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Listing to BBC LONDON on the wireless this morning, main topic is teachers strike. And here we are outside so&so school talking to a teacher on strike. I’m all up for strikes etc though honestly this teacher spoke so much carp about how bad it is being a teacher - she actually said it is the hardest job in the world 60hrs a week etc etc.
I don’t disagree it’s a hard job, however most jobs come with their own stresses. Toxic work environments I bet are high up on the list.
I could think of far worse jobs with less holidays etc.
Are there any happy teachers ???
There may be far worse jobs out there, but maybe we should aim for life not to be a constant race to the bottom? If they have grievances, they are entitled to air them.
I’m sure there are some happy teachers, but it is a very tough job. If everybody focussed on making things better (in all walks of life), the world would be a better place
Well done for mentioning holidays in your opening statement,here's a gold star,now go and sit in the corner and have a think about what you have written.
Being married to a teacher and knowing a fair few of her colleagues, I'd say not very many happy ones out there! Not in secondary education at least.
A mate of mine recently retrained as a teacher, fancying a change of career and wanted to do something positive where he could make a difference with the benefit of his substantial industry experience on his subject. He studied, qualified and got a job in teaching.
He lasted less than a year. He said that he absolutely loved the actual teaching - the bit in the classroom with the kids doing what you'd think it is that teachers are meant to be doing
But, by his account, and I've absolutely no reason to doubt him, every other aspect of the job is an absolute ****ing nightmare.
Absolutely zero guidance - just thrown in at the deep end to get on with it, zero support of any type, an absurd workload with constantly changing demands and generally a ridiculously stressful environment
There's no doubt its a tough job at times, but I also imagine it's very rewarding also. Personally I couldn't do it as I have enough of a time dealing with my 3 kids, let alone a class full of the little buggers.
Obviously it varies from area to area and school to school, where we live it's all little primary schools, many of them academy funded, not totally by local government with less than 150 kids across all 7 years (inc. reception) and relatively small secondary schools, there's also a fair few private schools from reception to 6th form, but that's relatively wealthy semi-rural England for you. There are without a doubt far far tougher jobs, with worse conditions and working environments.
But the thing is, while people do have the right to complain, protest and strike about work related grievances and whatever decline, underfunding, over-working they face, but is there not the option to leave and seek alternative employment if it's really that bad?
It's not a great job, as we're experiencing a 50% drop in intake for PGCE - nobody want's to be a teacher (other than those who see it as a vocation) - there won't be enough teachers very soon.
I'd be unhappy in my job if I'd only seen consistent underinvestment, downgrading if the service and degradation of working conditions. In fact thats the main reason I left a very well paid middle management job 7 years ago (not a public service job). I'm on a smaller wage but much happier now.
It's not just about wages.
Our daughter had nqt's, as in first year out of training, teachers for 5 of her 6 years at primary school - & only one of those 5 is still teaching, all other left after a year.
My partner retrained and lasted a year. She was micro managed and continually assessed in a way that led to a complete loss of confidence, she should have been signed off but didn't want to go to the GP and appear weak or create extra work for her colleagues. She thought the holidays would help with our own kids, less childcare, holiday clubs, grandparents etc but she spent so much of her weekends and holidays catching up or preparing ahead that she was spending less time with our kids. Due to regional differences they weren't even on holiday at the same time for Easter. So she left. She is now a volunteer coordinator funded by the council. She doesn't have to work the same hours but it's no less stressful, she's working with some of the most vulnerable members of society and they are now looking at massive funding cuts from said council. It's a shit state of affairs and the sooner these criminals,charlatans and liars are kicked out of government the better.
The whole education system could do with a complete shake up moving away from testing what you remember/have revised and more about preparing people for life and work. Further education is where people go who want the academic route. Teachers job would then just be coaching and working with pupils rather than all the syllabus and testing stuff that requires lots of their additional time.
Being married to a teacher and knowing a fair few of her colleagues, I’d say not very many happy ones out there! Not in secondary education at least.
+1 My wife is also an unhappy, burned out and stressed teacher.
but is there not the option to leave and seek alternative employment if it’s really that bad?
