Schools ‘could close’ if teachers strike

8:40am Sunday 9th September 2012 in News

SCHOOLS in Bolton could be forced to shut if teachers walk out in protest at changes to their pay and working conditions.

Teachers have voted to go on strike over the “erosion” of their pay and working conditions.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) said its ballot of members had shown 82.5 per cent are in favour of walkouts, with a turnout of 27 per cent. The result raises the threat of huge disruption to schools later this term.

Ballot NUT, which has previously balloted members over changes to public sector pensions, has warned of joint strikes with the NASUWT teachers' union The NASUWT already has a mandate to take industrial action over the same issues.

And now the NUT has said the two unions will be campaigning together to “ensure that the onslaught of attacks on the teaching profession stops”.

Further details of the campaign will be set out on Monday.

NUT general secretary Christine Blower said: “The NUT is left with no option but to take action to protect the well-being of our members and restore their rights to do their job thoroughly and properly.

“Teachers are being undermined by a Government whose almost daily criticisms and erosion of working conditions and pay, coming on top of previous attacks on pensions, are unacceptable.

This negative approach to the profession has to stop.”

Comments(37)

atlas123 says...
11:56am Sat 8 Sep 12

Cant say that striking is going to help their negative image.....

But feel free, get on with it, lose pay help reduce the deficit and give the kids the day off.

Yawn

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rnorris says...
12:58pm Sat 8 Sep 12

Im with the teachers on this one. Enough is enough. You dont hear of Councillors or MPs having their Allowances and Salaries eroded. Mind you, they make the rules dont they......

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berushka says...
1:27pm Sat 8 Sep 12

why didn't they strike during the long summer holidays, for which they get paid? Morons, morons,morons, all raving NUTcases. they make me sick

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hazdbfs says...
5:27pm Sat 8 Sep 12

Berushka....because a strike is meant to cause maximum disruption, otherwise it isn't effective?? So how would striking in the holidays help?

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berushka says...
6:57pm Sat 8 Sep 12

then the morons would lose their long holidays, and hopefully the large pay days that go with them. Striking in term time hurts only the children they are supposed to teach and help grow, but of course they don't care about the children, they are undedicated money grabbers. Morons

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aardwolf says...
7:08pm Sat 8 Sep 12

of the 27% who could be bothered to vote only 80% of those voted for strike action. Not exactly a convincing display of anger at losing anything. More left wing trouble making

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atlas123 says...
7:57pm Sat 8 Sep 12

Aardwolf

Therein lies another problem, there should be a law making it only a "legal" strike if 51% or more of the membership vote to strike.


And Morris

I'm all for councilors, politicians etc having a pay and conditions downgrade too! Id go as far as to say im all for all public sector staff having a pay and pensions cut on a 0.5% 1% 2% 4% 8% 12% scale through the salary range.

As far as local authorities go it just takes one to have the balls to do it and the rest will follow. Thus making a mockery of the idea that senior staff will leave. They have a skill-set that is only relevant to the public sector and would rapidly drown in the private sector, they know it and thus would pretty much stay. Can you imagine Sean Harriss in the private sector?

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underwater says...
9:26pm Sat 8 Sep 12

More left wing nonsense encouraged by the trade unions as usual. I am allways hearing how hard working and dedicated teachers are,so what is going on strike going to teach the children other than if things are not going your way, you throw your dummy out of the pram and sulk. Come on, long holidays, short working hours,early retirement age and a good pension what more do you want. You should all count your blessings that you have a job,plenty wish they had, especially with an inflation proof pension thrown in.Get on with your jobs and stop moaning.

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gbrabs says...
9:59pm Sat 8 Sep 12

berushka wrote:
then the morons would lose their long holidays, and hopefully the large pay days that go with them. Striking in term time hurts only the children they are supposed to teach and help grow, but of course they don't care about the children, they are undedicated money grabbers. Morons
Yet again, you from the Czech Republic! What on earth is your interest in this matter and also in the unfortunate girl from the tanning studio? You previously gave us the impression that you live in some kind of utopia out there in never never land and truly hate us common folk. You take great pleasure in deriding Bolton and it's inhabitants. What are your reasons? Or are you just bored? Homesick? Please enlighten us.

