Who is/isn't striking among the NUT members here?

[lifeissweet]

Facing a dilemma. My beliefs about unions are based on the fact that united we have a voice. People fought to have the right to unionise. If a union calls a strike, then I believe all members have a responsibility to stand up together. Otherwise, we come across as divided, not united and it weakens us all.

Not for a long, long time has the teaching profession been under so much threat and we need to be united now more than at any time. Our terms and conditions are facing changes which will make teaching a far less stable and desirable profession (and not really a profession at all if unqualified teachers are allowed to take classes all over the place).

However, I am currently the only member of staff at my school who is prepared to strike on Thursday. Half of the other staff are NUT. Lots of the support staff are in striking unions, yet no one is striking (including the NUT rep). The Head has told me that if I strike I will be the only one and that he will have to close only my class that day and keep the rest of the school open, so everyone will know it is only me withdrawing my labour and am I 'prepared to take the flak for that?'

I'm not sure I am, but I believe really strongly in supporting the union. The thought of ignoring deeply held principles and breaking a strike sit uncomfortably with me.

My DS's school is closed on Thursday. Other local schools are too.

So is it just my school where there are no striking staff at all? And if you are NUT, why are you not striking? Is it just so as not to disrupt end of year activities, or because you think striking isn't helping? (I don't, incidentally, but will vote with my feet on that one and change unions when this is done.) How do you square that with yourself?

Not preaching. People have all manner of reasons for not striking. I just think I want to feel a bit less out on a limb!

[Feenie]

brilliant idea - watch this space!

[rollonthesummer]

Ofsted Out?!

[Feenie]

Was only shouting 'Gove out' on a march 5 days ago

Quick, what can I shout next?!

[ravenAK]

Still say it was all those pin cushions wot dun for the bugger...

[MrsHerculePoirot]

Most effective strike ever!

[noblegiraffe]

Teachers go on strike, less than a week later Gove is gone. Now that's what I call a result.

[sanfairyanne]

adieu Gove

[noblegiraffe]

I had all high sets this year, my classes all had 31+ in them and while it was nice in terms of behaviour management, the marking was never-ending. My timetable next year seems to be mostly lower sets so I'll have the opposite issue!

[ravenAK]

We usually rotate the sets.

It's true that people have different skills/preferences: if my HOD went on matching sets to teacher specialisms, I'd always get the top GCSE Eng Lit sets (I'm an examiner & the Dept. Lit geek) &/or the bottom ones (I quite like them & get on with them) whereas I have colleagues who are much better than me at the tricky C/D borderline.

But it's an expectation that everyone can teach right across the ability range.

Also, you need everyone to have a mix of top/middle/bottom sets otherwise the person with the top sets would have been killed by the marking by October...

[ChillySundays]

It seems to me as a parent that the top sets get the good teachers (possibly specialists - no mention of who has what qualifications on school website). Perhaps it happens more at some schools than others. I want my children to do well and don't care what qualifications the teachers have if they can teach my child and enable my children to progress. Appreciate like any job there is a starting point for what qualifications are required. So for teaching is should be a degree and I accept that.

[Philoslothy]

A teacher with a good grade a level could teach the lower sets.

I have year 10 set one and two. The sets twos have targets of A-B grade and still need a subject specialist. To be able to simplify something down so that others may understand you need to have a firm grasp of a topic. I am also very uncomfortable with the idea that only top sets deserve subject specialists.

That is one step away from only grammar schools needing specialists which would have dire consequences for a school like mine.

[BoneyBackJefferson]

the B ed and BA Hons are under grad routes in to teaching for both secondary and primary but they must come with QTS or you would have to do a PGCE.

[rollonthesummer]

My PGCE was primary, covering from 3-11, but I'm still qualified to teach secondary.

[ChillySundays]

I understand now - you see you learn something new everyday! What is a BEd then - is that for primary school teachers.

[noblegiraffe]

No, PGCEs are subject specific at secondary. My maths PGCE only involved teaching maths, although technically once you're qualified as a teacher you can teach anything, including switching to primary!

To get on a maths PGCE and be trained to teach maths, you are expected to have a degree with a major mathematical component, e.g. Economics or Engineering would do.

[ChillySundays]

I am not in education so my ideas are very much 'what if you did this or did that?' I picked an English teacher as it was the first subject that came into my head. What I meant was not a maths teacher. As I don't understand anything - I thought that a PGCE teaches you to teach and would be non subject specific. So the group of PGCE students would have a range of degrees.
A teacher with a good grade a level could teach the lower sets. Isn't that what PE teachers do? When I was at school they taught the lower sets for their second subjects. Imagine now with the advent of PE GCSE that there isn't so much call for a second subject. Not in education so don't know.

[BoneyBackJefferson]

"Why are people happy for mediocrity?"

I've noticed that people are happy for this when its not their children.

[Philoslothy]

Every school I have worked in or contact with the Maths department has had problems that can be traced back to recruitment and retention.

[Philoslothy]

Excellent History teacher here with an A Level in English and Maths. I would not let myself teach my own children those subjects never mind anybody else's.

Why are people happy for mediocrity?

[ravenAK]

Yes, speaking as an excellent English teacher who is also quite good at doing Maths, & has an A Level, this could theoretically happen.
I dunno about teaching it - I've never tried - but if I ever found myself timetabled to do so I'd have a bash & hope the department's noblegiraffe would hold my hand a bit...

However, we're struggling almost as much to recruit in English, so you'd be more likely to find an Arts or Geography teacher bodging away at Maths, I think.

Plural of anecdote not equalling data, etc, but our weakest teachers over recent years have tended to be in Maths (slightly iffy degree class & poor classroom management). It really is an issue re: recruitment & retention - we're having real difficulty putting competent warm bodies in front of classes.

This worries me, as my dd1 is all about the Maths G&T - by the time she hits secondary school she's going to need a teacher who can really stretch her. I can already see her outstripping a stage where I can help her with my 25yo 'good O Level, mediocre A Level' Maths, & she's 8 - so no, I don't think ChillySundays requirements are stringent enough.

[noblegiraffe]

The excellent English teacher will be busy teaching English, no?

Perhaps you could take the excellent English teacher and make him a mediocre maths teacher (he's not going to be as good as someone trained to teach maths - take it from someone who has taught a subject they aren't trained to teach), but then English will be losing out.

[SwiftRelease]

Yep, me too.

[ChillySundays]

I would be happy for anyone to teach my children as long as my children were learning and improving. If that means the excellent english teacher with an A level in maths so be it. Better than paying for private tuition for my DD who had a 'proper' maths (but useless) teacher

[Viviennemary]

I think teachers these days are quite well paid. But people who always find an excuse as to why they can't strike are a bit irritating. If you are in a union that goes on strike then you should suppport the strike if the vote is for the strike. If you are not prepared to do this then join a non-striking union.

[sanfairyanne]

the politicisation of education has been a massive disaster. if only MPs could resist the temptation.