Yes, of course there is. Same argument is made about nurses and is why both professions are haemorrhaging staff, leaving massive staff shortages and barely functioning infrastructures.
There's far more to this than just individuals wanting more money for themselves - it's about people trying to protect entire nationwide organisations that the country depends on.
The government have an established an 'education' system that cares little for anything other than producing satisfactory statistics regarding exam results
Its like the tractor production numbers in the Soviet Union
Its just a production line. I doubt many people went into the profession wanting to work on a production line
Are there any happy teachers ???
Good question. It's a question that can be answered through empirical research. Bigger question is, what do you do once you know the answer?
For example, if there really aren't any happy teachers, that would mean that normal people find the job to be impossible. Surely it would make sense to find out why and improve the things that are making them unhappy. That doesn't necessarily mean salaries, but it will probably mean spending some money to address problems. If some teachers are happy and some are unhappy, the same thing applies - find out why some are unhappy and decide whether it's better to spend the money to address the problems or to just replace them with new teachers. If most teachers are happy and only a few are unhappy, it would make sense to see if there is a systematic pattern to the job satisfaction. If it is a systemic problem, then spend some money to fix the systemic issues (because, if you don't, the teachers you draft in to replace the unhappy ones will also become unhappy and you'll have to replace them too.) If it's not systemic, just a minority of teachers who can't handle the job, then pay them to be retrained for a different career.
Whatever the case, you need to look at the causes of the unhappiness and be willing to spend money to fix the problems. Just adopting an attitude that they should just shut up and suffer it out will not lead to good policy making.
My sister has just quit UK teaching after a couple of decades to work in a pub. As others have noted she loved teaching but the management and admin poisoned her existance.
Madame is a teacher in France and a happy teacher. We both walked out of UK teaching mid class, mid week, mid term. 🙂 Felt a bit strange at the time but within a month we'd found jobs in Nancy France and were working fewer hours for more money for a likeable respectful boss.
Absolutely zero guidance – just thrown in at the deep end to get on with it, zero support of any type, an absurd workload with constantly changing demands and generally a ridiculously stressful environment
with lawyered-up, provocative and plain nasty management.
but the management and admin poisoned her existance.
This seems to be the common theme from all the pissed-off professions.
Have we tied professions in knots with too much arse-covering red-tape?
In work today as my union not striking so can't write much. I love teaching. But and it's a big one...I got a number of promotions and was earning more in the past until it all became too much and I had a moment of clarity and decided to just be a teacher. I have 15+ years experience and am pretty good at it but I will not volunteer for more pay and more responsibility. No way. Most of the teachers I am still in touch who I trained with have left the job (or the country). The cuts to schools budget have vastly increased my workload over the time I have been teaching. I used to work very long hours as a new teacher....doing it now would be 240 000x worse.
Last year the government target for Physics teachers was missed, as it always is but this year they recruited 17% of there target...and most of them won't last 3 years. I used to have interviews with 10 other teachers in for 1 post when I started. Now we are lucky if anyone applies for a science job.
Improved conditions and more pay are the only ways out of the hole.
Oh and last week the gov refused to publish the list they have of schools with buildings at risk of falling down on top of kids and teachers
with lawyered-up, provocative and plain nasty management.
That certainly appeared to be the case, from my mates experience. But he'd also throw in 'completely incompetent'.
or to just replace them with new teachers
Major flaw in this plan
I was a teacher/tutor in FE until 2016, and had to leave it as it was killing me.
Constant ridiculous target setting, the view that if any students leave it was the tutor's fault (these are 16-year-olds who don't know what they want to do for their job/career, they'd try the course for a month or two and then quit when they realised they'd be expected to attend and work).
When they were absent we'd have to spend every available break in the day chasing them up to find out why.
Lunchtime meetings arranged when you were chasing said absentees.
Evening meetings with the parents of errant students to try to get them to toe the line.
Students turning up with no equipment or PPE (mine was a trade-based course)
Students turning up stoned; you can't allow them into the class or workshop, but can't send them home if they're under 18, so what do you do with them?...