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berushka says...
8:06am Sun 9 Sep 12

gbrabs wrote:
berushka wrote:
then the morons would lose their long holidays, and hopefully the large pay days that go with them. Striking in term time hurts only the children they are supposed to teach and help grow, but of course they don't care about the children, they are undedicated money grabbers. Morons
Yet again, you from the Czech Republic! What on earth is your interest in this matter and also in the unfortunate girl from the tanning studio? You previously gave us the impression that you live in some kind of utopia out there in never never land and truly hate us common folk. You take great pleasure in deriding Bolton and it's inhabitants. What are your reasons? Or are you just bored? Homesick? Please enlighten us.
My interest is that I was born and grew up in Bolton and having watched the town slide deeper and deeper into the dump it is now makes me sad. The teachers' strike is just another reason why Bolton has become a sorry place to live, with left wing morons running the town and left wing morons disrupting daily life ad hoc. the story about the girl in the tanning salon is another example; we hear far too much about inadequate families, stealing of children's' bikes, mobile phones, house fires, children injured, and they are all from the same sort of people living in the same area of town. The BN loves to blow up a non-story to make headlines, yet it isn't news, and the decent people of Bolton are getting sick of reading this rubbish. One would think that Breightmet, Daubhill and Tonge Moore are the only places where people live. No, these are the places where most of the sob stories come from, and that is one of the main reasons Bolton has lost its sparkle. I do live in a place that many would consider to be paradise, if compared to the miserable existence the BN gives of living in Bolton. I have a strong affection for my town of birth, and I regret to see it decline in such a way. So that is my reason for interest, and bye the way, what business is it of yours anyway,gbgrabs? You have your opinion, I have mine.

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LS says...
10:38am Sun 9 Sep 12

It's easy to sit in judgement and be critical of people when you don't do the job isn't it? Long holidays and short hours? Ah, that's why my son leaves for work at 07.30 and doesn't get home till 18.00 most days during term time. That's why he's still at work till 22.00 several times a year for parents evenings. That's why he's there even later than 22.00 when the school has a production. That's why he's at work twice a day during holidays and at weekends when as part of his students studies there are live animals and plants to "take care of". That's why he gets called out in the middle of the night,as a key holder, when some robbing scrote breaks into school. But let's not forget the 3 years he spent at university doing a degree, so instead of slagging teachers off, if you are so envious of all their "perks" why don't you just go away and train to be one!!

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lindlandl says...
11:26am Sun 9 Sep 12

At least there is some good news... Berushka has left Bolton, but sadly still remains one of the most negative influences gracing the Bolton News. Maybe Berushka has a point though. I expect it must be difficult to live with the fact (by the sound of Berushka's comments) that in her case, her teachers didn't seem to do a particularly good job in teaching her or helping her to 'grow'. Still, they can only work with what they're given!

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LS says...
11:45am Sun 9 Sep 12

lindlandl wrote:
At least there is some good news... Berushka has left Bolton, but sadly still remains one of the most negative influences gracing the Bolton News. Maybe Berushka has a point though. I expect it must be difficult to live with the fact (by the sound of Berushka's comments) that in her case, her teachers didn't seem to do a particularly good job in teaching her or helping her to 'grow'. Still, they can only work with what they're given!
Indeed!!! But you can bet your sweet **** Berushka will be back when the "shine" wears off life in the Czech Republic............
......you know, when she needs the services of another set of public sector workers, the NHS lol!!!

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macauley says...
11:47am Sun 9 Sep 12

thinking of going on strke is a gisgrace,you chose your job its obvious you do not care about the kids you are so called teaching.

