Militant teachers unions threaten to strike again

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www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17644678

They can't stand the improvement in standards due to competition in provision, putting pupils rather than union teachers first, and the death of the bog-standard comprehensive.

More power to Michael Gove's elbow!

On the spot inspections for politicians.....hmmm.......

Mind Cameron is having an 'app' created so he can rate his cabinet/ministers...or so it said on Sky News!

How I wish I was rich and smug!

Massive lol at 'rich and smug'.
There's not an ounce of smuggery on the entire staff of my school.

Ok, So this is what I think.

Teachers are striking. They have not gone on strike for a very long time. They have an equal right, as do those in the private sector, to have a fairness in their pay. People may feel their position is too good in this climate, but it is a position (financially) they have been in in the good and bad times. I think that agreeing to a 2 year pay freeze, then being told they have to work to 68, an increasing in pensions (which is almost impossible to opt out of) and the rise in general living standards THAT WE ALL HAVE, is not the best way forward. For many teachers they will be worse off. How is this fair.

The issues regarding bad teachers, is simple. Things have gone to far the other way. The sacking of bad teachers needs to be overhauled, for the good of students, head teachers, parents and other teachers. But this is a separate issue, and should not be used to say teachers should not go on strike. I have a feeling that a lot of teachers are striking because of very specific things, and may agree that the sacking of bad teachers does need looking at.

You may note that the unions have made it clear that strike action will not come about during exam time. Simply because most teachers wouldn't go. No teacher, is not going to teach lessons when they have students sitting an exam. Let alone, providing additional lessons. (Although I do wonder how teachers will manage this with the work to rule issue at the moment).

The idea that teachers are rich, always surprises me. There are basic levels of pay, which increases each level. Then teachers must apply to go through threshold where they show they have met certain standards, which are based on enriching the lives of students and adding to the school community. Teachers can apply for more responsibility (TLR - Teaching and Learning responsibilities) which also mean a small pay rise (approximately £2k depending on the responsibility). And of course there is working up the employment ladder. I'm not going to list what teachers actually do to earn their money, but it takes a while to get to the 'rich' standards. If they can afford a car and a house, good for them. Two cars fine. I wondering if they are 'just' teachers or do in fact have additional responsibilities.

Lastly, Michael Gove is almost devaluing education. The old saying, "those that can't, teach" is coming true. Being a teacher is not just about your qualification. Quite frankly some of my worst teachers were the ones with the best qualifications. No matter how bad or good your school experience was, any good teacher your remember, was good because they brought something else to the classroom: they didn't just list facts but invited you into their world and showed you a way of seeing out of it. That cannot be taught, and does not appear with a MA or BA/SC or any other academic qualification.

Applauds craig

Could have written that post myself

Da iawn Craig...Diolch!
How I agree!

There is a lot of 'anti-teacher' on this thread. I think postees need to evaluate where they get that opinion from.

Daffodilly, it's because, as all people have seen what teachers do, many of them think it's an easy job that they could do just as well if not better themselves. What they fail to realise is teaching is very much a swan activity i.e. all calm and collected up front, but paddling frantically underneath the surface.

I used to mentor student teachers, especially those coming into the profession after working at other jobs (i.e. ex-bankers and newly redundant IT workers). The drop out rate is very high. Usually the crunch point happens at the same point they realise just how long they are going to have to work, just how much scrutiny they are going to be under and just how little control they will have.

Last week of term...had taken kids on a weekend trip so no weekend.....
3 hr observation from someone in the LEA; meeting after school for 2 hrs;book scrutiny; mock interviews;oh and the usual lessons in the mix= stress and a nasty migraine at the end of term. I will be goig in 4 days this holidays to do the things I do not have time to do in term time and that I can`t do at home.
I know other people also work hard but most of what I do at home I do not have time to do in work time. My husband 'works' more hours than me every week but he leaves his work as he clocks out...I wish teaching was like that on times. I could be a 'bad' teacher and not give a and not mark, plan or inspire or value the pupils I teach but I value each one of them....even the ones who tell me where to go and refuse to cooperate and complete work etc....but I am a professional and I give everything so they can get the grade they deserve; including revision classes in the holidays! So I am one of the good ones!

I see the NUT doesn't like the new phonics test coming in in June. Balloting for a boycott already. Has there ever been a test they've supported?

CogitoErgoSometimes

How many parents on here have complained about various tests?
loads that I have seen
How many complain that schools only "teach to the test"?
again loads that I have seen

This is another test that the Gov will hang teachers and schools with, I suspect that it will be placed along side the policy of fining schools that don't get all of the children to the correct literacy proficiency.

Testing such young children is not in the child's interests. Surely if the children are tested so young it is more a test of what the child has learnt prior to starting school. My eldest was reading very well before he started school, would Mr Gove give the teacher a bonus for reaching targets.

Seems to me that society is happy to reward gambling bankers with very high salaries & bonuses even when they fuck up. Teachers, nurses and social workers on modest incomes, having the same level of qualifications and much greater responsibility and providing much greater social benefit to all are now being cynically pick pocketed and there seems to be an agenda for people to lose respect for them.

We need to reward and remunerate according to social benefit, value added not just money made. Perhaps some of the bankers who caused this mess would like to spend a week teaching and then ask them if they think teachers should have their pay and pensions eroded.

Testing! Sends me mental.

At what age is it ok for kids to be kids and enjoy learning and having fun? Why is there suddenly more hurdles to climb? Why do they need to be measured against other kids at 5? 5 people!!!!

Am I the only person who wonders when we stopped liking kids to be kids?

And sorry for previous errors in last post. I did have good teachers, that managed to get me into a v.good university. I just hit post.

Thanks Doit and T0LK.