Agency staff having to be relied on to front classes and then contacting us 15 minutes before they're due to start to say they weren't coming after all, meaning anybody who was on prep time had to then cover the class.
Then being bo##ocked when you hadn't prepped your own classes appropriately.
The absolute 'slave-to-the-data' policy, meaning it doesn't matter what you have to do, just make sure you keep 'em and get 'em through.
Regular class observations by people who had not one clue as to the nature of our students or the problems we faced with them.
A 'bums-on-seats' policy to recruitment, meaning that we'd have far too many completely unsuitable students, many of whom were frankly unemployable at their stage in life, who we'd still have to get through.
Evening and weekend recruitment events with no time off in lieu and no choice.
Constantly be threatened that your department would be closed if you didn't increase your numbers and pass rates year on year.
Senior managers being terrified of Ofsted.
No leadership.
Wages far below what a half-decent tradesperson could earn on the tools.
I could go on, but you get the picture.
I lasted 15 years, which was way more than most of my peers, and worked with many bloody good people who were systematically broken by the system. Very few people stay in that job for very long, and we wonder why FE is in a state of disrepair.
So, I can't tell you about schools, but to teach in FE is to stick your head in the meat grinder.
Won't someone think of the parents?....
As in, being one more element of the problem that teachers are supposed to manage / deal with / placate...
Parents evenings must be a nightmare.
Major flaw in this plan
Hey, if Putin can dredge up 300,000 new soldiers in three weeks, surely the U.K. and find a few thousand new teachers. There are millions of unemployed people, right? Just draft them in. Most of them have probably been to school when they were kids so they'll know how it's supposed to work, with the added bonus of some street smarts to pass on to the kids.
Another factor that caused my sister much grief was the school becoming an academy. That meant that in addition to the lawyered-up, provocative, completely incompetant plain nasty management. There were volunteer ****s to contend with.
Any **** can become a trustee or governor:
There are no specific qualifications or requirements for the role - every governing board needs a balance and diversity of knowledge, skills and experience. You don't need to be a parent or to have a background in education.
To be eligible to volunteer, you need:
the time to contribute (altogether, you can expect to spend 10-20 days each year on governance duties, with some meetings and visits taking place during the working day)
to be aged 18 or over
not to be disqualified under the relevant rules and procedures
but the main qualities required are knowing the right ****s, being a complete and utter **** yourself - and obviously, hating teachers.
No apologies to any trustees or governors who might post on this forum.
And don't mention OFSTED ! Pressure pressure. Government policies have ruined teaching.
Being married to a teacher and knowing a fair few of her colleagues, I’d say not very many happy ones out there! Not in secondary education at least.
Solidarity! 🙂 Same here, only soon to be an ex-teacher after 17 years.
But, by his account, and I’ve absolutely no reason to doubt him, every other aspect of the job is an absolute *ing nightmare.
Absolutely zero guidance – just thrown in at the deep end to get on with it, zero support of any type, an absurd workload with constantly changing demands and generally a ridiculously stressful environment
100% this. And also...
Another factor that caused my sister much grief was the school becoming an academy. That meant that in addition to the lawyered-up, provocative, completely incompetant plain nasty management. There were volunteer * to contend with.
... strongly this. As far as I can work out, the academy system is a level of management inserted by the government over and above the schools themselves that's run by... well, anyone, can absolutely dictate how their schools should be run with no requirement to demonstrate the knowledge and rxperience required, whose key motivation is to turn a profit. Schools are on their financial arses, TAs running lessons, absolute pigswill served in canteens, no support for any extra curricular activities, and academy chairs driving around in '22 plate German SUVs in sharp suits.*
* Based, to be fair, on a sample of two.
I could think of far worse jobs with less holidays etc.
Look at the retention figures before making a judgement. They are shocking.
About 6/10 teachers last over five years. Ignoring the recruitment challenge, the vessel is leaking despite the taps being on. And that's not forgetting STEM graduates voting to go elsewhere.
A mate of mine recently retrained as a teacher,
Two of mine did the same after early retirement, both in STEM. Neither laster longer than 12 months for the same reasons. They didn't need the stress, but loved the classroom contact. These are people with 70 years of industry experience, one at Executive level.
