Teachers' strike

Well, yes, it says that most parents have to work these days and of course it can be difficult to find alternative child care without much notice!

I am not sure what you mean by "says it all as far as I'm concerned" Dragonfly1 ?

Do you mean that parents are concerned as to how they will have to tell their employer they cannot come to work today?
Possibility of losing a days pay?

I am furious at todays strike. First of all only half of my GC's school is actually on strike and the other half are working as normal (or in other words doing what they are paid to do). This means 1 GC is at school and other 2 are not. My GC's school is a failing school (according to Ofsted) and the striking teachers just about sum this up. They are the ones who couldn't care less about the childrens education (not the parents) or they would be at school teaching.

Indeed this is not the case Gilly. Striking teachers do care about children's education and loath going out on strike. No professional takes this decision lightly believe me.

Yes, it's inconvenient for parents, but our education system is being eroded. Teachers are overworked, sinking under more and more government initiatives. I'm picking my two GS up tonight from school and nursery and will drop them off at my daughter's house at 6.00 pm when she gets back from school. She will put them to bed and then start her marking. I'm afraid she will crack under the strain as she's having to cover extra 'A' level and GCSE classes for colleagues off with stress, and she gave up Saturday to run extra tuition classes.

That is the reality of teaching today.

The parents I heard were mostly complaining about the lack of notice - several saying they only heard about the strike yesterday. If teachers are going to strike shouldn't they take into consideration the fact that many parents do work and need time to either arrange for time off or to find someone able to look after the children.

I don't think parents think of teachers as child minders, they are paid to teach and it is not unreasonable to expect them to give parents an opportunity to make alternative arrangements if they do strike.

It was made public on February 14th. How much notice do they want?

BBC 14th February

I have been 'on standby' to look after DGD1 as well as DGD2 today as we have known for some time that her teacher will be on strike today. As it happens, the other GP needed to swap days, and in fact DGD1 has gone into school as the other staff are covering.

The teachers in the school of which I am governor are not on strike - they issued a statement expressing sympathy with the aims of the strike, but wished to fulfill their obligations to the children. I applaud them for this.

I am sorry your daughter feels that she is overworked Aka but in my experience she is not typical of the teachers I have come across and certainly not of those at my GC's school. I do however have 2 good friends who are teachers both of whom tell me that they feel extremely lucky to work in a job that allows them so much free time to spend with their family. Neither have to rely on childcare for school holidays (with the exception of the odd day here and there) and both enjoyed extrended maternity leave after the birth of their children.

I agree with sunseeker regarding lack of notice. My GC brought a note home some weeks ago saying their school might be affected but only learned that they actually would be yesterday when one GD presented me with a note saying that her teacher was on strike tomorrow (today). I certainly don't think of my GC's teachers as childminders as one would surely choose a childminder quite carefully. I most certainly would not choose any of their teachers!

I think there are good teachers but not all teachers are good.

I don't know too much about the reasons for the strike but understand that they include performance related pay, having to increase the amount they pay into their pensions and having to work until the same retirement age as the rest of us. Perhaps there is more to it than that but all of the above are the same for people not in the public sector so why should teachers be different? Teachers still have index linked final salary schemes which makes them much better off than most others.

Yes, we hear that all teachers are overworked but compared to what? The example above of a teacher getting home at 6 pm hardly sounds late. When I was working I was never home that early and had to make arrangements for my child to be looked after until one of his parents came home whatever time that was. At least when a teacher works at home they can fit that around family meals, brownies, music lessons or whatever and they are home to put their child to bed.

Also as mentioned above they can share the school holidays with their children.

I know of teachers who wanted to leave the profession but didn't because they couldn't get another job which paid as well and gave long holidays. I think it is important to look at all aspects of a job and put them together not just pick out the negative parts.

My daughter loves teaching but would get out of it now if she could. Her school has different holidays to her childrens school so she still has childcare problems at times.

I am sorry to hear that, gillybob, that school sounds poor. But, on the whole, in my experience, Aka is right.

I am not even going to begin to contradict statements about free time and long holidays - we've said it all before.

I have always, apart from once early in my career, found it impossible to go on strike, because the students were the most important factor. Not the parents' inconvenience, not further pay conditions etc. Just the children's education. It went against my political conscience, but helped me fix my priorities.

