Teachers' pay strike.

eazybee many good points there, and I thought that TA’s could maybe help with some of them, especially with the younger kids.Maybe if TA’s were paid more it would become a more popular job?I know it’s not just about money but it would help.

It's about elevating the perception of the job on all levels and being realistic.

When I was a school governor of a comprehensive school in the 1980s there was only one teaching assistant in the whole school - she worked part time to assist the special needs teacher.

I wonder how many teaching assistants there are now. I suspect a lot more and wonder how that happened.

My daughter gave up teaching a few years ago because of the stress of it. She loved teaching. She was so stressed with the lack of text books etc. Her children are at a school that is now struggling even though it used to be a school that had people desperate to live in it’s catchment area because it was so good, so she now has the time to help them. They couldn’t cope with both parents having such stressful jobs. And she worked hard throughout the school holidays doing lesson plans etc.

NotSpaghetti

*volver*, I think when you strike in the UK you simply don't get paid.

Does anyone know of anyone striking and still getting paid on the strike day?
I think lots of people think you get paid regardless.

Working to "rule" or to the "job" is different. In that situation of course you should be paid.

Regarding striking in the holidays.
WHY would anyone do that?
It would have zero obvious impact.
Unfortunately, when teachers are working during their annual leave, no one sees it!

Nurses who were RCN members are entitled to apply for £50 per day for the 2 days they were on strike in December....of course much less than their usual pay ....but something

In terms of pay teachers starting salary is below the average of the starting salary for graduates.
There is a considerable problem with recruitment and retention across education.

Callistemon21

Fleurpepper

oh I know- but I do find something strange. Time after time, after time - people with other so-called stressful and difficult jobs, used to say to me 'I have NO idea how you do it, and how you can stand it- I would not last 5 minutes?

there must be a reason. And a reason why recruitment is such a massive issues. Why do you think we have such a shortage of teachers?

Perhaps it's because some pupils are very disruptive and unruly now and some would-be teachers realise this and find it daunting.

Teaching in some schools could be more about damage control than imparting a knowledge and love of your subject to a class of pupils.

Perhaps indeed. I would not hve been able to continue teaching if I had believed that I was just there just to 'damage control'. Quite a few of my colleagues did give up to go to the private sector- against their heart, but for their sanity.

Teachers only get 5.6 weeks paid holiday p.a. Their pay, including holiday pay is divided by 12 and paid monthly, which makes it look as if they are paid for the long holidays, which they’re not.
To see about pay and what they do besides classroom teaching, read this, if you have the stamina to do so.
www.educationcorner.com/are-teachers-holidays-paid-in-the-uk/

The worst aspect at the moment is that any pay rise isn’t given additional funds. It has to come out of the existing budget, which is to the detriment of the needs of the school.

Luckygirl3

It's not just pay - it is the long long working days, and the unpaid overtime that they all put in. It is the stress of having to number crunch and produce reams of data, when they just want to teach and teach well.

Thank you Luckygirl3. It is absolutely all of those things. For me, teachers pay was OK. It was enough and paid my bills.

The workload was a killer though, and drove me out of teaching. A 70 hour week, when teachers are only paid for 37.5 (I think it was) is ridiculous.

My grandson's teacher is lovely. She's young, probably about 25 and frequently looks grey with tiredness. It really shouldn't be that way.

Despite that, I really, really miss being in the classroom. And I 100% support my peers, despite the fact that it'll mean I have to look after grandson and continue my self-employed teaching online.

Callistemon21

Fleurpepper

oh I know- but I do find something strange. Time after time, after time - people with other so-called stressful and difficult jobs, used to say to me 'I have NO idea how you do it, and how you can stand it- I would not last 5 minutes?

there must be a reason. And a reason why recruitment is such a massive issues. Why do you think we have such a shortage of teachers?

Perhaps it's because some pupils are very disruptive and unruly now and some would-be teachers realise this and find it daunting.

Teaching in some schools could be more about damage control than imparting a knowledge and love of your subject to a class of pupils.

It is almost never student behaviour. It is the huge additional workload on top of the actual face-to-face teaching.

As a UK teacher I was at school by 7.15am. Left as the caretaker was locking up and went home to work until 10pm. I also worked all of one day at the weekend. And I worked at least half of every holiday.

The students were the minor part of the work. It was a 40 hour a week administrative job, plus a full teaching timetable.

LOUISA1523 thank you.
I would think that is a hardship fund if you have to apply, and not from the employer but from the union.
There was one for lecturers when my husband was on strike - he encouraged junior staff and part-timers to request it. It wasn't very generous but obviously helped out.

The only effective means teachers have to get government to take notice is to strike because it impacts on working parents and they vote. The impact on children (if it really exists) is irrelevant because the Tories don't care much about state education beyond English, arithmetic and history according to the Tories. How many Tory Prime Ministers attended a state school?

