Scottish teachers strikes

[museumum]

How have other Scots found the teachers strikes?
I’m seeing a lot of stress from English parents I know on Fb as well as on mn but it seems to me in my bit of Scotland parents have said “fair dos” to the teachers and just got in with things/arrangements quietly.

I’m not sure this is necessarily good for the teachers cause….

interested to hear from other Scots around the country….?

I have concerns about the impact on results for final exams if the kids are getting less teaching days, and strikes during prelims. I have emailed my MSP to ask if this will be taken into account when marking but of course, no reply.

Ds is at uni now so I haven't been following closely, are pupils in each LA in Scotland losing just one day of teaching in January and February (so far?). In England it looks like each school will be impacted for up to 4 days in the same period?

In his exam years one day lost in January /February wouldn't personally concern me at all as ds would simply study at home if school closed. If he was younger and needed someone at home 4 days it would be awkward with work.

We have had 2 strike days in my la in January. I am really concerned about lack of teaching time. I have just had my youngest's parents night - he is in second year and doing course choices. So it was particularly jarring when more than one teacher pointed out they haven't seen him since before Christmas as he only gets some classes once a week and they are on strike day.

Certainly the people I've spoken to are getting fed up with the impact on work etc.

I also have to say the email I got from one of his teachers giving the impression of work to be done (which my eldest had already completed) due to him missing a double period due to the strike was interesting. Thankfully he is good at that class and is ahead.

I have a P5 & an S2.

It's been a bit of a juggle with work but far better than during the pandemic; at least there is no homeschooling.

I'd probably be more concerned if my DC were at the exam stage.

As an NHS worker, who has accepted a lower pay offer (5%) & managed at 50% staff levels for 2 years, I'm not massively sympathetic.

I think part of the problem is the offers that have been made are not funded by the Scottish Government so have to come out if school budgets?

I'd love to go on strike and get a better pay, but our sector is not the public sector and our employer doesn't recognise a union. Love my job despite the lack of a pay rise though.

Not much sympathy amongst parent friends in my region. I have a P6 & S2 we've had 3 days of strikes this month, 2 for each child, both off different days so it's been disruptive with work etc.
everyone extremely sympathetic and supportive of NHS but seems far less so with teachers.

You do realise it’s not a competition right? Just because you got shafted doesn’t mean everyone else should have it shit too

The strikes yesterday didn't even make it onto any of my social media news feeds. I think people are a bit 'meh more strikes' and getting on with it best they can. It's a pain for childcare. My p4 has missed so much school through covid I am worried about his progress as his year group seem really far behind. I'm less worried for my S1.

Amongst people I know and have spoken to their is zero sympathy for teachers. Although respectful of their right to strike I don't know anyone who thinks teachers deserve a bigger payrise than what's been offered.

Most annoying is still have to pay for wraparound care when it is closed due to strikes. Also when teachers swap Friday 'play afternoon' to Thursday because kids are off Friday due to strike...no I'm sorry, they can play at home on Friday, please teach what was already planned for Thursday.

I’m supportive and so is anyone I’ve spoken to about it. I know some teachers who feel that they voted for one strike day and didn’t expect so many, and are worried about the impact on finances. I’m generally supportive of industrial and collective action as a way to achieve fairness, and I’m grateful for what teachers do.

As a parent I am more annoyed at my S1 and especially my S3 DC not having regular teachers for a few subjects, DD hasn’t had a proper Biology teacher for months. Her regular one is off sick and she gets covers.

As a teacher myself I see it far less about pay but more about the actual profession, valuing the whole profession. Education is being cut so much it’s getting so difficult to do our jobs. Inclusion is lovely on paper but hasn’t been given the support, teachers are being assaulted on a daily basis, we are buying our own resources, nevermind the endless paperwork which seems to change every 5 minutes. I would strike for more teachers and more support staff over more pay.

My son still sat his Prelims on strike day recently they went ahead
there was one week where high school was closed one day and primary the next which was an absolute mare for my younger son who didn’t understand (Asd) why he had to go to school but his brothers didn’t, it made life quite difficult he hates school too so it was a tough morning getting him ready whilst he threw a wobbler 😂

I’m a teacher and I obviously fully support the strike but don’t know how some people are managing to get by each month with the drop in pay they’ll have had. There’s a ‘hardship fund’ but from my understanding it’s about £60 if you apply for it! My mortgage and electricity has more than doubled so it’s not as if much of your wage is now disposable income. I think the exam argument and lost teaching time for those pupils could be the only thing that eventually sways it. Right now the government don’t appear to be massively bothered about stopping any future strikes. As usual the only way to get anything done is for parents all to write to their MP and complain about the disruption.

