Teachers' strike this week

[beorhthelm]

what i fail to understand with the teachers is how they only ever seem to strike over pay, but never over working conditions, which do indeed seem quite extreme. last time i checked, being forced to work 7.30am - 6pm is more hours than allowed under the working time directive. why are the teachers spending so much time on administrative functions? why does it take hours to prepare and mark, why isn't a large proportion of this of loaded on to auxiliary staff, as happens in any other industry? why do we not hear similar complaints of problems from university lecturers and the private teachers.

why is it the NUT teachers stirke while not the other unions

time you sorted out your union so it represented your actual needs rather than that of itself.

 

[The Clown of Pevensey Bay]

There hasn't been a teachers' strike over pay since 1987. And teachers a) generally know what the working conditions are going to be like when they sign up; and b) are extremely committed individuals who like to do a job properly.

There has been an increase in administrative support in the past decade -- more assistants, smaller class sizes, and half a day per week in which they get out of the classroom to do planning.

And university lecturers -- a similarly underpaid bunch -- teach ADULTS and not CHILDREN. Which is why they have less contact time, different responsibilities, and arguably less work on a daily basis.

Teachers in private schools have much smaller classes, and generally higher pay.

The one weakness of the NUT's position, I reckon, is that the two other main teaching unions in England and Wales don't support the strike. The NASUWT is less keen to upset the apple cart; the ATL would cross the road at the merest smell of apples....

 

[Springal]

my ex gf is crossing the picket it appears, after I called her a dirty hippy protester! Shame, fancied another argument about a job she has been in for 2 years, yet moan[ed]s about constantly!