Private school parents - why don’t you take collective action?

[Rocketspam]

Lots of private school staff are striking.

Head teachers are enjoying extraordinary hikes in their salaries. And there appears to be some kind of arms race over who can spend the most on facilities. Even bursary programmes rarely assist children where families have below average income or who might be eligible for free school meals.

The VAT increases bother parents on MN, but why don’t you take collective action as fee payers and challenge the HMC, GSA, ISBA or ISA on where your money has gone up to this point? Are you comfortable with so many independent schools using ‘fire / rehire’ for example. Is the level of stress this incurs conducive to the wellbeing of your children?

What do you think is going on inside a school when you see that teachers are taking industrial action against their employer?

There is an active group of parents against VAT. The bodies representing private schools are also looking at the issue and making plans/lobbying political parties. If the policy comes in then the representative groups will decide whether to challenge it.
There have been several cross party debates etc. Outside of private schools though you might not be aware that all of this is happening.
EDSK have just published a research paper highlighting the issues with the policy + IFS assumptions.

No teachers are striking at DDs school. Very low turnover of staff and no hint of strikes.

No striking teachers at our senior school, lots of the teachers have been there for decades.
Good facilities are part of the reason we’re sending our kids there, so can’t object to them being upgraded/maintained. The beautiful old buildings are listed and bound to be more costly than a modern building.
The Vat, though unwelcome, won’t make a difference to our choices.

The issue with collective action is the schools are independent. They dont share leadership or strategies. One might have fancy facilities but another might not. One might have wasted a fortune on tea cosies another might be the most efficient organization ever. They charge different fees for different offers.

The main power parents have is as a consumer. They can chose not to go if they think its not good value for money or pick the cheaper school etc..

You might find that there is a consumer rights issue where consultancy firms have driven up your fees and where Headteachers’ salaries jumped way above inflation in the last five years. This is sector wide and just one consultancy driving it - that is where you should focus collective action.

it astounds me that fee payers aren’t looking at this. The Office of Fair Trade would pick it up if parents started raising their concerns.

And you are so much more likely to slow the rise in fees if you challenged the passing on of costs as a result if consultancy, than through challenging VAT (which is a very popular policy).

Name one private school where teachers are striking.

I haven't heard of any at all.

Basically - most people are a bit soppy. They don’t like confrontation and don’t want to put their own head above the parapet. They’ll bitch and moan behind the scenes until the cows come home, but won’t do anything about it. And so private school heads get away with it and the governors let them on the grounds of “well, nobody’s complained”. My experience, anyway!

Didn't you have a rant about this before? Apologies if not you but it sounds familiar to another thread.

Yes, I'm definitely going to start kicking up a fuss against the Head's salary at the school my children are going to spend the next six years at...

Sounds like you are on a bit of a vendetta.

No striking at dd’s private school. Very stable staff. Hoping VAT not reversed, we are in pretty deprived location and they genuinely do support with bursaries etc…

No striking at my kids’ schools. Everyone seems very happy, as are the kids. In fact I’ve never heard of this issue 🤷🏻‍♀️

OP, if you're unhappy with your DC's school, then leave. Please don't try and shame us other parents into behaving in a certain way.

I've heard of one school doing this so staff are planning to strike, the school as an employer has to increase its contributions to the teachers pension scheme from 23% to 28% so is cutting salaries by 5% and will be replaced if they don't accept it.

Royal grammar school guildford had strikes, Farligton School had stikes. Other schools have threatened strike action over TPS but this was averted. It not that unusual.

Thanks so those 2 you mention weren't anything to do with the consultancy that this OP seems to have an issue with but pension provision.

Oh i see. Yes they were nothing to do with the OPs gripe. I just thought you meant no independent school teachers strike.

Ipswich School staff striked about pensions last year

https://www.ftadviser.com/pensions/2022/03/01/girl-s-trust-teachers-join-fight-to-save-pensions/ @Spirallingdownwards

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12182011/amp/Teachers-Britains-oldest-school-strike-time-1-425-year-history.html

https://catholicherald.co.uk/st-marys-ascot-deals-with-first-teachers-strike-in-schools-139-year-history/

I have not heard of any of our teachers striking.

Our teachers get absolute parity with the public sector for pensions. Just shy of 24% employer contribution. Compared with my employer pension in the private professional sector of 5% I think that's pretty impressive and I am quite envious.

FWIW I earn £28k.

@Rocketspam as you know TPS for employers is going from 23% to 28% on 1st April, the private schools have no option but to pay the increase, the state school increase is being met by the govt. The strikes / fire/rehire scenarios are being driven by the pension increase which will cause some schools to operate at a loss.

Do parents really not mind fire / rehire being used on the professionals who teach their children?

Does it raise no eyebrows at all?