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atlas123 says...
11:57am Sun 9 Sep 12

" that's why my son leaves for work at 07.30 and doesn't get home till 18.00 most days during term time"


So do I, Well more out at 6am and back a little after 5pm.. I have a 30min commute...


" That's why he's still at work till 22.00 several times a year for parents evenings."

Me too, Surely this is part of the Terms and conditions and forms part of the working hours.... When i was at school PT Evenings were twice a year. Im sure i get retained at work more than twice a year!

"That's why he's at work twice a day during holidays and at weekends when as part of his students studies there are live animals and plants to "take care of". "

Bring the animals home? Give them to parents to take care of?

"That's why he gets called out in the middle of the night,as a key holder, when some robbing scrote breaks into school."

His choice surely? Bolton Council have security response that hold keys for the vast majority of schools etc and respond to alarms and other such requests.


"But let's not forget the 3 years he spent at university doing a degree, so instead of slagging teachers off"

Whoopy do... My neighbour is an engineer, (he spent 4 years at uni if we are willy waving) he has spent this morning washing the mud off his survey kit and sorting his car out for the week ahead. He will be out at 6am tommorrow and back at Thurdsay at 6pm working on site whatever the wearther, then back in the office at 8am Friday.

Does he get the massive amount of holidays that teachers get....
Do I?
Does he get the £30k a year that a 5yr exp teacher gets....
Do I?

Just like police officers and firefighters a few years ago, and LA workers now i believe teachers get a good remuneration package that is Superior to similarly educated people in the private sector with similar responsibilities.

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atlas123 says...
11:57am Sun 9 Sep 12

" that's why my son leaves for work at 07.30 and doesn't get home till 18.00 most days during term time"


So do I, Well more out at 6am and back a little after 5pm.. I have a 30min commute...


" That's why he's still at work till 22.00 several times a year for parents evenings."

Me too, Surely this is part of the Terms and conditions and forms part of the working hours.... When i was at school PT Evenings were twice a year. Im sure i get retained at work more than twice a year!

"That's why he's at work twice a day during holidays and at weekends when as part of his students studies there are live animals and plants to "take care of". "

Bring the animals home? Give them to parents to take care of?

"That's why he gets called out in the middle of the night,as a key holder, when some robbing scrote breaks into school."

His choice surely? Bolton Council have security response that hold keys for the vast majority of schools etc and respond to alarms and other such requests.


"But let's not forget the 3 years he spent at university doing a degree, so instead of slagging teachers off"

Whoopy do... My neighbour is an engineer, (he spent 4 years at uni if we are willy waving) he has spent this morning washing the mud off his survey kit and sorting his car out for the week ahead. He will be out at 6am tommorrow and back at Thurdsay at 6pm working on site whatever the wearther, then back in the office at 8am Friday.

Does he get the massive amount of holidays that teachers get....
Do I?
Does he get the £30k a year that a 5yr exp teacher gets....
Do I?

Just like police officers and firefighters a few years ago, and LA workers now i believe teachers get a good remuneration package that is Superior to similarly educated people in the private sector with similar responsibilities.

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macauley says...
12:41pm Sun 9 Sep 12

who the hell do they think they are.they are warm at work withe plenty of coffee breaks.if you dont like it try some other job as there are plenty of them with worse pay and conditions out there.

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lindlandl says...
1:01pm Sun 9 Sep 12