Won’t someone think of the parents?….
As in, being one more element of the problem that teachers are supposed to manage / deal with / placate…
Parents evenings must be a nightmare.
The mother of the most disruptive child in my partner's class was very tight with the head. Every week she'd be complaining about something and the head would side with her and give no support or help to my partner.
Question, with a pretty rigid national curriculum and a reducing variety of exam boards, why on earth are nearly all lessons custom prepped rather than delivered to a nationally standard lesson plan (which yes, could include options for learning style and range of ability)?
I’m a happy teacher! I love my job. 6 years in after being a solicitor for 10 years. There are lots of happy teachers out there - we just don’t make as much noise/don’t make as many headlines! Don’t get me wrong - there are frustrations as there are with any job and retention and recruitment are common issues across the profession but there is positivity to be found too!
Not specific to teachers, but what we have here is a population with first world expectations being run within a third world economy.
Question, with a pretty rigid national curriculum and a reducing variety of exam boards, why on earth are nearly all lessons custom prepped rather than delivered to a nationally standard lesson plan (which yes, could include options for learning style and range of ability)
Sounds great in practice, but there are many, many factors that need to be taken into account...
Class size, room layout, teacher experience, streamed or mixed ability class, equipment (or lack of), available facilities (IT, laptops/tablets, interactive whiteboards, etc.), behaviour, SEN, ILPs and EHCPs, TA support, the weather, room temperature, distractions outside the classroom, have they eaten breakfast...I could write more!
I love the actual teaching (most of the time), but massive class sizes, unrealistic expectations of grades, OFSTED pressure, lack of support in class, etc. means that I'm leaving secondary education at the end of this term after 14 years.
being run within a third world economy.
Eh?
Eh?
No money, no investment, high taxation, government corruption etc its not difficult to understand.
MrsG has been a teacher since leaving Uni. She's done standard teacher / HoD and now works part-time teaching 6th formers. I've seen her massively stressed in the past and many of her fellow teachers seem unhappy/stressed. Going part-time has been a saviour for her, I don't think she'd still be a full time teacher. I've also had friends got into teaching as a later career and not last long in the jobs. You really have to love the teaching part to put up with all the BS and last as a long term career.
I've met quite a few early retirement teachers who seem happy enough
Ex-primary teacher here. I retrained by the Graduate Training Program back in the early 2000s. Loved working with the kids, but everything else killed me, being the only male teacher I was given a problem class, and basically moved up the school with them, and criticised for the worst kids innthe school not 'achieving', after 5 years I was finished due to ill health. They didn't wait to see what was wrong before I was finished (ended up being tagged as CFS/ME), as they wanted me replaced before the next term.
No money, no investment, high taxation, government corruption etc its not difficult to understand.
Comparing us to a third world economy is both pathetic and stupid, not to mention slightly offensive.
I'll not bother to react to you propensity to argue & insult. But you know we are the lowest level of economic growth (actually we are in decline) in the whole world right? We've no appropriately sized military to defend us, healthcare, education, Fire, Police and many other public services are underfunded due to a corrupt and incompetent government. You know Russia is doing better than we are?
Or is there another cause of your reason for striking - a teacher yourself - can educate me as to?
But you know we are the lowest level of economic growth (actually we are in decline) in the whole world right?
I know you weren't talking to me but I didn't know that.
And don’t mention OFSTED ! Pressure pressure. Government policies have ruined teaching.
You can mention them today in this context, as they're on strike too. 😁
Or is there another cause of your reason for striking – a teacher yourself – can educate me as to?
At work, can't be arsed with your pathetic shite, if you think that the UK economy is like a third world economy you need to give your head a serious wobble.
this teacher spoke so much carp about how bad it is being a teacher – she actually said it is the hardest job in the world 60hrs a week etc etc.
is it the hardest job in the world? probably not - but its clear that teaching someone about hyperbole and using figures of speech to make a point may be harder than people think! Is it 60 hrs a week - probably for some / many teachers. Do you think that is not true?
I don’t disagree it’s a hard job, however most jobs come with their own stresses. Toxic work environments I bet are high up on the list.
