My child's school is striking next Wednesday

[Cherryblossom200]

Hi all,

Just found out my daughters school is striking next week. The email from the head tried explaining its not just about pay, but about cuts to education as a whole. I understand there are a huge amount of problems, however striking is the wrong way to go about it especially when it concerns children. They have lost so much time in school over covid this seems ridiculous. I'm a working parent, we all have our issues right now but I can't walk out and strike. To say I'm angry is an understatement.

I'm sure this will be an contentious issue and some might disagree, which is fair enough. But I'm fuming at the moment and needed to vent!

Some of my friends schools are staying open, it looks so far like only two schools in the area are striking.

I don't know how you can say our education system is better than Europe. The vast majority of European kids are bi-lingual but most English kids can barely speak their own language let alone a foreign language.

I didn't. I only mentioned schools I had visited in two specific countries. Unlike you, I didn't extrapolate that to Europe in general. It's great that Swiss and Scandinavian schools you've seen are good, and I agree with your point about school starting age. However, the UK isn't Switzerland or Scandinavia, and has different infrastructure and different problems.

If you agree that the UK education system is in a state, why are you throwing a strop about teachers protesting about that in the only way they actually can? Will the strike have any effect? Who knows? What else can teachers do (aside from quit the profession, which they are already doing in their thousands)?

From the Times:

Just sad, isn't it?

Basically you don't care about your child's education then. Get angry now with teachers and in a short while when your kids are in classes of 60 with unqualified teachers and a very narrow curriculum and no SEN support then get angry with yourself for ignoring the message being spread.

We ignored the Drs and then scratched our heads when what they predicted came true...are you fine with the same happening with schools?

Just want to add that it’s not just about pay. It’s about the fact that the tiny pay rise we got this year had to come from our existing budgets - ones that had already been agreed for other outgoings. It means because of this schools are laying off TAs and having to cut back on other expenses. It’s the fact there is no help with rising costs - we can’t put our prices up yet our heating and electricity bill has been increased by 300%. It’s the workload and expectations. It’s about so much more than just pay!

And what do you think happens in the private sector? Do you think people are protected from payrises? From redundancy?

It's a bit unfair, this, really. In private sectors, employment shuffles. If you get made redundant, you move on looking for a new job. If your skills and capabilities are there, you might find a higher paid job given some luck. If you aren't happy with your pay with your job, you activate your CV online with an update and you look for a new one. More than often, people find a better paid job.

But it doesn't work with the teachers, does it? There's not much hope to get a better paid job just by moving between schools, and they usually settle in a school for a few years before they move on to another if they prefer. There's band of payment too, as I was told.

And they are caring for our future generation. I really don't understand why people want to compare them to the private sectors. I would wish the standard was higher.

And Rycbar was not even talking about her own pocket, she's talking about the fact of underfunding in school!