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!

BoneyBackJefferson

You write "The point of any strike is to get both sides to talk". Oh really? Says who?
The NUT have written on their website "We have already won concessions through our pensions campaign - the Government has improved its offer and proposed protection for many teachers. As a result of NUT pressure, Michael Gove was forced to abandon his plans to remove all working time protections for teachers."
www.nut.org.uk/action-to-defend-teachers-FAQs
That would seem to suggest some talk has already taken place.

UNISON mentions "The employer’s side of the National Joint Council for Local Government Services, which covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland, refuses to renegotiate on its 1% final offer."
www.unison.org.uk/at-work/local-government/key-issues/local-government-pay/the-facts/
So an offer has at least been made, albeit intransigently. What would you have the strike achieve, the withdrawal of even that offer? Its replacement with a higher percentage and then a follow up with more job cuts?

And I repeat my question for all of the aims of this strike, you still have not specified how the strike will achieve any of them. How is this question evidence of my being "obtuse"?

EBDragon - your post is interesting. I know a LOT of teachers - most went straight from school to uni to teaching and have never been outside education. They are finding it increasingly hard.

I also know some teachers (including a head) who have worked elsewhere, both commercial and public sector. They think it has its challenges but overall don't think it's any more stressful than other things, and value the holidays and pensions.

Someone who works in an EBD school which is a very different set-up to a comp, with a nice head who doesn't give a shit about paperwork can't understand what other teachers are moaning about?

Hmmm. I wonder why.

"How is this question evidence of my being "obtuse"?"

I would hope that you know the answer to that one as well.

But just in case you don't.

The purpose of a strike is to show solidarity and put pressure on the government (in this case) to meet around the negotiation table to discuss the issues raised (the aims).

Unison wants to meet with the National Joint Council for Local Government Services

and the NUT wants to meet with gove (who hasn't yet been to the table)

Did not know there were hardship funds available? From NUT?

The reasons aren't that muddled surely, but UNISON usually represents TAs and NUT usually represents Teachers.

I've known an awful lot of people leave the profession because they 'couldn't cope with the stress of being shit teachers', EBDragon.

Best for the dc they teach, themselves, & everyone they work with.

Some of them jumped, others were given a hefty shove. No-one gets given a pay-off for handing in their resignation, though.

Actually, you've highlighted one of the things that worries me about the current deterioration in the attractiveness of the teaching profession.

I was a really shit teenage waitress. No-one tried to persuade me not to quit when I found another job, which I did as soon as possible. Since I'd needed no qualifications to land the job, & the pay was lousy, I felt no loyalty or impetus to get any better at waitressing.

I am a pretty good teacher because I've spent 15 years working hard at it. If your dc finds themselves in my year 7 tutor group or year 10 GCSE group in September, I will be taking that on with the expectation of taking them right through that Key Stage, & the experience & skills to do a good job.

The vast, vast majority of my under 30 colleagues don't see themselves in teaching in their 40s - never mind their 60s. It's increasingly becoming a job you do for a bit after Uni, & no-one's idea of a first choice, either. A bit like my waitressing.

& whilst we are soon going to miss the energy & originality of these young recruits as the recruitment crisis bites, especially if we have a genuine economic recovery, we are already feeling the impact of losing a huge number of more experienced teachers who have voted with their feet.

How many qualified teachers are there out there who aren't teaching? I don't know, but it's got to be 1000s. & we all paid to train them...I'd think even the most hawkish teacher haterz could do with thinking about the sheer cost to the taxpayer of what's currently going on.

noblegiraffe - Do all these parents really not give a shit about the huge numbers of teachers quitting?

I see no evidence of an increase in the shortage of teachers in schools on the ground. Good teachers have always been attracted to good (easy) schools and bad schools have always found it hard to recruit.

In my current county I have seen academies and a free school raise standards and push state schools to raise standards. I see less academies closed due to the strike. I see a rush for teachers to get into free schools.

I see on the news copious militant teachers saying the government isn't listening. That is a downright lie, the government is listening it just disagrees, as most parents do.

If all these 'experienced' teachers quitting are the ones that presided over a decade of declining standards and grade inflation then yes, I am glad they are leaving. Parents want the new improvements being brought in as fast as possible, we dont want more of the same and if that means banning teachers strikes they so be it.

I work in a good (easy) school and I've already told you we are struggling to recruit maths teachers. Not sure about the rest of the school but I know at least one other department has had to re advertise positions after not finding any suitable candidates.

So I'm not sure your experience counts for much, tbh.

That is a downright lie

Are you Professor Umbridge?

Yep, we're 'good with outstanding features'. Highest results for miles around (we missed Outstanding last time because our community cohesion was a bit crap - person in charge of it was promptly managed out).

Oh & we're an Academy.

