Teachers on strike yet again

[Bazj]

I taught in a school in Liverpool for 2 years, I packed in teaching and now work in a call centre in Runcorn. I doubt that anyone on this forum would swap the job they have now for that of a teacher if they had spent 1 week in that school as a trial. I was subject to abuse every day I was there. I attempted to teach kids who spent the whole day texting to their mates. I attended parents evenings from 7pm -9pm when only half a dozen parents would bother to turn up, but make any attempt to discipline their child and the parents would be round at the school the very next day threatening to report you to the authorities. Double the pay of a teacher and I still wouldn't go back I would sooner pack shelves in Tesco.

 

My sister taught at the old Halewood Grange Comp many years ago.... she was subject to the same abuse and torment even then... it isn't a new thing Primedius....

 

It is the parents and the system that is to blame as well as the kids; but the kids are a product of the society we all create. Until proper corrective discipline is restored in the classroom, things will never change. Teachers can moan as much as they want about their lot but nothing will change.... When the likes of the Kings School try and form a school with proper discipline; the council and teachers go mental. I have worked in many schools in the past as I have said and by far the best discipline and respect manifested itself in the likes of Runnymeade St Edwards in Liverpool; a private school - free from the rigors of political correctness and softies.... maybe a lesson to be learned?

 

What I do find remarkable however is the fact that teachers in general will spend all those years at college/university to get themselves the qualifications to go and teach in these schools and the; knowing what teaching is like (you all do placements and such like) they continue to go into the profession.... it can't be all bad

[wolfie]

Found this and thought it may be of interest ......... to some.

 

"I met up with an old friend last night in Leek for a pint. He teaches in a primary school in the West Midlands and has being teaching for 25 years in the same school. He yearns for the day that he can retire as teaching is having an impact on his mental health. A few years ago he broke down in the classroom and was off work with depression. Recently the school failed its Ofsted and fear that his mental well being is in decline re surfaced. He told me about the failings of the Head at his school who has allowed things to slide. It seems one of the factors in the failing was the toxic reports that the parents gave on the head. He tells me of the impossible demands of the parents who are quick to criticise but slow to offer any support themselves either to their off spring or generally to the school. Over the years the social composition of the school has changed with the middle class element voting with their feet. The school draws from a large council estate. The kids the boys especially spend much of their free time on computers, sometimes several hours into late in the night and arrive dog tired at school. By 10 am many of them have their heads down on the desk, as they are exhausted. He gave the class of 31 an exercise on South Africa and only three had bothered to do it. The range of abilities of the kids is also very wide ranging from kids who can give all the Prime Numbers up to 100 and others who do not know what the next number after 99 is. Disruption is an increasing problem in the school although not in his class. He is the only male in the school “apart from the rabbit in class 2″. His colleagues can only talk about teaching and the X Factor. He increasingly finds them and the job a chore. Then of course there is Ofsted, which has increased its failure rate from 3% to 10% so that more schools fall into the net. He is scathing about Ofsted and on a previous visit characterised the inspectorate as ” as middle class, middle aged women from Herefordshire” who knowledge of the problems of a Black Country school in a social priority area are sketchy at least.

I have another friend who I have also known since the 70s. She teaches in a High School in the City, which is in special measures. Again it is in a troubled area of the City. She works something like 70 to 80 hours a week. She seems to have no time of her own. Work pressure is crushing and again her health is affected. The Head Teacher piles more and more work on her and her life is spent in writing reports often at very short notice.

A third friend teaches at a FE College. He has worked their since the 80s and again is finding the increasing demands of his job testing. The manager who has never taught and has come from industry is a bully and there have been arguments and threats. There are minor victories when he informed the manager of spelling and grammatical mistakes in one of the frequent missives from the manager.

If these accounts are typical of the experience of teaching in the opening years of the 21st Century then who would want to teach?

I am a qualified teacher and I did teach again in 2005 in a local FE College. I had been some years out of the game but I was shocked by a number of things that I witnessed. It seemed that the A level students I was teaching German History to seemed to lack any initiative or drive. What surprised me was that some of them were destined to go to some prestigious Universities like Bristol, Durham and Leeds. I set them an exercise on the domestic and foreign policy of Kaiser Wilhelm. I gave them the website, lists of source material, extracts from books and other information that would help them each to give 5-minute presentations on subjects like Wilhelmite expansion in Africa. No one did the exercise although I believed that the ability to present information would hold him or her in good stead throughout their working lives. Anyway no one did it. Again in writing reports I was told to eschew the truth and write only positive things about the students even though I wanted to write words like ” lazy” and “oaf” in the reports. I feared that we were producing students who were incapable of independent thought or action. Friends who work in Higher Education confirm the lamentable state of students who arrive at Universities. Maths students who don’t know what “factorise” means, etc.

Last year the NUT produced a report on the mental health of teachers. It catalogued the increasing workload being placed on teachers. Half of teachers were considering leaving the profession citing work demands, lack of support and poor pupil behaviour as being factors. The HSE also found that Teaching was one of the most stressful occupations.

