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!

[JJsleeping]

• Feenie Mon 07-Jul-14 23:10:35
  
  Why would we strike during unpaid holidays?*
  
  Wow that's the first time I heard that teachers done get paid in August, xmas and Easter. Hmmm are someones pants on fire?

[Feenie]

Strange how it's no problem at all to fund an 11% pay rise for MPs though, no?

[Springcleanish]

Performance related pay is normal in the private sector...if teachers are so good what's the problem, they are good teachers so they will earn their increment.

Unfortunately not true. As a so-called 'outstanding' teacher, every year I get the bottom set groups. Inevitably a few do not achieve their unrealistic, over-inflated target grades, that do not take into account prolonged absences, pregnancy, court cases. amongst the other things these kids are dealing with. I treat all students with kindness, compassion and respect and I work in the holidays, evenings and weekends to ensure these kids get the best chance possible at success, even picking them up and bringing them into school at times. However my performance linked to exam results is poor because in a class of twenty it only takes one to not be on form and the data shows a negative value added. and if performance related pay was brought in I would be on competency proceedings.

This is why we need to strike.

[wafflyversatile]

What sort of union rep doesn't go on strike? :confused:

JJ most teaching staff would love to concentrate on teaching, it's the lack of being able to which is leading them to lobby, from what I understand from my teacher friends. It's not just about who will get taught or not on this one day, but about in the future.

[Goblinchild]

I agree, let's concentrate on teaching and ignore the hundred or so different initiatives from the government and all the other social skills, extra-curricular and non-educational activities and demands that also seem to be part of a teacher's role now.
Plan, teach and mark and assess.
if the materials aren't there, then we just don't do whatever it is until they are. You don't see doctors and lawyers skip-diving and buying cheap in the market and discount stores to provide for customers.

[Goblinchild]

'Wow that's the first time I heard that teachers done get paid in August, xmas and Easter. Hmmm are someones pants on fire?'

Oh JJ, there are a thousand and one threads on this. Teachers are paid to work 1260 hours a year. The salary is based on that, but it's divided up into 12 monthly payments. So no, we don't get paid for holidays.

[Feenie]

Wow that's the first time I heard that teachers done get paid in August, xmas and Easter. Hmmm are someones pants on fire?

No. We don't get paid for August, Xmas and Easter. Would you like some help understanding that?

[Goblinchild]

I think JJ is a new poster, so is perhaps unaware of the numerous threads on the subject.

[JJsleeping]

Feenie, for a teacher your maths isn't very good. The cost of an Mp's pay rise (which I dont think is happening) is peanuts compared to the cost of the massive number of teachers in the country. I for one want good quality MP's but currently they are paid about half the amount head teachers and the secretary of the NUT. I hope you dont teach politics, or maths.

Springcleanish, as an outstanding teacher shouldn't you be teaching the most challenging pupil's? Why aren't you campaigning about over-inflated target grades instead of striking, that is exactly what has destroyed our education system over the past decade. I hear Mr Gove is challenging grade inflation, dont you have a lot in common?

[JJsleeping]

crikey teachers obsess about pay a lot. The job description lists an annual salary, the same as 99% of the working population. Either everyone gets paid for holidays or none of us does. What an irrelevant comment Feenie, what other discriminated minority are you in?

[Goblinchild]

I suppose that one of the differences is that I can take an additional job in the holidays if I choose to, because I'm not contracted to be available for teaching work then.
I also think that the majority of people in employment think about the salary, it's not a vocation, it's a job. Which is why only doing what you are actually paid to do is an effective protest. If you withdraw from the rest, parents and the general public can see where the line is between paid activity and extras.

[BoneyBackJefferson]

JJ
"I am sorry if some teachers find it hard to hear opinions different to theirs"

Its not your opinion that bothers me, its that you put it forward as fact.

