before then.

The role of the Teacher's Union is to protect the interests of their members i.e teachers. The views of the parents positive or negative are therefore largely irrelevant.

I support them 100% - they are professionals, who are gathered in a union for collective strength against attacks by those who want to squeeze more from them or don't give a stuff.

I started this thread but then had to draft a contract last night until early morning hours, so I am sorry to only be back now.

@cyclingtowardsbethlehem has articulated my thoughts on this issue much better than I could. For those of you in unions, please do listen to the communications and media bit in her post. Please also try and understand what parents are telling you, especially those like me who agree with a lot of what you are saying, but don't agree with how you are coming across. You need to start including the children's welfare and progress in your demands more effectively. It is going to be much better if teachers and parents unite and can demand safety measures from government and extra funding together. I am neither part of a parent group nor a teacher so I do not know how this can be achieved in practical terms, but it is working in other countries.
So I disagree that teacher unions should be there just for their members, that is the crux of the matter. The welfare of the children and how to educate them in the best possible way given the circumstances, the raison d'etre of your profession, needs to be a fundamental part of how you react to this pandemic. I am sure some posters will come on and say that they are already doing this. However, many parents and children in this country are being let down. We all know future assessments will show just what an attainment chasm this pandemic has created.

And patronising posters whose children are not provided with live lessons is not a good tactic. Bartlet I am sorry - we are getting incredible provision from our schools, I couldn't ask for more. However, it makes me cross that not all children are given the same. I just do not understand why my friends in Poland have all been provided with live lessons and computers and we as a nation cannot organise this. It is very sad especially for those in the lower attainment groups.

I disagree that teacher unions should be there just for their members

If you want them to represent other people, presumably those people should start paying subs? I think you are still misunderstanding what unions are for.

"Please also try and understand what parents are telling you, especially those like me who agree with a lot of what you are saying, but don't agree with how you are coming across."

But why? It's irrelevant what you think about how Unions are coming across. But if you really do want to concern yourself with this, how about actually looking at/reading what they are "actually" saying, rather than what the Daily Mail reports?

So I disagree that teacher unions should be there just for their members

You still don’t understand what a union is for.

Problem is that each union is at odds with the other one. One wants schools shut and the other one wants them open but safer (in a nutshell) but there's not currently a united front of both the main unions which I think I'm this situation is a problem

Neither of them want them open right now because that would be crazy.

Both of them want them open in a safer manner when it is not bonkers to do so.

Agreed @RosesAndLemonade. And something needs to be done about that too.
@HipTightOnions - try and think ahead 2-3years. If you are getting the blame now in what noblegiraffe calls the right wing media, who do you think is going to get the blame when it transpires how huge the attainment gap is and also, how it compares to other countries? Then think about your profession and the future strength of your unions. Think about who has power. Think about working on your communications.

How do you propose that we stop the Daily Mail’s war on unions when they are willing to splash fake news and outright lies on their front pages to attack us?

You’re basically accusing the victim of a smear campaign of being the problem.

Thank god someone is standing up to try to make classrooms safe so that kids can actually be educated in school. Safety measures are plain common sense in this situation and everyone should be doing all they can to open schools with safety at the forefront, to benefit not only school staff but also children and their families who the virus can be transmitted to. Do we really care so little about maintaining safe education in school?
Disclaimer - I am not a teacher or member of school staff.

Oh, and the government’s war on unions and their outright lies too?

@noblegiraffe - I am not accusing you. I am telling you to improve your communication strategies as a group and to include the wellbeing of children somewhat as that in itself will improve your image. To show that they are of concern to you to get public sentiment behind you more. This government cares about public sentiment. You need to get parents behind you whether you think that is your role or not because parents are a voting group. You have access to social media and twitter etc. You can make videos about what teachers are doing etc. You don't need to control large media outlets to do that.

I am telling you to improve your communication strategies as a group and to include the wellbeing of children somewhat as that in itself will improve your image.

So the NEU fundraising campaign for equipment for disadvantaged kids has made the news has it?

You choose to see what you want to see.

You also don’t appear to have acknowledged, OP, that despite what you claimed, it doesn’t appear that the vast majority of parents hate the teaching unions.

If unions gave an actual sh1t about children they’d be working with government on a plan to open schools over summer (inc paying teachers properly for their time) to catch up the huge amount of time lost this last year

Instead they’re spending their time lobbying against the vaguest of government statements that schools “may” be open by March 8th

Tells you all you need to know

@Musicaldilemma

Agreed *@RosesAndLemonade*. And something needs to be done about that too. *@HipTightOnions* - try and think ahead 2-3years. If you are getting the blame now in what noblegiraffe calls the right wing media, who do you think is going to get the blame when it transpires how huge the attainment gap is and also, how it compares to other countries? Then think about your profession and the future strength of your unions. Think about who has power. Think about working on your communications.

It's posts like this that make me want to go fuck it to teaching and go back to my hugely better paid, lower hours previous profession. I'm in teaching as I want to contribute to society, a life worth being lived, and I like teaching and enjoy the company of the young people I teach. People telling me I don't have kids welfare at heart, how I will cause an attainment gap, how it is all teachers fault - well people saying that can just fuck off. You know that huge recruitment and retention problem in teaching - especially shortage subjects. Well how about YOU think about how it is going to look in 2-3 years after all this...

www.ft.com/content/051ca5a2-85a9-11e8-96dd-fa565ec55929

The unions have done nothing to support education, so why would parents have any support for them?!?

Fair enough to say that’s not what the unions are there for, but then they can’t expect parental support for it!!!