They should be proud of themselves Mishap. My GC's school is a failing school and yet the failing teachers still felt the need to go on strike today. My GD's are extremely bright despite their school and with the exception of 2 or 3 I would say that their teachers are probably extremely over paid.

We found out last week that GD's school is not, this time, one of the schools affected as apparently there are no National Union of Teachers working at her school. It is only that union striking today let's remember.

I have to say that simply saying there was announcement in February does not seem any of any help to those who did not know about the strike, unbelievable but they do exist, or for people like us who are on standby to cover strike duties for their children and have had to put our time on hold and as in our case cancelled a hospital appointment, prior to knowing the strike was not a general one. Our fault, yes, but you do what's necessary to help your children out don't you and we knew the two conflicted with each other.

Our daughter is a single mother who works for the private sector and get's very little help from her company. She had a lump removed from her armpit last year and lost both pay and her annual bonus, as like most of the private sector working conditions are not like those the public sector worker is used to. If we grandparents are not available or in existence I pity the poor devils trying to get by and loosing a days pay, again.

The right of the teacher to strike is one thing but it has to be said that there is another side to a strike that does cause family and financial concerns for those who have to suffer because of them.

I am not going to defend nor chastise the strike but I do think that the care of the children when a strike occurs does seem to get batted off as collateral damage.

As we see so many children in the comfortable position to be accompanying their parent on the strike marches today it has to be said there is an irony to a teachers strike, after all, they are the only parents who have no problems resourcing child care today to cover their strike action.

Well said POGS.

Teachers carry out more hours of unpaid overtime than ANY other profession.

Aka you cannot know that. My overtime was never recorded anywhere, it was just part of the job. When on a project I even had to have my laptop on all night and be ready for a call to deal with issues. It was called 'Follow the Sun' and meant that the issue would be passed to whichever country was working until it was fixed.

Or did you mean literally the professions?

60 hour week

Interesting Aka but it doesn't mean that they work more hours than everyone. I certainly worked a lot longer hours than that at times, for no extra pay and with only 5 weeks holiday.

I think I just don't like the generalisation and also think that such a survey might well encourage teachers to overestimate their hours don't you think? Its not as if someone stands over them with a stopwatch. I am sure some do but I doubt they all do, in fact I know some who don't!

As a primary teacher for 25+ years then an Education Adviser working for the LEA with primary, secondary and special schools, I saw the best and worst examples of teaching and school management. Believe me, the best teachers and school managers give their all, work excessive hours planning and marking, taking extra curricular classes and activities and are truly inspirational.

I've no time for those still in the profession who see it as an easy option, and neither have most of their colleagues.

But that doesn't mean we should flog a willing horse Nonnie. The difference with teaching is working with classes of real people (young children, teenagers) which is a demanding job and then on top having long hours of paperwork. Very few jobs have both these elements to such an extent.

(PS nice to have a discussion where we differ and yet do so calmly and rationally and without resorting to you know what!!)

So shouldn't PRP be one of the mechanisms for dealing with unsatisfactory teachers?

Never mind who works hardest - most people work very, very hard to keep their heads above water, and to fulfil the requirements, ever increasing, of their jobs. We all know, gillybob the hours you put in with all the commitments you have, for example. And many other Gnetters, like nonnie also know exactly what really hard work means.

I just don't think striking is the answer. But that is just my opinion. Teachers in a failing school do feel desperate, I know, but I can't see what is likely to be achieved. The fact that not every teacher has been out on strike speaks volumes.

What a sweeping statement that was Aka and one I doubt very much. Are we counting hours per week? Hours per month or indeed over a year or working lifetime? I know many people who work loads of hours of overtime for which they are neither paid or rewarded in time off and for only the basic 5 weeks holiday per year too. None of the teachers I know work anywhere near 60 hours per week unless of course they are the exception . As previously mentioned I doubt any teacher (or indeed any profession) when asked, would say that they worked very little or no unpaid overtime would they?

A lot of my ex colleagues haven't been on strike today because they can't afford to lose pay. I'm not sure what I'd have done if I'd still been in teaching. I have such mixed feelings about education anyway. Some really interesting comments and opinions in this thread.