Categories: uncategorized
Date: 24 April 2008 06:54:43
In case you hadn't noticed UCU members in Further Education colleges are on strike today, aswell as school teachers who are part of the NUT .
Further to the post earlier in the week which described the struggle I was having with myself over this one I have decided to strike and am heading off in a short while to stand on the picket line. However, I have left work to be handed out to my students, if handling it sits ok with the conscience of my non-striking colleagues.
I'm wearing the Schnews t-shirt, which I refer to as my FE t-shirt, because it says, "If you're not pissed off you're not paying attention". That sums up my attitude not towards the way the sector is / has been treated over recent years, particularly by the government. It also sums up why, whilst I don't agree with the 6% pay claim - I would prefer we push for 4 or 4.5% as the national recommendation - I have decided I am striking today.* (this refers to the UCU rather than NUT pay claim).
I have realised that the reason the strike, itself, is happening (rather than action short of a strike which most teachers would support) is the same as why we are in our current position - apathy.
Apathy is why the majority of people didn't bother to vote in the UCU strike ballot and so we a minority of less than 25% of members can get us out on strike.
Apathy is why we have allowed a steady stream of below inflation pay increases, which have eroded the cost of living and stopped good quality graduates joining the profession in the numbers which we would like.
Apathy is why accountants have been able to enforce ideas of minimum group numbers which are killing off interesting, minority subjects; the provision of evening classes in many places, leisure learning courses and small village schools.
Apathy is why we have allowed a culture to grow in which statistics get in the way of teaching and learning (because we are spending so much time checking spreadsheets that we can't do the amount of planning and preperation we would like to).
Well, today we are standing up and saying it is time to stand up against apathy. We care about the education in this country, we care about teachers and students. We care about the adults who can no longer better themselves because the fees being charged are putting self improvement out of the reach of many. We care about those teachers in some parts of the country whose jobs are in danger because of restructuring. We care about those teachers who are being subject to verbal or even physical abuse from students but feel, in our current culture, they have no way of stopping this. We care about our children who are being stopped from taking the subjects they want to at AS/ A Level because demand isn't high enough. We care about our children who have special educational needs but find getting statemented an uphill struggle. We care about our children who are suffering from stress in childhood because of the pressure of increased testing. We care about the children who are suffering because they can't get a place at over-subscribed schools. We care about those teachers who want to teach the subjects they have a passion for but are being forced to teach other subjects instead, because their subjects are minority subjects which don't meet the minimum group sizes.
We care about the union and are members not because we are a bunch of lefties. Rather we care about being part of an organisation which quietly negotiates on our behalf about the little stuff aswell as wages and changes to contract. We care about having the legal advice available if a student did make an unjust allegation. We care about having somebody to support us if a bad judgement is made by management which we might need to challenge. We care about it because whilst we may not ever need to use the services of the union we know that there will always be somebody somewhere who is not as fortunate as us, and we want the union to be there for them.
So fight back against apathy, next time you get the opportunity - use your vote. If you're not part of a union think about joining one, (it is possible to find ones who have a no strike policy). Maybe write a letter to your MP about something you feel strongly about. Whatever, it's time to join the stand against apathy.