OK, so do you think that government/local gov/management have done anything to make teaching more/less stressful and their work environment more/less toxic?
I could think of far worse jobs with less holidays etc.
So presumably given the great holidays and not the worst job in the world status you immediately stopped listening to the radio and started preparing your application for a PCGE course to go and enjoy this easy job?
Are there any happy teachers ???
Ask a wider question (this is genuine as my daughter is about to embark on career choices). Which jobs are people who have been in them for 20-30 years do people say are great and they'd highly recommend as every day is interesting/rewarding and they feel recognised/valued by their "customers" and appropriately rewarded by their management and sure that everything they do is worthwhile not pointless paper pushing.
I always suspected you were a conservative voter AA.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand...
I always suspected you were a conservative voter.
Explains a lot
Explains a lot
It does, if you read the sentence properly. There aren't any mistakes in it.
Oh god - give over, the pair of you! 🙁
The shitification of education in the UK is one of the biggest tragedies of modern times I reckon. My wife worked in a college and is now a TA in a primary school. The depth of shitness is astonishing. The primary teachers she's working with now haven't had any training in how to teach or how to create context and continuity. They are poorly skilled, young people with little general knowledge, even though they are decent and committed. Many of them just don't know how to reach and engage people. They have been taught nothing about the psychology and neurology of kids and learning or how to plan learning. So all they can do is download worksheets from Twinkle on whatever the subject is and give them to the kids, most of whom really aren't responding.
Now, there are clearly much better teachers and schools out there, but the point is that the system isn't ensuring good teachers are made, it's just relying on chance if someone happens to have the right level of understanding.
The reason it's a shit job is that you're asked to do the impossible with inadequate resources and training all the time, and the stakes are very high - young people's futures. And it never ends and there's nothing you can do to make it better, because you're treated like shit.
Oh god – give over, the pair of you!
I'm keeping it polite Pondo, I'd genuinely like to understand - from AA or others - why are the teachers striking if it isn't to do with lack of funds to pay wages and invest in education? My understanding that its exactly that.
Our economy has tanked to the lower level in the world, that's been demonstrated by another member and therefore its clear that we are at the lowest level of economic stability, growth, reliability and reputation.
Oh god – give over, the pair of you! 🙁
Back in the 80's you'd have been able to bang their heads together! 🤣
It does, if you read the sentence properly.
Not sure why you would think I didn't, still not sure I care.
Can tell you one thing, only having year 11 and sixth form in school makes it far more pleasant
Back in the 80’s you’d have been able to bang their heads together
The good old days!
Our economy has tanked to the lower level in the world
It really hasn't, come back and ask the grown ups a question when you have understood the difference between the size of an economy and the growth of an economy.
Its just a production line. I doubt many people went into the profession wanting to work on a production line
This is definitely the reality in FE. I did 10 years before it broke me.
The whole system is completely flawed, kids have to be in education or training till 18 have absolutely no interest or ambition to work in the industry of their chosen course and because the college is funded by attendance and achievement, I would spend a fair amount of time chasing absentees and then “forcing” these kids to achieve the required standard to achieve.
When I brought up the fact that I didn’t realise I would be teaching kids with no interest to my manager, he told me I was being naive!
But the main thing is that the government can publish that so many thousands of kids have qualified in Carpentry, Brickwork, Hairdressing and Catering etc, when in reality, it’s only the ones completing proper apprenticeships that will go on to work in industry.
I’m back on the tools, far easier and much more lucrative!
Edit, forgot to say, the few keen kids I did get would sail through the course and finish weeks early. When I set them challenges to test their skills and introduce them to what they might encounter when they progress a level I was instructed by the management to stop as the resources I used were not available!
I would spend a fair amount of time chasing absentees and then “forcing” these kids to achieve the required standard to achieve.
Now... imagine mandatory maths lessons for all at FE... who'd take that job?
Absolutely zero guidance – just thrown in at the deep end to get on with it, zero support of any type, an absurd workload with constantly changing demands and generally a ridiculously stressful environment
Pretty much any part of the public sector I think.
