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Whether you're a permanent teacher, supply teacher or student teacher, you'll find others in the same situation on our Staffroom forum.

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Whether you're a permanent teacher, supply teacher or student teacher, you'll find others in the same situation on our Staffroom forum.

The staffroom

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

337 replies

lifeissweet · 03/07/2014 18:51

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!

OP posts:

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BoneyBackJefferson · 14/07/2014 18:11

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.

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Philoslothy · 14/07/2014 18:18

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.

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ChillySundays · 14/07/2014 20:15

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.

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ravenAK · 15/07/2014 14:26

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...

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noblegiraffe · 15/07/2014 14:44

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!