Unmanageable workload, violence, excessive monitoring, disruptive pupils, constant change and workplace bullying were common factors which is leading to a haemorrhaging of teachers from the profession and for those who remain an increased likelihood of mental harm as experienced by my friend.

With another burst of reform promised by the Government it looks like we will be in for a bumpy ride."

[Bazj]

Wolfie.... it makes for interesting reading I will give you that; but stress at work and even for teachers is nothing new. We had a teacher who had a breakdown at the Grammar School over 30 years ago.... she was off for ages with it. Life in general is stressful these days; gone are the days of the easy ride and the nice people and the like.

 

Stress is everywhere these days it seems and it is always a good excuse for time off (or so it seems to me) and especially in the public sector where full pay is pretty much guaranteed with few questions asked..... try getting time off for stress if you are a bricklayer or a bus driver; just aint happening mate!

 

From the last paragraph I would say that the first thing to do is to bring back streaming and get the kids who don't want to work hard out of the classrooms that have kids who do. I've said before that the problems all seem to have started when the trendy ideas of the no competition and everyone is a winner nonsense came in. We need to push the bright kids and give them the chance to excel and succeed... they are the future generations we should be nurturing; not the thousands of kids who go to university to do a degree in origami..... we are developing a future generation of average kids with no one capable of taking the lead

[observer]

You have to laugh at the machinations of Gov theses days; with the idea of re-tooling ex-military personel as teachers; to provide the little cherubs with an Alpha-male role model that they can respect; in the probable absence of an Alpha-male at home. But what happens if the out of control, spoiled brat plays up in class? Can the ex-SAS trooper give the naughty youngster a quick lesson in unarmed combat or even shout down their ear hole?! Kids will always test boundaries, and without barriers in the form of corporal sanctions, there's no dicipline and no control; and one unruly kid can ruin it for the rest.

[sadako]

Yes Obs. 100 percent.

[algy]

This teachers strike is a sham, I have been talking to someone who's son is a teacher somewhere in the Manchester area, they have eighteen teaching staff in the school who are in two separate unions, ten are out on strike while eight are working and obviously keeping the school open and running, what a shambles of industrial action!.

[asperity]

A lot of my teachers were ex armed forces (including a couple of tank commanders). They certainly stood for no nonsense!

[Bazj]

Another part of the problem in my eyes is the amount of female teachers that there are in the primary system.... we deal with a school in Salford where there are no male teachers, the head and deputy are both female as are the kitchen staff, teaching assistants and even the caretaker is female. The area where the school sits is in a run down area with many single mum families... so much so that they have a male mentor at the school now to provide them with some adult male interaction

 

No doubt the job of a primary teacher is ideal for a woman as they are given the holidays and maternity leave etc. which helps when bringing up kids of their own..

 

And as an aside to Algys post, some schools are open say for years 5,6 and 9 but not the others and some schools are open for staff who are non-union members to come in but not for the kids of the teachers who aren't striking!!.... Crazy!

[wolfie]

This teachers strike is a sham, I have been talking to someone who's son is a teacher somewhere in the Manchester area, they have eighteen teaching staff in the school who are in two separate unions, ten are out on strike while eight are working and obviously keeping the school open and running, what a shambles of industrial action!.

It's not till tomorrow.(Thursday)

[Dizzy]

I presumed what Algy was saying is that's what will be happening tomorrow.  I'd imagine that the teachers have already said who will actually be in and who wont be so the school can make the necessary arrangements if need be.

 

Anyone know if any local colleges will be affected by the strike before my son wastes his time going in then being sent home again.  He hasn't been in this week so far so we have no idea before anyone asks.......

[algy]

Dizz & Co, irrespective of how I phrased it, in my opinion its still a shambles!.

[P J]

You know when someone's argument is wearing very thin, they wheel out the alter egos to back themselves up.   You know who you are, well actually you probably don't

[Dizzy]

Is it me ?   

[wolfie]

Imagine how awful it must be to suffer from both paranoia and multiple personality disorder.
You'd never be able to trust yourself.

[algy]

Imagine how awful it must be to suffer from both paranoia and multiple personality disorder.

You'd never be able to trust yourself.

:lol:

[Dizzy]

     Wolfie

[Evil Sid]

Well not long back from the school run this morning. (all of the children on the bus I am currently working on are at school) The main difference that both me and the driver noticed was the lack of traffic. We normally get to the school at around ten to nine in the morning after starting with the first pick up at eight. This morning we started at eight and even taking the scenic route to school managed to get there for half past. Tomorrow we plan to start a bit later. Despite being Warrington walking day the school we travel to is not having the day off so business as usual as far as I am concerned. Did note a distinct lack of pickets at the school even though some of the teachers were on strike.

 

Still on the bright side maybe they are not having much of an impact on management but they are having an impact on the environment due to the decrease in cars taking the "little darlings" to school.

[Dizzy]

Agreed Evils and I noticed the traffic was a lot quieter this morning too.  It only took me 20 mins to get from Stockton Heath to near Decathlon and back.  Marvelous  

 

I was surprised  to read just how many schools are actually closed though in Warrington.  30 completely closed and 25 partially closed. 

 

I had no idea we had that many schools.