We have the highest shortfall in teachers for a decade, seemingly quite evenly distributed throughout the primary and secondary sectors. It amounts to several thousand teachers short throughout England and Wales. Perhaps quite a surprising fact considering the economic situation, as well as a lot of people seeming to think that it's quite a cushy number, especially compared to many other professions. I agree to a certain extent with some of the sentiments, such as if you think that your pay and conditions don't match up to what you have to do for them then leave! I did and have no regrets. Trouble is a lot of other teachers are obviously doing the same thing. There is no shortage of teacher training recruits, plenty of people think it would make a fine career choice and enter the profession. However, retention is the major issue that affects children's education, not the odd strike day! The shortfall means supply staff have to be hired on an all too frequent basis, which is also extremely costlly and comes out of the school's increasingly squeezed budget. The agencies make almost as much per hour as the supply teachers and, with the best will in the world, are not as effective or as involved as permanent staff. The cuts affecting teachers are proving to be extremely counterproductive when they are causing an increasing, very expensive shortfall because it is not worth staying in the profession. I did not want to strike. I simply left. Perhaps I was much more selfish than those who would strike to make a point. I do wonder sometimes too, whether some of the people who purport to worry about the effect of a day's strike on children's education are often more angry about the inconvenience it would cause them and couldn't care less about the rights and wrongs of it as long as it doesn't affect them.

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rnorris says...
2:02pm Sun 9 Sep 12

berushka wrote:
gbrabs wrote:
berushka wrote:
then the morons would lose their long holidays, and hopefully the large pay days that go with them. Striking in term time hurts only the children they are supposed to teach and help grow, but of course they don't care about the children, they are undedicated money grabbers. Morons
Yet again, you from the Czech Republic! What on earth is your interest in this matter and also in the unfortunate girl from the tanning studio? You previously gave us the impression that you live in some kind of utopia out there in never never land and truly hate us common folk. You take great pleasure in deriding Bolton and it's inhabitants. What are your reasons? Or are you just bored? Homesick? Please enlighten us.
My interest is that I was born and grew up in Bolton and having watched the town slide deeper and deeper into the dump it is now makes me sad. The teachers' strike is just another reason why Bolton has become a sorry place to live, with left wing morons running the town and left wing morons disrupting daily life ad hoc. the story about the girl in the tanning salon is another example; we hear far too much about inadequate families, stealing of children's' bikes, mobile phones, house fires, children injured, and they are all from the same sort of people living in the same area of town. The BN loves to blow up a non-story to make headlines, yet it isn't news, and the decent people of Bolton are getting sick of reading this rubbish. One would think that Breightmet, Daubhill and Tonge Moore are the only places where people live. No, these are the places where most of the sob stories come from, and that is one of the main reasons Bolton has lost its sparkle. I do live in a place that many would consider to be paradise, if compared to the miserable existence the BN gives of living in Bolton. I have a strong affection for my town of birth, and I regret to see it decline in such a way. So that is my reason for interest, and bye the way, what business is it of yours anyway,gbgrabs? You have your opinion, I have mine.
Think Moron is her favourite word.

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LS says...
4:06pm Sun 9 Sep 12

Wooooooopy dooooo to you too atlas123!!! 30k a year? Guess he'd like that if he got it! Seems like sour grapes to me, so why don't you trot off and do your traning if you think it's such a cushy number? As far as I'm concerned, good for the teachers, go for it guys, pension rights need fighting for, and as a public sector worker myself I agree whole heartedly with your day/days of action.

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atlas123 says...
4:45pm Sun 9 Sep 12

Well he must be under 5yrs of experience then


According to the TES

Outside of London teacher payscale is
Years £ P/A
1 21,588
2 23,295
3 25,168
4 27,104
5 29,240
6 31,552

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atlas123 says...
4:51pm Sun 9 Sep 12

If i had my time again i certainly would consider it....


Now to put the cat amongst the pigeons

As a public sector worker myself (pay frozen since2009) I DISAGREE with the day of action. For my level of education and what my job entails my salary of around £24k PA is more than good enough. Allows me to have a decent standard of living, pay the mortgage, run a car, enjoy a holiday each year, pay into a pension (both LA and and make AVCs) and have a couple of hundred quid a month left over.

Personally I would be happy to see a further 3yr pay freeze on my salary and across the public sector.

The reason i say 3yrs is because that if far enough, in 3yrs if inflation has remained under 5% PA then a further 2yrs would be acceptable.