Our youngest is 42y and has been a teacher now for 17y. She works full time (always has). She earns circa £44k as a Key Stage 1 Lead in a 2 year entry primary school. Juggling her workload and busy home life with 2 under 11’s herself (plus their after school activities) is very stressful at times. She’d love to go part time but household finances dictate otherwise. She has the responsibility for 8 colleagues. So it’s not ‘just’ teaching, it’s meetings, senior lead and planning. She loves her job but looks exhausted a lot of the time. She leaves the house at 7:30am every morning and gets home by 5pm. Occasionally later but then she needs to ensure her children have pick up from the childminder. And of course parents evenings mean she gets home around 8pm. I see how hard she works. I’d hate it. So many children with special needs that upon entry to school in a Reception get picked up and then have to be catered for within the system. Planning etc. I think it’s probably always been a very demanding career and now there are added concerns in various ways. I’m very proud of her.

She is a member of the NEU and will be on strike next Wednesday. She won’t get paid and her colleagues in other unions within the school will cover or maybe the Head can bring in agency? Maybe not, I don’t know what the rules are. I will ask her later.

If insufficient teaching staff are available, schools will have to close.
Agency staff or staff who are not striking cannot be asked to teach for striking colleagues, though I fully expect to hear ‘claims’ of that happening. Support staff and any non-striking staff will be in school and will provide non-teaching care for any children meeting the vulnerable or critical worker categories, whose parents applied for a place before the deadline on 25/1/23.

My daughter is a secondary school teacher. She won't be striking as her union didn't reach the required percentage to strike in the ballot. However conditions (not pay) are dire at the school - 60 to a class, no TAs, no supply teachers available, reduction in dinner ladies requiring teachers to cover lunch times. Noone wants to enter the profession, hence the shortage. Most of her spare time at home is spent doing school work.

My daughter works in a secondary school and will be going on strike next week, not because of the pay although any increase would be good but because of the fact that the pay increase that they have been offered is being taken out of the school budget with no extra money from the government. This means that money for TAs has been cut, books can’t be bought and the heating in the school was not switched on until November among other cut backs. She loves teaching but stresses are getting to her.

Yes, Hollyhock, I have friends teaching 60+ students. Secondary. Imagine, 63 fifteen year olds. One teacher to supervise.

And then expect them to progress and the school is Ofsted slated if they don't.

AGAA4

The job is not as enjoyable as it was. Many newly qualified teachers give up after a short time. According to my DD and SiL , both teachers in their fifties, there has been too much government intervention in teaching making a difficult job harder.

You are so right. Teaching when I entered it was great, 42 children in an open-class school with no doors. It was like herding Browns cows, the next classroom singing lesson could be heard in yours.
We did have teaching assistants who did all the dirty jobs like washing paint pots etc. They also helped with the children's learning. You could adapt the curriculum as you thought each child needed.
Then came the National Curriculum which prescribed lessons that were one size fits all and were told not to give the less able children to the Teacher's aides who by then were on courses and to be tret in a different way.
Record-keeping was beyond managing, carrying a notebook around and writing down when children had hit a target. All to be collated at home after staying until 5.30 at least to prepare for the next day's lessons.
Holidays others have said again were for preparing for the next term. No one sees the work done at home. If we were taking the children out on an educational trip we had to visit the venue in our own time to risk access.
Teachers if they strike should state it is on the children's behalf not for more salary.
A tired disillusioned person which many of them are, will not give their best and the children will suffer.
I sympathise with them but agree again with others they will be seen as looking after themselves not most important the children.
I retired early completely wiped out and disillusioned I have never regretted it and my family got their mum and wife back.

Teachers if they strike should state it is on the children's behalf not for more salary.
I agree Yammy, and that is exactly the reason why I started this thread, nothing to do with teachers' greed, though it can wrongly be perceived as such.
They will be seen as looking after themselves not most importantly the children.
Indeed. So why don't the unions realise that it would make more sense if their rhetoric and demands were not all centered on more pay?

For some years, I was HoD in a big department in an 8-form entry comp. The work-load was huge, in particular supporting less experienced colleagues and foreign student assistants. I did suffer burn-out, partly due to pressures at home. For the last 5 years before retirement I was happy to have a part-time role at a lower grade. Our own children had fledged and we no longer needed the income (but my pension suffered).
I cannot stress enough how much teachers appreciate the learning support assistants. With the many ADHD pupils there are in schools, the LSA males it possible to teach.
Pay is important, but not as important as sustainable working conditions.

Nobody appreciates the workload if teachers until they’ve tried it. Every night and much of weekend marking and preparation .
My next door neighbour, a man in his 50s, with a background in the private sector gave it a try after completing a one year course. He packed it in after one year. One year!

My niece, HoD in a secondary school, just yesterday announced she has found a new job, paying the same wage, and will leave in May. She just wants ‘her life back’.

Those who prefer to ‘teacher bash’ are part of the problem. It’s your children and grandchildren who will suffer, sadly, as more and more give up the fight and leave the profession.

PS not that many ON HERE are teacher bashing. It seems there is general support.

Most teachers in their third year of teaching onwards will have a Teaching and Learning Responsibility (TLR) paid on top of the basic salary.
A school will only have a certain amount of money to spend on TLRs, and in a secondary school, they usually go to Heads of Dept and Heads of Year. Those who are 2nd in big depts may get one. They are not automatic.

What are teachers paid these days?

I said upthread our daughter is on £45k p.a. (full time) - upper pay scale as 17y.

She is on strike tomorrow. The Y1 & Y2 classes are closed as those teachers are in the NEU.

I’ve just texted her to ask whether our grandchildren will be off school tomorrow from their school and she texted back “Not heard anything yet!!”