Now… imagine mandatory maths lessons for all at FE… who’d take that job?
We had that challenge as well.
Any kids without a GCSE C grade in English/Maths had to achieve the equivalent in college. No idea who thought that if a kid couldn’t achieve with 5 years of teaching by a specialist would be able to with a rough arsed builder in a year!!
Only read the title.
My parents were both teachers, some of my friends are married to teachers.
Teachers are never happy is my conclusion
During my 35 yrs in the classroom there was never a strike like this. As with nurses, teachers were/are very reluctant to disrupt their work with industrial action. 40,000 teachers have joined a union in the last fortnight. Since the days of Chris Woodhead teachers have persistently been degraded, pay cut in real terms, de-skilled with academisation and micro-managed from what appears to be the Amazon labour manual. Recruitment and retention are in crisis and Teach First are struggling to get either graduates or placements for them. Schools are reluctant to take student teachers through fear of affecting exam results and therefore pay (even Dickens ridiculed this). There's been a critical shortage of maths teachers for decades, to suggest that maths should be taught to 18 is a good example of how ludicrously out of touch and uninterested these politicians are. I loved my years doing that and happily put very long hours into it but I'd be very iffy about going into it now, particularly with having to pay back 4 yrs worth of loans for the privilege.
Now… imagine mandatory maths lessons for all at FE… who’d take that job?
My missus! And she enjoyed it, least until the college forced all the kids to take GCSE (as they get more funding for that) rather than maths courses more suited to their ability/career requirements.
Now the head of maths and english is asking why their pass rates are so bad, despite being told when the lower-tier courses were pulled that this would tank the pass rate, as if it wasn't obvious!
My Dad started a new job as a teacher recently, never ever have I seen him so stressed and unhappy
the resources I used were not available!
An ex-colleague of mine who was a plumbing tutor had to go to the wholesalers and buy a bundle of 15mm copper pipe as his students had an assessment that day, the delivery hadn't arrived as the college was blocked with the wholesaler due to not paying their bills. He put it on his credit card, claimed it back on expenses and handed his notice in right there and then. It was the straw that broke the camel's back, tbf.
Try explaining to the senior management that you can't give a 100% accurate prediction of your dept budget for the year ahead because the cost of copper fluctuates daily, and you don't know how many students you'll have anyway. They just don't get it!
you don’t know how many students you’ll have anyway.
So much this, when my missus went on maternity leave in December the registers from September still weren't sorted, I don't think they are even today from what some of her colleagues have said.
So this issue isn't that the teachers jobs are too hard, it's that the entire state education system is broken by years of underfunding and bad management, the teachers are just the visible face of the issues. For example the last payrise for teachers was unfunded, meaning that there had to be cuts to other budgets to provide it, meaning that other areas (absence chasing, SEN, materials, etc) got cut, making the teachers jobs harder.
I can’t imagine there are any more teachers unhappy in their jobs than in any other industry. Most folks would just find another job but teachers know they have society over a barrel and can get away with striking
Don’t blame them really, I’m sure all the folks in my bank would go on strike if we thought we could get away with it without being sacked
If they thought that they'd be on strike a hell of a lot more often.
Are there any happy teachers ???
Mate of mine was a teacher at a (decent enough) South London school. Put it this way, it could have been a LOT worse.
Then he emigrated to Australia where he now does roughly the same job in an amazing school looking out over Sydney Harbour, there are zero behavioural issues, he gets paid double what he did in the UK and the weather is way better.
He's very happy. 😉
I can’t imagine there are any more teachers unhappy in their jobs than in any other industry.
This. It's just that teachers whinge more.
Most folks would just find another job but teachers know they have society over a barrel and can get away with striking
Just like NHS staff, fire brigade, rail staff, post staff, etc, right? They should just go get different jobs and forget about us losing all their experience, forget about fighting for the career they chose?
Teachers by and large teach because they love teaching - I'd fight to improve the conditions of the job I loved, I'm sure you would too.
It’s just that teachers whinge more.
Whatever! [yawn] 🙄
, I’m sure all the folks in my bank would go on strike if we thought we could get away with it without being sacked
You know that's (currently) illegal right, sacking people for exercising their right to withdraw their labour?