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berushka says...
4:55pm Sun 9 Sep 12

LS wrote:
lindlandl wrote:
At least there is some good news... Berushka has left Bolton, but sadly still remains one of the most negative influences gracing the Bolton News. Maybe Berushka has a point though. I expect it must be difficult to live with the fact (by the sound of Berushka's comments) that in her case, her teachers didn't seem to do a particularly good job in teaching her or helping her to 'grow'. Still, they can only work with what they're given!
Indeed!!! But you can bet your sweet **** Berushka will be back when the "shine" wears off life in the Czech Republic............

......you know, when she needs the services of another set of public sector workers, the NHS lol!!!
sorry to disappoint both of you, but my teachers, of the old school type who cared about their students, were some of the greatest, kindest, intelligent and honest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Even when I was seriously ill in hospital, they came to my bedside to tutor me in preparation for my exams, resulting in 97% in maths, and similar in English lit and lang and history. These results led to a successful university degree course, resulting in a masters then my PhD. So I regret to upset your thinking, but my education was of the highest standard. And further more, after almost twenty years of living here, there is no way on earth I would return to living in Bolton, and I am not surprised that so many contributors to these pages also live abroad; you should try it someday.

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lindlandl says...
6:04pm Sun 9 Sep 12

Berushka, I did not comment on your academic qualifications, I was commenting on your rude, arrogant generalisations which someone of your alleged intelligence should know better than to make. If you thought so highly of your teachers why are you labelling teachers as morons? (it seems to be your favourite, overused word which also shows a lack of imagination) Your comments sound like angry rants and I think you are, perhaps, naive to think that any local rag is going to do anything other than create misleading stories because it's easier and gets a stronger reaction than if they bothered to spend the time to write informative, interesting, newsworthy stories. 

News flash! You are not the only person to have an excellent academic education and I have lived abroad for many years in several different countries and cultures and in some breathtakingly beautiful places. I now live in Bolton and have raised my family there and have been no more or less happy than in any other location. A place is what you make it. All places have their problems, but one less angry, arrogant, sneering person living here is fine by me. I suggest that if it upsets you so much do something about it like some of us here are trying to do or stop upsetting yourself by ranting about all those inferior 'morons' back in Bolton and get on with your superior flawless life in Utopia. 

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berushka says...
9:55am Mon 10 Sep 12

lindlandl wrote:
Berushka, I did not comment on your academic qualifications, I was commenting on your rude, arrogant generalisations which someone of your alleged intelligence should know better than to make. If you thought so highly of your teachers why are you labelling teachers as morons? (it seems to be your favourite, overused word which also shows a lack of imagination) Your comments sound like angry rants and I think you are, perhaps, naive to think that any local rag is going to do anything other than create misleading stories because it's easier and gets a stronger reaction than if they bothered to spend the time to write informative, interesting, newsworthy stories. 

News flash! You are not the only person to have an excellent academic education and I have lived abroad for many years in several different countries and cultures and in some breathtakingly beautiful places. I now live in Bolton and have raised my family there and have been no more or less happy than in any other location. A place is what you make it. All places have their problems, but one less angry, arrogant, sneering person living here is fine by me. I suggest that if it upsets you so much do something about it like some of us here are trying to do or stop upsetting yourself by ranting about all those inferior 'morons' back in Bolton and get on with your superior flawless life in Utopia. 
why do you consider my comments rude or arrogant? I am simply stating what I, and many others, believe. I said that my teachers were excellent, but that was in a day when standards mattered, parents did all they could to ensure a good education for their children, children had respect for elders and property, and benefit scroungers were in the minority. It is a far different story today.
If you think all the stories printed in these pages are true, or an accurate telling of the whole story and not as the reporter would have us believe, then I regret it appears you are the naive one, not I. I use the term 'moron' as it fits precisely the people to whom I am referring. If you don't like this word, then there are many others aptly descriptive, but one must avoid using obscenities. And finally, my dear high horse person with the perfect life in Bolton, I respond to posts when I see that the same old rubbish is being spouted by the same old boring, no-life losers who cannot escape from their dreary lives.

