SPOTLIGHT
Speaking to Mrs X* (a friend who is a parent of 3 children under
16) about the strikes, her support was clear, but I felt her frustration
and pain. Childcare costs are astronomical. How will she manage
this month? What about her son’s exams? Why won’t the SEB
engage properly with pay deals if that’s the only way this whole
mess is going to get sorted?
I didn’t have all the answers to give her. Unfortunately, pay is a
big part of ‘this whole mess’. And it’s great that it looks like after a
month of action, there might finally be a deal on the table that is
agreed upon by all. “When compared to average earnings, which
have consistently exceeded inflation since 2008, teachers’ and
lecturers’ pay will be more than 15% behind by 2020” explained
Chris Keates, NASUWT General Secretary. So, all this comes at the
end of what was a 10-year real terms pay cut, when school budgets
were being slashed and teachers were stretched to their last resource
and emotional breaking point. The strikes had to happen for things
to get better, whether the teachers wanted to do them or not.
Of course, when you look purely at numbers, a teacher’s wage
seems a good deal (apart from an £8000 pay cut for Newly
Qualified Teachers). But many earn less than minimum wage by
the time you add in those 60+ hours a week and money out their
own pocket, when their rents, bills and life costs are going up too,
just like everyone else’s.
In any job, when your job role changes, and you work longer
hours and take on more and more responsibility, you ask for
a new job title and pay rise to match the commitment you’re
giving. Teachers nowadays perform so many roles. They give up
lunchtimes, after school and Saturday mornings for clubs (often
unpaid) because they want to enrich the school. But there is only
so far goodwill and expectations will take a person. Teachers don’t
‘just’ educate. They are marriage and family counsellors, they work
with so many different agencies such as Social Services and doctors,
police and charities, to support families. They are expected to be
listeners, researchers and problem solvers for all aspects of life that
might affect the children they teach and their families.
The paperwork and general workloads are ever increasing,
teacher mental health has never been lower, and in a recent study,
nearly 45% of teachers leave within 5 years. Teacher retention and
turnover is huge. You have to ask yourself why? What environment
is being created that makes so many leave or turn to strike action?
And what is that environment doing for the children? Wouldn’t you
want better for your child’s education?
The strikes were an unpleasant situation, and regardless of how
I personally feel about the strikes, having been in this system for
10 years, I still love to teach. And at the end of the day, when your
child’s teacher goes home after a 12 hour day with no lunch or toilet
break, with a stack of marking to do when they should be spending
time with their own family, they are also thinking of that child who
achieved something amazing that day, the cuddle they received that
put a smile on their face, the ‘wow!’ exam score they helped attain,
and they are going to keep doing it all over again. Because they love
it too.
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