There’s a much bigger issue though. I think parents would be horrified if they saw the lost teaching time daily due to behaviour and violent incidents in the classroom. I’m a primary teacher and multiple staff in my school have been injured in the last few months, some ending up at hospital. It’s beyond a joke now. There is nothing in place to deal with any of it and management just brush it off and encourage you to shoot down any comments about it from parents, meanwhile it looks (and feels) like it’s all your fault. A lot of the children are too young to be able to tell someone at home what is actually going on every day. I genuinely fear for my own child starting school. I’ve worked in multiple schools and have friends in lots of schools, this is the case in every school in my local area, possibly not every classroom every day but a large number of classes. I sit and listen to staff crying or complaining every day at lunch time.

I’m finally escaping this year as it has majorly escalated over the last few years and I just can’t take a second more of it. The pressure, the tears, the lies, the toxic management, the paying for the most basic supplies out your own pocket, the parents complaining about every move you make and the anxiety caused by all it. I can’t do it anymore. I wouldn’t stay for all the tea in China so a 5%, 10% or 50% pay rise at this point wouldn’t keep me trapped in the miserable existence I have been in whilst teaching. Hats off to anyone who can keep going, they deserve every penny!

they also had the senior pupils attending on a previous strike day before exams.

This!

Very disappointed with the SG's lacklustre response to the whole thing - week after week is going by without any improved offer.
Teachers aren't even looking for an actual payrise, just to stop the year in year out real-terms pay cuts.

There was a strike day last year. This year there was one primary, one secondary and one all schools strike day. Next strikes are 28th of feb and 1st of March. So four days over same period same as England? It is a pain I have to take unpaid annual leave as I need holidays for during holidays. I do respect rights to strike but money is tight for me. This month I’ve lost the equivalent to a weeks food shop, petrol and school dinners for eldest.

I am a teacher and I support the strikes. I’m not sure why teachers are guilted into accepting poor working conditions ‘for the good of the kids.’ Or because it will be ‘difficult for parents.’ That’s the whole point of a strike in the first place, and it’s a last resort. Before the strikes were announced, the government had let months go by with no discussion or barely any acknowledgment in the previous offer that had been rejected. And now they keep offering the same.
My department currently has 2 non subject specialists teaching and one person off long term sick whilst everyone else in on minimum time. If you think this kind of education is good then you don’t really understand what things are like in schools. And that is in a ‘top 15’ school in country.

The comparison to the nhs is odd too; there is none. Both have different problems and require huge change to system and process as well as an acknowledgment that staff are really the only thing keeping these public ‘services’ running. But we don’t have the power or sway to instigate that kind of change, so we need some value added back to these professions and, at the moment, that is through a pay increase.

I fully agree with so much of what you've said here. There's a huge crisis in schools at the moment re violence and the huge pressure to pretend it's not happening / downplay to parents. I never have though I don't always get a chance to tell parents myself. Also worried for my wee one starting school!

I whole heartedly agree with this, I think the focus and attention on pay has been misdirected and this is what should be making the headlines. We need to resources for teachers to be able to do their jobs and for our children to learn properly in the working and learning environments they both deserve. This is getting lost in the demands for more money.

I have heard that the local authorities are fairly happy to let the strikes rumble on because they are making big savings on not paying teachers wages for strike days. Must be a big financial blow, I certainly couldn't afford it.

@Staggie in some of the classes (and neighbouring classes) I’ve been in or around in the last few years I genuinely think some parents would be so horrified if they knew and wouldn’t want their kids in that room. In one, a child would go round stabbing kids with a pencil, like full force stabbing, then throwing chairs at them, tipping tables, launching anything he could get his hands on etc. It wasn’t the place for him at all yet he was repeatedly taken out for a quiet chat and returned to the class as if it wouldn’t happen again. I was pregnant and as my class joined on to theirs I had to evacuate my class too when he started running through it throwing things at me. It took up so much of our time every single day. This year the probationer has a really tricky class and a child has started flipping tables, hitting her, throwing things etc.

These children will be growing up just thinking this is how people behave in real life. If you went into a coffee shop or somewhere as an adult and went on like that, you’d be arrested! I will be sending a bottle of wine in every Friday for my child’s teacher 🙈 and he will be warned never to put a foot out of line or answer the teacher back, ever!

I'm a teacher and have a strike day coming up next week. There are 4 more proposed which I won't be taking. Losing two days pay in January will be a blow that I'll accept but not another 4. It's not going to be resolved soon in my opinion as it would mean backing down on all other sectors too which won't happen. I'm not pleased with the negative impact on yet more days out of school. My kids missed loads last year due to two prolonged power cuts and then staffing shortages this time last year which meant remote learning 1-2 days a week for over a month. It's becoming too frequent, a full week at school is something of a novelty!

We need to resources for teachers to be able to do their jobs and for our children to learn properly in the working and learning environments they both deserve. This is getting lost in the demands for more money.

unless any pay rise is fully funded by the Scottish Government any pay rise will just lead to cuts and reduced resources as Schools and councils have to fund pay rises out of existing budgets.

I agree with this.

Is it possible that if the teachers get the wage rise that they want it will cause them more issues? Less teachers taken on as the council has to pay more out of their budget for staff so need to make staffing cuts? Less money for resources due to increased wages costs?

By allowing the narrative to be around wage increases it actually benefits the government long term.