[TheLateMrsLizCromwell]

No-one/everyone is paid for their holidays - for some reason only teachers ever refer to this, as if they were a special case.
Teachers have not been well-served by their unions.
In other countries, the extra support and admin that teachers do here is done by - admin and support people. If teacher here had had the backbone to insist on this and not allow their 'profession' to be diluted away from actual teaching, then it would have provided jobs and a career path for other workers. By martyring themselves and simply taking on more tasks, they can hardly then bleat that 'Gove' is taking them for granted - they did that by rolling over under successive governments. I was recently in a school where the HoD (A)did all the admin for various schools trips, which was time-consuming and did not require the skills he had as a subject leader. he also moaned constantly about the time it took. in a nearby school I also worked in, same subject, the Hod (B) employed a part-time admin assistant, shared with another dept . Freed up the former for management tasks which she did far more effectively than the other guy and gave a useful part-time job for a local mum. Department morale much higher. Win Win. Maybe also relevant that B had worked in industry and had previous management skills, while A had always been a teacher and couldn't visualise there might be more efficient ways to do things..

[sanfairyanne]

the really sad thing is that all the teachers i know never went into teaching for the money and are not motivated by payrises

this cant ever be understood by their paymasters, who are motivated by money

the lack of payrise is actually another sign of the almost hatred of teachers by the tories and just the latest in years of denigration

the strike has to be about pay and conditions but it is really about the utter denigration of a profession imo

ironically, if politicians were better at psychology, they would get more out of teachers by being nice to them - no pay rise but lots of praise.

i dont work in schools any more but anyone who loves teaching i would recommend goes abroad. you can do the job you love and be respected for it

[sanfairyanne]

gosh JJ, again you know so much about things for a totally disintetested third party. the pay of the secretary of the NUT now.

[TheLateMrsLizCromwell]

Effective and porefssional HoDs put forward improvement plans to their HTs. Ineffective ones have a 'can't do' mindset, which sadly often seems to prevail among teachers.

[sanfairyanne]

its just years of being ground down, Liz

although the admin/support you mention I do find a bit confusing. admittedly it is years since i worked in schools. back then, most of the admin was teaching related eg schemes of work, lesson plans etc. i dont know how much of that could really be delegated? most places i know use the admin team for data entry of the type i think you are describing?

[JJsleeping]

People dont go into teaching for the pay? Yet they are striking for more pay! I have heard it said many times that teaching is a vocation not a job but what does that mean in the real world. All I can see is that teachers were lucky enough to get a job they thought they would enjoy and that by calling it a vocation they declare they have some special right not be asked to work to hard or for to long.

I dont hear a single politician denigrating teachers, in fact all I ever hear is praise for their work.

I was hoping some teachers here would be able to intelligently debate why they think the strike is justified but all I read is blind ideology.

1. Why do a small minority of unionized teachers have the right to overrule a democratically elected government.
   
2. If we pay teachers more how would you fund it? Redundancies or adding to the national debt?
   

3 What does it teach children other than, if you dont get what you want throw a tantrum until you do.

1. Why are teachers more special than nurses, firemen, police, the military or any other profession or do you suggest we just pay everyone more and bankrupt the country?

[ravenAK]

JJ - there are quite strict rules about what you can strike over.

Your own T&C, yes.

Your opinion of what Gove is doing to education, nope.

This is why the strike is for 'pay', although more of the stated emphasis is actually on workload; but 'striking over pay' is an easier thing for you to denigrate, isn't it. 'Teachers are greedy!' Fewer people will be convinced if you start claiming we're lazy instead...

I'm quite happy with my salary as it happens. Least of my worries, & certainly not one of the reasons I'll be on strike on Thursday.

[TheLateMrsLizCromwell]

Raven - you say that your opinion of 'Gove' is not something you can strike over, but that is what people on here ARE saying they are striking over

[BoneyBackJefferson]

"1. Why do a small minority of unionized teachers have the right to overrule a democratically elected government."

Its called being in a democracy and being able to withdrawn labour as a legal right (and you don't seem to mind that the current government was elected in the same way)

1. If we pay teachers more how would you fund it? Redundancies or adding to the national debt?

Most Teachers want to be able to maintain their Terms and conditions.

3 What does it teach children other than, if you dont get what you want throw a tantrum until you do.

That you have a democratic right not to be walked over.

1. Why are teachers more special than nurses, firemen, police, the military or any other profession or do you suggest we just pay everyone more and bankrupt the country?

You do know that some of these are also striking on thursday?