Worried about further strike days (Scotland)

[Amar8989]

I just wanted to say in advance, I’m not attacking teachers, i’m just looking for some more information.
I am a SAHP to two children, both with ASN, one attends a specialist ASN school, the other in EP at Primary. Next week we have a further 2 strike days, after just being off for half term, and before that we had a few days off in January/February, with more days to be announced for March/April. One parent has to take Holidays from her work to cover the strike days, and she has lost a week of planned holidays in the Summer. I worry because of my Children’s ASN, having a day off midweek is extremely disruptive, they are very unsettled and if not closely watched they could cause danger to themselves or others (I regularly get scratched and head butted when they are unsettled). I want to fully support teachers, but it’s hard as it’s not clear what it is they are looking for, the media suggests it is only about pay, however is there other reasons they are not reaching a settlement? Will the strike action also affect next term?

I believe the strike action will continue in full until teachers get the pay increase they deserve.

Although the strike is essentially over pay the education system in Scotland is broken. Teachers are understandably extremely unhappy and many, like me, left the profession as a result.

There are a multitude of issues but the initial ones that come to mind for me are:

• an expectation to work excessively beyond paid hours
• inclusion cannot possibly work when teachers have 33 pupils and access to little or no support staff
• some children, despite what their parents may think/feel, should not be in mainstream schools. It’s a disservice to their education as well as the education of everyone else in the class
• unless you are interested in being part of the school leadership team there is no career progression. A teacher with 25 years experience earns the same as a teacher with 5.
• curriculum/policy is dictated by people who have little or no experience in working in schools and continually goes through infuriating cycles of what is/is not good teaching g and learning
• parents/wider public for reasons unknown to me treat teachers with distain and believe they have a cushy number with great holidays, The holidays are not so great when you are continually on the brink of a nervous breakdown during term time. Despite no longer having school holidays I wouldn’t go back to teaching if offered triple my previous salary.

There’s a lot more but I think you’ll get the idea from the above.

Absolutely. I completely agree regarding the inclusion and mainstream. We had to really fight for my son to get his place at a ASN school, and they could fill it 10 times over. Plus my daughter can be disruptive in class and I fully sympathise with her teacher as they do their best to accommodate her. I wish the media would focus more on these issues and not the pay, whilst I understand pay is important, these are much wider problems. My mum was a teacher for 30 years, as was both my Grandparents, and she said now she would not encourage me to go into teaching.
Thank you for your input, it makes the strike days easier to cope with.