Three re-interviews for our most recent English vacancy, before we could get an acceptable candidate, & Maths are practically chaining anyone decent to the radiators to prevent them from leaving.

I work in (according to the league tables) the best non-selective school in our LA; we are in the minority of schools in our LA to be rated good and we have lost a lot of staff this year, can't recruit and are having to rely on supply staff in September for core subjects.

Traditionally given we are centre of a triangle of teacher trainer provider we normally have huge numbers applying to every school within our LA; this is getting very unsettlingI

met two ex teachers yesterday

they looked happier than i'd seen them look in years

"In my current county I have seen academies and a free school raise standards and push state schools to raise standards. I see less academies closed due to the strike. I see a rush for teachers to get into free schools"

All the current data goes against this.

"Parents want the new improvements being brought in as fast as possible"

It is going to be difficult to do when there is no one in the classroom to do it.

the really weird thing is that apparently the private sector pays less (looks at friends from uni on 200k salaries and wonders how true that is across the board), is less secure and has worse holidays
but teachers are still leaving teaching to give it a go
weird
better start persuading more of those private sector workers to fill the gaps!
i've heard the pay is great, long holidays, fab pension

BoneyBackJefferson
First section
Me to you: ""How is this question (about how a strike was to achieve anything) evidence of my being "obtuse"?""

Your reply"I would hope that you know the answer to that one as well.
But just in case you don't. The purpose of a strike is to show solidarity and put pressure on the government (in this case) to meet around the negotiation table to discuss the issues raised (the aims). "

Again, says who? All of this is just your opinion and it does not fit any facts. You still have not said what you think the strike in particular will achieve, indeed, you think it an impertinence that anyone should even ask.

Second section
Your remark to me: "Unison wants to meet with the National Joint Council for Local Government Services and the NUT wants to meet with gove (who hasn't yet been to the table)"
What is the relevance of this exactly, if you are trying to achieve something sensible and objective for educational policy? Did you read your own earlier posts before writing it?

"it does not fit any facts."
you haven't put any facts forward.

"Your remark to me: "Unison wants to meet with the National Joint Council for Local Government Services and the NUT wants to meet with gove (who hasn't yet been to the table)"
What is the relevance of this exactly, if you are trying to achieve something sensible and objective for educational policy? Did you read your own earlier posts before writing it?"

You asked what each wanted. I answered, Is this getting a bit much for you?

"I see a rush for teachers to get into free schools"

I don't see a rush at all. It's almost as if you are making these things up.

Or all those ex-teachers might come back!

www.learningspy.co.uk/education/why-do-so-many-teachers-leave-teaching/

There are apparently almost as many qualified under 60s not in the classrom as in it. 400k odd, all trained at expense to the taxpayer.

So where are they all? Are they all better off & happier doing something else? Like my SIL, who did her PGCE here, took one look at the current state of teaching in the UK & buggered off to teach in Malawi for better conditions? Or the ex-colleague who nipped round to fit a fireplace for us recently, & is looking 10 years younger now he's a self-employed builder?

It's apparently such a cushy deal, & yet once people escape, they seem to be quite good at staying out.

I didn't strike. We took the kids out for the day. Can't afford to.

They're fleeing like rats from a sinking ship at my school! 5 teachers escaping completely; 2 of the posts are still vacant for September as nobody is applying. This is a well-resourced Outstanding school.

Where shall we get teachers from-any ideas?

Erm, I think soldiers might work. Or pensioners?

I keep being offered jobs, for a term, a year, permanent...
I'm still saying no, because I'm so very happy not being crucified in school by targets and new initiatives and all the rest of the crapola I escaped from a year ago. I'm still teaching, but it's like skating over thin ice. If I keep moving fast, I can dance to my heart's content and never fall through. My days are so much more joyful now, I'm doing the bits i like and I'm not trapped into an unwinnable situation where nothing is ever good enough.
But fine, a couple of people on the thread think there isn't a problem with recruiting or retaining good teachers despite the evidence. They will never be convinced of it, so why bother arguing the point? If statistics and data are not convincing them, then anecdotes surely won't penetrate the fog.

As things are, with a 40% attrition rate within 5 years of qualifying, if I leave teaching, along with 4 of my colleagues, as Jj would like, that means 5 replacements will have to be trained, & in 5 years' time 2 of them will have been replaced with new trainees after they leave.

Let's say another 5 teachers leave my school, & leave teaching for good, each year over those 5 years. That's another 25 replacements, 10 of whom will themselves have to be replaced within 5 years of recruitment...

(I'm sure someone qualified to teach Maths can correct mine; mind you, I've got a good O Level & a weak A Level in it, which means I'm better qualified than many people currently teaching GCSE Maths).

It's simply not sustainable.

This is not the workforce I want for my children's education...a churn rate similar to that at MaccyDs.

Ex-Soldiers and pensioners didn't seem to work too well, find they? What next. Ex- convicts?