Secondary teachers strike

[tocahairchop]

Any other secondary teachers in Scotland who are not keen on strike action? I get the motives behind it but not at all up for striking at this point due to disruption and the fact that times are tough for everyone. Feel like I have to justify myself to non teachers by saying 'I don't agree with striking' as it's not going to be met favourably by the public in the same way as other sectors striking over pay.

I'm not a teacher but fully support teachers (and other sectors) going on strike and I'm sure many others will too. If the Government can afford to spend millions on contracts for their buddies or on independence campaigns, then they should be able to give workers wage rises nearer the rate of inflation so that they aren't worse off.

Most teachers I speak to are supporting the strike action due to the current pay-rise not being funded. I don't know if that is similar in Scotland but that's my biggest concern. Pay rises without funding coupled with massive energy cost increases means schools are going to struggle so much more than they already do.

Scot gov has already said any money given in pay rises will lead to cuts elsewhere.

No teacher or any striker should feel on the back foot for doing what they think is best, or that they need to justify themselves at all. Underlying all the strikes is a big sense that wages are perhaps a small part of the issue, pressure of work and lack of support seem to be just as key.

@redredwineub40 yes but it is a 'pay campaign'. Interesting to hear that it maybe is supported by those outwith the profession. Will see what happens, doubt there will be an improved offer by date of the first proposed strike but you never know.

I'm a teacher and don't agree with the strikes to be honest. I feel that £42,000 is acceptable for me personally but obviously others may feel differently.

I would rather strike for more support for ASN pupils.

Totally agree @ScotsLassie322 and discussing it with 3 colleagues in the staff room today we all said the same. We'd rather have more support in class and better work life balance than more money!

I'm primary BTW but I'm sure a lot of teachers in both sectors feel the same

I’m not a teacher and while I appreciate the stance teachers are taking I feel striking will affect those (usually women) who are even worse paid who will now have to take time off work themselves.

public sympathy may only stretch so far

Yeah @tocahairchop that's exactly my issue if they were striking for a smaller rise and more support or less contact time for planning or ASL provision I'd be so much more behind it.

But I don't begrudge anyone a strike really just not sure this addresses the biggest issues in schools.

A strike is a total failure of labour relations after all.

I completely agree and thought this myself today.

Teachers who are on great salaries will strike forcing those of us on low wages to take unpaid time off due to schools being shut.
One day unpaid is a really big loss for minimum wage workers.
Thats just really hard to swallow and I don’t support the strikes.

I'd rather strike for better conditions than a pay rise. We were promised smaller class sizes but that's been forgotten, there's inclusion without appropriate training for teachers and in class support, same with EAL pupils. We used to have one EAL teacher per ASG 20 years ago when there were very few pupils. Now we've got lots of pupils and still the same level of staffing.
I could go on.

Yes @RaraRachael I agree, there's plenty of things we could be striking over but it just doesn't sit right with me to be striking over pay just now.

I am a teacher too but I do think it’s a bit mad not to support the strike. Of course working conditions should be better- but this is a result of govt policy; the inclusion policy being rigourosly implemented with a lack of nuance around exclusions etc.
The result of a lot of this is more workload, more pupils and more work. Of course pay should increase with this.
The chances of having a significant change in terms of support and class sizes is close to zero in comparison to a % pay rise. I mean, you already have 15% less on terms of value of money since the last year! So you truly can’t say that pay isn’t an issue.

The strike draws attention to the fact that teachers and the extensive workload needs to be valued more- you cannot be asked to do more and more but not give a pay rise.

I'm primary and a bit torn. I feel very guilty that I'm making possibly twice what the parents in my class earn.

But as things stand we can't afford to TTC (DP is a teacher too). We can't afford nursery fees. That's swung it for me.

I agree. Workload is out of control and this is not the same job I was doing 10 years ago, never mind 20 years ago. The expectations of what I can achieve on my own, in the classroom, are out of control. Not giving teachers a pay rise would not change ASN support or provision. They have always been underfunded and now they’re barely funded at all.

I'm a teacher and very jealous of those who don't need more money. By the time I've paid the mortgage, childcare and bought some food there's sod all left. We've not been on holiday for years and rarely go out. I could really do with bit of a pay rise.

What happened to the campaign for smaller class sizes? That's one I could get really behind. More ASN support needs/more PSAs/smaller class sizes/ more non-contact time - that's what we need. I will support my colleagues but I fear that the cost of the enevitable deal that will be struck will mean there is even less money to have any of the above.

I think you’re conflating the issues though. It shouldn’t be that we pick one or the other.

The less contact time is a facade- most dept in my school teachers maybe have 1/2 periods extra free, where they can get please takes. The less contact time won’t change that. The timetable will remain the same and we’ll just be more squeezed than ever.

They certainly can’t afford to employ an extra teacher for every dept in every school to reduce class sizes in the long term. That would be more costly than giving a pay rise to current teachers.

I'm sure that I remember that the smaller class sizes in primary didn't become law, so they were subject to legal challenge. I'm sure I remember a legal appeal to a child being denied a place in p1 as the class was 20. They won the appeal so the school was forced to accept pupils to put the class size up to the legal maximum. East Ren iirc.

Not Scottish, and not secondary, but I voted for.

My problem is:

• in England, pay rises this year weren't funded, so school budgets now won't balance
• in the South East, there is a massive recruitment crisis. Teachers are entering training, passing training and being given jobs when they are wholly unsuitable. And even with that, schools can't hire teachers. Maybe higher salaries will help that situation (though maybe not).

Personally, I could do with more money but will be ok without.

I’m a teaching assistant and I wouldn’t bother striking over the amount offered which is about 5% for us.
But I will strike because it is not being funded by the government. Schools are expected to find the extra money for salaries out of their existing budgets which will affect students. We already don’t have enough money for new books & equipment!

Im not personally worried about staff redundancies because we are short staffed at the moment with the number of TAs we can recruit. But at some schools there will be staff redundancies which means special needs students having to share TAs for example.

The issue in England is that payrises will be funded out of existing budgets so schools will get a cut.

If the government provided funding even for the existing payrise and negotiated a smaller figure then I bet it would be accepted. But they won’t even do that.

Everyone is buying the idea about we’ve run out of money - same lie spun in 2010. We had over a decade of austerity and did we have more money as a result?

No we do not, because it does not work.

If the government ran the country like an economy, not a household, then we would have a much better response from the markets. Instead they don’t and I’m willing to bet in a few years, we will be trashed again as we spiral down into a hot mess.

The set up is completely different to Scotland.

Here, we move up a point on the scale each year until we reach £42,000. This is across the board (as long as a certain number of days are taught). This isn't the case in England.

Times are tough for everyone except the rich. Times are never tough for them. Teachers should earn enough to feed, clothe and support a family. The fact is at the moment teachers wages do not cover that. Please support the strike action, especially if you are part of that union. That's kind of what the word means. Let's stand as one.

I’ve taken this from my Childs Academy school, I haven’t listed all the heads of departments. Why does it need this amount of head teachers? This is what I want to see stopped, perhaps then there will be more money to pay teachers a decent salary.

Executive Headteacher
Head of School
Deputy Headteacher
Deputy Headteacher
Assistant Headteacher
Assistant Headteacher
Assistant Headteacher
Assistant Headteacher,
Head of Sixth Form
Assistant Head teacher
Assistant Head teacher