There are without a doubt far far tougher jobs, with worse conditions and working environments.
Have to pick up on this. I doubt those other jobs are as pivotal to the future of individuals or our nation. Hence why teachers, nurses etc. have the collective powers they do and good on them.
Most folks would just find another job but teachers know they have society over a barrel and can get away with striking
It may have escaped your notice but the fact that 1 in 4 leave within 1 year and a third within 5 years and the gov missed there own recruitment target by 41% last year suggests that they do find other jobs.
Everyone can 'get away with striking' apart from the police.
Most seem a bit cheesed off, with the job in general and with the results-driven culture in a lot of schools in particular.
The model of school organisation, combined with exam results tables and Ofsted rankings, seems to lead to bullying and general unpleasantness by some heads.
It's an area I might have been interested in transitioning to, were it not for all the complaints about admin and nasty management I hear from teachers. Plus I don't want to be tied to school holidays for my annual leave.
You know that’s (currently) illegal right, sacking people for exercising their right to withdraw their labour?
is it? Didn’t know that
Just like NHS staff, fire brigade, rail staff, post staff, etc, right? They should just go get different jobs and forget about us losing all their experience, forget about fighting for the career they chose?
Teachers by and large teach because they love teaching – I’d fight to improve the conditions of the job I loved, I’m sure you would too.
and how is that any different than any other sector exactly? in this time when everyone is hard hit, only certain sectors are threatening strike action. Why’s that?
They're organised.
They’re organised
Beat me to it.
and how is that any different than any other sector exactly? in this time when everyone is hard hit, only certain sectors are threatening strike action. Why’s that?
It's because public sector pay has risen much less than private sector pay in response to inflation.
Quote from that link: "Regular pay growth in the public sector was 2.2% in July to September 2022, while in the private sector it was 6.6%."
And that period is very likely to be indicative of the last year or so.
Does it make more sense now? Feeling more sympathy for the strikers?
My Mrs left teaching last year. Just had enough of it.
The teaching kids (you know, what teachers SHOULD be doing) wasn't the problem. But the constant interference from politicians who don't know their arse from their elbow, moving targets, more and.lore targets, decades of underfunding, etc just gets too much. She was literally doing 70+ hours a week. Up at 5am to do stuff, back home at 7 or 8, quick bit of food then marking or prep for another 2+ hrs.
Half of Saturday and all of Sunday too.
Literally the only family time was to go to the rugby for a few hrs every other week.
Throw in heads who can't manage people at half the schools and are themselves pandering to the political bollox. Many heads utterly out of their depths. Many micro-manage and flip-flop every other week on WTF needs doing. And run at times as their own little fiefdoms and cliques.
Ofsted. Led by ****ers, managed by ****ers, staffed by ****ers. They come in with an agenda before they arrive. Not an open honest assessment, but a pre determined decision they then go to find 'evidence' (made up half the time) to justify what they'd already decided. Ofsted like many Gov organisations utterly unfit to do the job they need to. It's just like police deciding before doing any investigation that youre you're guilty because you're Irish or black.
She's taken a job on pretty much half the wage, to get away from it.
So are they right to strike ? Too fffoooking right.
Should force all MPs and all those working in the civil service to use state education for their kids. That would start to make a difference. Let their kids suffer under the mess they have caused.
It's a very hard job and not much more important jobs than a teacher they should be paid where they have a good standard of living at least.
Does it make more sense now? Feeling more sympathy for the strikers?
But I thought it wasn’t all about pay?
Private sector pensions have taken a battering over last 20 years… should I feel sorry for them too?
They’re organised.
I agree they are. And they have a monopoly on the market. If all the lowly paid branch workers at a major high street bank walked out, it would simply serve to lose them customers and they’d be shooting themselves in the foot longer term. One union for all bank workers would definitely change that, ie organization. But it doesn’t exist
I don’t care if folks strike or not, good luck to them. But I don’t have much sympathy for teachers tbh. Nhs workers and fireman however I do sympathize with as I think they get a rough deal
I’m a happy teacher