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lindlandl says...
12:52pm Mon 10 Sep 12

Berushka, it is not I who am on a high horse, but I and many other parents and teachers who live in Bolton are rightly insulted by your sweeping, nasty generalisations. I am very focused on my children's education and was an extremely caring, diligent teacher until I left the profession a couple of years ago. I have polite, well brought up, intelligent children who are doing extremely well at school and receiving an education just as good as yours was, with the likelihood of similar academic outcomes to you and their parents. I do not understand why you think that Bolton, in particular, has declined so much since you lived here, but I'm sure you are much more qualified than I to say being as you, apparently, left more than 20 years ago. Not sure whether you've caught on to this bit the whole country is in decline. I could list many things about Bolton that have improved since I came to live here almost 20 years ago. There have always been a minority of deadlegs in every town throughout the country. What figures do you have to compare it with anywhere else? Exactly the same areas had a rotten reputation when I came here as they do now and so it is in every town throughout the land. Fortunately for me, my own life is not affected by this, but neither do I feel the need to vent my spleen about issues that have nothing to do with teachers' strike action, which I am paying my taxes toward and you are not, though according to your logic maybe teachers should be paid more in Bolton as, according to you,they obviously have to deal daily with 'no life losers' and parents who don't care which surely makes their job so much harder.

You should have taken more time to read my comments about the local press as you have totally misunderstood what I said about it. I did not say I had a perfect life either, far from it. Infact I said that I was no more or less happy in Bolton than anywhere else. It IS arrogant of you to presume that everyone commenting on these pages are 'no life losers' because they don't have a PHD and live abroad. It is downright silly of you to think that all teachers and parentswere wonderful and caring when you went to school and none are now. Get a grip.

I think you need to calm down and rein in your vitriole. However deeply felt and for whatever reason, being nasty, rude and insulting does not achieve anything. It is purely destructive.

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berushka says...
1:24pm Mon 10 Sep 12

linlandl, have you finished? I suggest you go and take a lie down love, you obviously need to relax after writing all that codswallop.

Although I left Bowton twenty years ago, roughly at the same time as you arrived, I lived there previously for forty years, so I know twice as much about it as you do! Eeh, wen I were a lad, walks to Barra Bridge wi a bottle of water, no coke for us poorens, playing kick out t'ball, no ipods, pc's themdays, and wen we got us a telly, a colour un at that, arf t'street came to watch wi us. Used to luv playing cowies and indjuns with friends, girls an boys until it were time to go in for t'tea. Homework done, maybe arf an hour telly and then baff and bed.
You know nowt about Bolton! And for your information, during the twenty years prior to my leaving I paid over 45,000 pounds in National Insurance alone, so do not insult me by saying I pay nothing; my money is now being used to pay the scroungers and ovep[aid and under worked public sector layabouts.
Now talking to you is getting rather boring, so I will leave you to go back to your ladybridge semi and plan the next world conference.

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lindlandl says...
3:06pm Mon 10 Sep 12

So your nastiness is derived from boredom then? Nice to know you feel the same about all public sector workers as well as teachers, not that that's not another sweeping generalisation of yours. I suppose I could spend the rest of my life in Bolton and ask my mother all she knows about it, who was also born and bred here and I would never be as much as an authority as a superior being like you. I don't happen to live in a semi, nor in Ladybridge, but you also seem to have a problem with that too! Is there any section of the population you don't have a problem with? Is there any section you haven't arrogantly pigeon holed? I was talking about the here and now, which you are also, strangely, an expert on from 20 years ago!

What conference are you talking about? I have no idea what you are talking about. You've lost me.

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Robb49 says...
9:40pm Mon 10 Sep 12

I think some of the comments on here are uninformed and frankly ridiculous.
I'm a teacher and have been teaching for at primary school level for a few years now.