Teachers, I think, are criticised because of the press which is right wing and anti-do gooders or liberal leaning professions as they perceive. Readers of this gutter press appear not to question the negativity presented. Surely, it is immoral to be unfair to people who do a decent worth-while job for mediocre pay considering their qualifications and incredible stress dealing with the children with negative parents or impoverishment in some way. We do down education in this country and so many families do not see the value in it. Such a shame - sad and guilt must be passed to those within power who do not want working classes to be educated and get a foot on their ladder.

Why wouldn't "those in power" want the working-classes to be educated and get a foot on the ladder?

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely" JosephineCD

Those in power are usually but not always from the elite who have for generations been educated at private schools. Have you never noticed how the people we trust to be in charge actually never take any responsibility. Instead every four years the oppressed elect their new oppressors and the cycles continues, "State ed is broke, we will fix it" well if was broke under Blair, it was broke under Maggie and so far the elected elite have elected not to fix the thing they claim to be not fit for purpose.

Seems to me either State ed isn't broken or they have no desire to fix it. So which do you think it is?

I think it would be a massive, massive job to fix it. Maybe too big for any government. There are too many people within the system all with their own agendas. I think free schools are a good start, as they will be more autonomous and be more answerable to the people they serve. I think too many teachers think that they know best and anyone that questions them is simply wrong. I also think that people in the education system are too esconsed within the system to see how it looks from the outside. There's a reason why we have so many NEETs and it doesn't reflect well on schools, although obviously parents are the biggest cause of this.

dreamingofsun - 'if we ever complain about pay in our blue chip company the director says go and get a job elsewhere. if you aren;t happy with your lot (which seems a lot better than many people's) perhaps you should change jobs.'

Your job in the private sector real world sounds very tough. I think you should consider getting together with some other employees from your company. Maybe you could even get in touch with some other employees in companies a bit like yours, and agree to support each other. That way, if the boss threatened you like that, s/he would be faced with the possibility of sacking most of his/her workforce. Can't think of a name for something like that, but I guess that's not important.

You might have to accept that the boss won't be very nice about it, and that news outlets might publish a lot of stories saying that you are very silly and naughty to join together like that. I know that might hurt your feelings.

Do you not think the company might just move to where the workers were happy to work? How would you like to own a business where the employees treated you with contempt because you had the temerity to want to make a profit?

I always try to support teachers but I find myself shaking my head in disbelief at the moment.

Sorry but they need to wake up and smell the coffee. Cogito asked if there's any test they (ie. unions) have supported. I'd go further and ask if there's ever been anything the government, any government has proposed which they supported?

It would seem that at the moment they dislike academies and presumably prefer the state system because clearly they don't want privatisation.

They want their pensions which are clearly unaffordable and out of kilter with the rest of society.

The NUT is also totally against the basic idea that teacher performance should be measured. A simple fact of life for practically every other employee in the country, public sector or private.

I read today in a paper (i can't find a link) that the teaching unions were also against the idea of OFSTED, testing at various ages and once forced David Blunkett to hide in a room because he suggested closing failing schools and sacking poor teachers.

Oh and not forgetting of course the threat to strike if anyone touches their precious six week holidays which apparently they need for "essential relaxation". Incidentally the shorter holiday plans were not cooked up by some evil tory politician looking to score some quick political goal but apparently was an idea created by other teachers and supported by ministers.

So from where I'm standing it would seem teachers must really think our education system is so good that it doesn't need changing at all. If we were at the top of international league tables I'd probably say "Fair enough" but we're not. Our education standards are way below the main asian countries we compete with, our kids were outscored by Slovenia and Lichtenstein and we're below the international average in maths.....personally i'd say there's room for improvement.

Way back in about 1972 I remember standing with a teacher and reading lists of increasingly difficult words from a series of cards. We kept going until I hit words I couldn't read and then the teacher jotted down the score. I've always assumed that they were testing my reading ability. I'd like to think teachers know what level of reading attainment their pupils are at without testing and I'd like to think that all children finish primary education able to read competently. But, as literacy levels are not exactly outstanding and we have too many finishing secondary education without that basic skill, I am not confident it's happening.

NUT reaction to any kind of progress seems to an outsider to always be 'no'. Assessing performance, whether of pupils or teachers, is always resisted. I do not know if they are particularly motivated to protect the status quo and cover up problems but I don't think they do teachers, pupils or parents any favours being so rigid.

Oh and not forgetting of course the threat to strike if anyone touches their precious six week holidays which apparently they need for "essential relaxation" ??????
A friend who teaches in primary, spent 2 weeks in Italy, the other 4 weeks were spent shredding paper, putting up displays, making resources, planning lessons, filing, organising the class room and painting the loos, that doesn't sound relaxing to me.

Gogito, that sounds like the Burt reading test. Easy enough to find online if you wanted to test your own child.

Resistant to change? Successive governments have constantly tinkered with the education system, from nursery school through to university. I wonder whether countries with more successful results have foisted quite so many stupid changes on their teachers quite so often, or whether their education systems are more stable?

"Resistant to change? Successive governments have constantly tinkered with the education system, from nursery school through to university."

Yes, and they do this to look like they are doing something (anything) and not because the changes are strategic or important.

Resistance to change is always bandied about as a negative, but we hear less about the equally pernicious obsession with change for it's own sake.

Only a idiot welcomes or rejects change based on the fact that it is a change.

What matters is what kind of change is it?

If teachers have resisted all change since the 70s, I think time has shown them to be right about the changes that were proposed.

Not that nothing should have changed since then, but the direction of travel has not been in the right direction in the last 30 years.

I fully support the striking teachers. I want my children taught by motivated professionals, not box-ticking placemen.