Most media seems to have jumped on the pay bandwagon with regards to the teacher strikes. What I feel has been pushed under the rug is discussing conditions. I have been teaching for 8 years, I am a middle leader (head of department) and even if I were paid double what I am paid now, I would not stay in the profession for more than another couple of years. I would not be able to for the sake of my family and my own physical and mental health. So here is my take on the situation.

Working time

Why are teachers striking? They get paid a decent salary, don’t they? The answer would be yes, if the conditions of our job were what they are supposed to be. No teacher works 8:30 to 16:00, 39 weeks a year which are technically our contracted hours. We are expected to do so much more than just deliver our subject. We cannot fit all our planning, preparation, pastoral responsibilities and meetings into that allocated time. The vast majority of teachers work evenings, weekends and through their holidays. If teachers get paid enough and our conditions are so good, why do we have a teacher training and retention crisis?

Support

Due to the lack of funding, schools cannot employ sufficient support staff or are unable to retain these valuable people because they can earn more stacking shelves in a supermarket with less stress and hassle. Why don’t schools pay them more? There isn’t enough funding. The last teacher pay rise had to be found from existing budgets. This means less money for support staff and other vital resources. The local authorities do not pay enough in addition for the students who should have 1-to-1 teaching assistants, the funding to tackle the rise in mental health concerns is non-existent and external services are so overrun that waiting times can be up to a year. And yet, schools are expected to manage it all.

Responsibilities

This leads to the fact that teachers then have to pick up the slack, meaning not only do we have to deliver our subject to a class of 30, but we also have to support all the additional needs, which are not just learning based. We have to be psychologists and therapists, support parents in understanding the requirements for their children’s success sometimes without their support. We have to ensure that all students are making sufficient progress, despite some of the students being several years behind in their developmental age and therefore really needing 1-to-1 support.

External attitudes

In addition, the verbal abuse and poor attitudes teachers have deal with from both students and parents is appalling. The Government shows no value for the education sector, which has led to the decline of both student and parent attitudes towards the sector as well. How many parents really appreciate the fact that in a state school, for at least 6.5h a day, your child is being given the skills and knowledge to drive their future by people committed and dedicated to see your child succeed? Parents argue because their child gets a detention for not doing their homework or disrupting the class’s learning but are then surprised to see that their child is not passing in their subjects or blame it on the teacher. Furthermore, for some reason, the schools are to blame that these students don’t pass or make expected progress despite the school doing everything in their means to support all students.

What’s the solution?

There needs to be an overhaul of the whole system. While I appreciate the strikes cause disruption to learning, the Government doesn’t seem to want to listen otherwise. We cannot continue with students going into secondary school with a reading age of 7 or sometimes less. If the Government doesn’t want to pay more, then more accountability needs to be put on parents and students themselves. Perhaps privatising the whole system will enable schools to have more autonomy and actually get the funding they need? Teachers can but guide and show a good path. We cannot force students to behave like decent human beings or make an effort in their learning. These attitudes start well before a child steps into the school environment. If the Government expects us to raise children, give them morals and values, in effect be their parents, in addition to furthering their skills and subject knowledge, the funding must be improved as classroom teachers cannot continue as they are. There won’t be any teachers left soon otherwise.

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