First off 'short working hours'... if only. I get into school for 7am every day and never leave before 5pm, I work through my 'break' and 45 minute lunch time, as do all the other teachers in my school. After leaving school around 5:30 I take marking, lesson planning and other work home with me and continue to work until around 10pm, when I go to bed. I also spend numerous hours on Saturdays planning.

'Massive amount of holidays'... again, I must spend only 2 weeks of my 6 weeks holidays actually on 'holiday', with training days, classroom prep etc. So before people start piping up about things they are unaware of, I suggest they do some research, speak to a teacher and see just how 'little' we do.
I could not care any more for my class, I want nothing more than great things for them and I work stupidly hard all year round to ensure every single one of them does well and achieves their best.

However, I do believe that teacher are under too much pressure, and that the conditions in schools are sliding. Particularly in relation to pensions... and those of you who have mentioned 'early retirement ages for teachers' please tell me where you've got this information from because I am totally unaware of this. Teachers tend to be forced to retire because of the demanding nature of the job it's difficult to teach beyond a certain age... this does not mean we get more pension that any other workers.

So, as previously stated, those uneducated people who have slagged off teachers for standing up for their rights need to do some research before they speak from now on. Teachers have a negative reputation with a lot of people, but these views are not well informed.

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macauley says...
10:41pm Mon 10 Sep 12

come on forget talking sticke action times are tough all round and you are not on bad pay or cnditions.dont be greedy.

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lindlandl says...
4:46pm Tue 11 Sep 12

It depends on what you mean by bad pay and conditions. They are certainly being seriously eroded. If they aren't bad and teachers are being greedy as has been voiced in these comments then why is there a shortage of teachers? Perhaps people out there should be worrying more about this, especially as school populations are increasing.

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atlas123 says...
11:42am Wed 12 Sep 12

Well said Macauley!

Rob Great little post, but does little to convince me teachers are any different from lots of other public sector workers who are not striking regarding money erosion.

I was discussing this with the elder generations of my family and got "bloody teachers one of the few professions maggie thatcher didnt sort out"

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lindlandl says...
12:38pm Wed 12 Sep 12

A quote from Education Secretary Michael Gove:

"We are training thousands of new teachers every year only for many of them to leave within a few years of becoming qualified. At the same time, there are literally hundreds of thousands who are qualified but have turned their backs on the profession."

Ask yourselves why and how you would 'sort out the teachers' in light of this?

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atlas123 says...
10:32am Thu 13 Sep 12

That's probably true of lots of professions.

Probably always will be. You can only try before you buy to a certain degree.. Perhaps all teachers should have to be teaching assistants for 2yrs before commencing training?

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lindlandl says...
1:27pm Thu 13 Sep 12

My point. was that if teachers have it so cushy, why is there such a shortage? If there was a shortage of people in all professions, surely we wouldn't have so many unemployed graduates. I did happen to work as a teaching assistant for over two years before completing my teacher training, just because I believed it would be beneficial and I really enjoyed it for the time I did it. I also completed my teacher training whilst working as an 'unqualified teacher' in school based training. This insight did not keep me in the profession nor 1000s of others and to be honest, being a Teaching Assistant was a world away from being a teacher, which you can only realise when your life becomes consumed by it if, like most teachers, you are caring and conscientious. I think your suggestion would, in reality, put off many people who, rightly or wrongly, would consider it inappropriate to work as an Assistant when they have just spent 3 or 4 years studying their specialist subject, to be followed by a year's postgraduate qualification, all whilst they are not earning a salary, or maybe earning a part-time one to keep their loans down. After all, people don't expect doctors to work as healthcare assistants before they train. Certainly your suggestion would cause less people to train and leave relatively quickly work, but it stand to reason thatvless would train in the first place.. This would only increase the shortage.

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chicco says...
11:50am Fri 14 Sep 12

What do us parents do during your hissy fit ?????

Us parents who work just as hard as you ... who also have to pay before and after school because we start work early and finish late.

