I don't like striking - I would much rather spend the day with my year six class. Unfortunately, like so many other teachers I know, I feel I have been left with no choice but to use strike action in an attempt to make the government understand the damage it is doing to our schools.
With this strike, the NUT is calling on Nicky Morgan to increase funding to schools and education, guarantee terms and conditions in all types of schools and resume negotiations on teacher contracts to allow workload to be addressed.
Funding cuts have already had, and will continue to have, a hugely negative impact on the quality of education our schools can provide. As a result of these cuts, many of my local secondary schools have had no choice but to restructure, losing support staff and teachers. The cuts have resulted in increased class sizes, certain subjects no longer being taught, and staff are completely overstretched. Sadly, huge numbers of the remaining teachers have decided to leave these schools – in some cases the profession.
Three of our local secondary schools each had 25 teachers resign at the end of May. The school I teach at would not be able to operate in the way it does without the invaluable contributions of every member of our team. The quality of what we provide is the result of years of hard work and investment. Our pupils need schools run by teams of committed, qualified and experienced teachers who can give them the start in life they deserve.
On top of this, although it was reported that the government made a U-turn on the forced academisation of schools, the reality is that plans to turn schools into academies are continuing, at an estimated cost of £1.3 billion - mainly spent on lawyers' fees and all from public money. At a time when our schools are already seeing huge funding cuts, it is completely irresponsible for money to be spent in this way. If this kind of money is available, why are we losing committed and experienced professionals from our schools? These plans illustrate just how wrong the government's priorities are.
For the first time in seven years as a teacher, decisions made by the Department for Education have made it impossible for me to meet the needs of my pupils. Changes to testing and assessment have been chaotic. What the government has expected me to teach has been too hard for many of my pupils and not useful for any of them. That isn't right and it isn't fair. No child should be made to feel they are failing. I have done my absolute best to ensure this isn't how any of my pupils feel, but the obsession with testing in our primary schools means many children end up stressed, believing they are not good enough, or put off learning completely.
And what is so frustrating about this situation is that there is a better way. This does not have to be how our schools operate. Schools need the space and time to properly prepare young people for the complicated world they are living in. Our schools should and can be places where every child can have their individual strengths recognised, can have their unique needs met, can feel excited about learning and can feel positive about themselves.
I hope that Nicky Morgan starts to take our concerns seriously. I hope she will start to properly engage with the reality of what is happening in our schools and how this is affecting our young people. By striking, I want to send a message to the government that my duty as a teacher is to the children I teach and that its role as a government is to work with teachers to make our schools the best they can be for children we serve.