The one about standing up for education
This blog post is a first for me. I usually write about the mundane aspects of life – pies, gardening, family life…. Today I want to tell you a story. A short but sad story.
Today (March 26th) NUT members across England walked out in protest at the massive changes to our pay, pension and conditions. Many strikers also cited disapproval of Gove’s other education reforms as something they were speaking out against. I was one of them. I spent a large part of my day tweeting and commenting on the strikes via news & social media. That’s not my sad story, though. Last night, I received an e mail from a friend having a hard time in school and finding that few in her school are supporting her. She finished her e mail by saying she was looking forward to going on strike today to have a day off. She’s a good teacher with lots to offer her school. But she’s been so worn down, so beaten by the system that an unpaid day of industrial action was, in her eyes, respite.
I’m sure she wasn’t the only one in that situation. What kind of system have we got when dedicated professionals end up feeling like that? More and more teachers are reaching breaking point, and getting there earlier in their careers. Will performance related pay, individual school payscales, academies and the like improve that? Of course not.
All we can do now is hope Gove has listened – or that his bosses have and will respond to the calls for him to go.