You want us to use one of our holidays when it suits you ??? take away from our family holiday ...which may i add is NOT allowed during school time ...maybe you should be fined like us for taking the kids out of school ????

I love my daughters school her teachers are wonderful. Im not saying otherwise and i understand teaching is long hours .... but so is my job !!!

I hope it doesnt come down to strike again !!!!! It effects too many other people who dont deserve it.

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lindlandl says...
3:37pm Fri 14 Sep 12

chicco, I did not want to strike and I left the profession as I could only see things deteriorating. I'm glad I did, I didn't realise there were parents out there who ALSO expected teachers to provide a free 'childcare' service before and after school too. As I said before, it seems that some people do not care about the rights and wrongs of the issues, they are ONLY concerned with how it affects THEM..

It is a legal requirement for schools to have a certain number of inset days per year. There is nothing they can do about that. If you feel they are unnecessary lobby your MP and get the law changed. Your child's education may suffer as a result. One of the reasons for these days is for teachers to be updated on the latest raft of measures whatever government has decided to impose, which often seem arbitrary and in direct conflict to the last lot. These days are different in different schools as they are also often designed around the availability of external training organisations etc so have to be spread out as obviously they cannot be in all schools all at the same time! Your classroom teachers are often just as unhappy as you about the timing of inset days for many reasons, not least of which teachers are parents too and have to cope with this, just as every other parent does.

Neither is it teachers, or even schools who have decided that your children cannot take holidays in term time, though obviously it would be in their best interests not to if it could be avoided. I believe it is again a law at national government level that restricts the authorisation of term time holidays. I believe it is only illegal, possibly resulting in a fine, if absences are unauthorised ie permission has not been sought and subsequently granted by the headteacher. I also understand that headteachers have quite strict guidance about granting permission for a maximum of 10 school days per year, only if it can be ascertained that due to the nature of a parent's work a holiday during school holidays would be impossible for the family. I think concern was growing about the number of children being whipped out of school for cheaper off-peak holidays. Certainly, this would be much more damaging to the child's education than one strike day which teachers can plan around, and you should also understand that when other children take holidays it affects your child because those children often need extra individual attention to try to catch up. So again, if you think it wrong that people are fined for unauthorised absences of their children contact your MP, set up a petition, or write to Michael Gove etc and get the law changed.

If your daughter's teachers are 'wonderful', is it not a little insulting and even more surprising to accuse them of having a 'hissy fit'? It is such a shame, too, that although you think your child's teachers are 'wonderful you don't believe they have her longer term interests at heart. You also seem to ignore the FACT that there is a national shortage of teachers that is growing and is much more likely to seriously disrupt and permanently damage your child's education than a day's strike action. There is a shortage because, although enough people are training, many are leaving the profession quite quickly because it just doesn't make sense to them to stay, even more surprising considering it is regarded by some of those who don't do it as such a cushy number. Just bear in mind that if you do not support teachers now the consequences may affect you and your child much more further down the line.

You may also be interested to learn that since all the number crunching has been done, the government does not stand to save any money by eroding teachers' pension rights. I thought this could not be true, myself, but if you bear in mind that the money for teachers wages is public money, teachers close to retirement earn substantially more than those entering the profession, the extra higher wages that have to be paid to older teachers working longer, who in those extra years are re-accruing some of what has been taken away, the resulting saving is nothing. Write to the pensions secretary and ask for some answers if you don't believe me. So if you want to blame anyone I suggest you blame Dave, George etc for their actions that affect too many people who don't deserve it, when their actions don't even save any money.I believe that no-one from the government was willing to comment on this when it came out into the open, but they did not dispute the figures that were used to calculate it.

Also bear in mind that whilst you are constantly being told that we have to share the pain, just today in the same news bulletin measures to erode hard -working parents' rights in the private sector were being announced at the same time as more tax breaks for the wealthy that will cost hard-working parents like you and I dearly.

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