tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633333836657746309.post3944942189709728144..comments2023-05-17T14:37:23.909+01:00Comments on The Web 2.0 Optimist: Why I'm StrikingDonna Hayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15135671687367811035noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633333836657746309.post-64867362398791237862011-06-30T18:45:07.631+01:002011-06-30T18:45:07.631+01:00Thank you both for taking the time to comment on m...Thank you both for taking the time to comment on my post. Anonymous - I've experienced both private and public sector and I feel I've explained in the post which I've had to work hardest in. I was most of the way through the Advanced Skills Teacher application before I decided to become a Head of Department instead so I feel my own performance is not at issue. If it's truly so cushy being a public sector worker why are you not queueing up to join us?Donna Hayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15135671687367811035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633333836657746309.post-51032910104622933082011-06-30T18:04:19.995+01:002011-06-30T18:04:19.995+01:00"where are the jobs going to come from for th..."where are the jobs going to come from for the next generation of teachers?" Sack the incompetents just as we do in the real World thereby raising standards.<br /><br />Look, no one likes having things taken away from them and in that respect you all have my sympathy, but this has been going on for years in my version of reality. The fact is you were promised things by previous governments that the country cannot deliver because the private sector can't afford it. You know the arguments and I've heard it said that you are not protesting against what has to be done but rather the way it has been done, which I find churlish. We have all had our expectations lowered thanks to years of economic mismanagement and now we need to bite the bullet so that the country as a whole can recover.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633333836657746309.post-70540581877568762972011-06-30T13:25:36.273+01:002011-06-30T13:25:36.273+01:00Anonymous - EVERYONE who is worth anything works h...Anonymous - EVERYONE who is worth anything works hard for everything they get and that includes teachers. <br /><br />You say that we deserve support as much as any other worker - I totally agree. However, unlike other workers, our job is going to be extremely difficult to do and is going to need much more support if we are to work to the age that the government wants us to. At the moment I climb 3 flights of stairs to get to my classroom. Do you expect me to be doing this at 68?<br />Am I really going to be an effective teacher at 68? Will I have the energy, the enthusiasm, to be the teacher that all pupils take inspiration from? I can try but I certainly doubt it. And so what can I do? Become one of the out of touch consultants that teachers so hate that come into schools and tell younger teachers how to do their job with the new fads and training, on ridiculous amounts of money for not much work? (yes, teachers know and dislike these people too). Not everyone gets to be a head of department or a member of senior management. what about normal classroom teachers who act as crowd control, teacher, counsellor, social worker, police officer? <br /><br />I totally appreciate that other pension schemes are poor and that the teacher one is still better than others, however, just because we are taking a stand and defending that which we were told we would achieve by our retirement age, does that mean that we are awful people?<br />The man on This Morning today said that through this strike we are attacking the children in our care. If this was the case we should have gone on strike prior to the public examinations however during the balloting teachers decided to wait so this would not impact on those who needed us as more than just an extended child care facility.<br /><br />A further thing to realise about retirement ages and, again, I stress that this is not only in the teaching profession, is what happens to the next generation? If teachers continue to teach for another 5 years or, by my retirement age, another 8, where are the jobs going to come from for the next generation of teachers? <br /><br />The fact is that this is a hard situation. Teachers appreciate that cuts have to be made in all areas but we have decided to stand up and fight for our pensions and this is our right. If the rest of the country has decided to lay back and accept, that is their choice. I, however, cannot afford to contribute up to another £100 a month on top of my contributions to my repayments of my student loan (yes, accrued by my choice to go to University, but do you want uneducated teachers?). I would, one day, quite like to have a deposit on a house, to be able to afford a wedding, but at the moment I struggle with rent, bills etc. (and no I am not asking for sympathy). <br /><br />Teachers have no desire to upset the apple cart as it were, but we will try as hard as possible to defend that which we feel we have achieved by the end of a, in my case, nearly 50 years in the teaching profession and that which was promised by the previous government. I'm sure that you can appreciate why teachers are so upset. If one child was given £10 pocket money a week for doing chores and was promised so by his mum, but he was then told that he could only have £5 because the boy next door only got £5, who would feel injured? And yet most people would not care and would say that its not even an issue. <br /><br />I can see both viewpoints, but as a teacher, I am on our side, as anyone would be in our position. show me a teacher than would say "well ok then."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633333836657746309.post-69540548222585018602011-06-30T11:42:21.160+01:002011-06-30T11:42:21.160+01:00GA
So your teacher wife gets perks? That must be ...GA<br /><br />So your teacher wife gets perks? That must be nice! I have to work for everything I get.<br /><br />WHy do you expect us all to put teachers on a pedestal and hold them in reverence? Like any worker teachers should be given as much support as they require to get their job done, which is no different to any other worker. Right now teachers are not giving the rest of the workforce much support by making us miss a days pay so that they can moan at having their pay & pensions brought in line with the rest of the country.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633333836657746309.post-130312113072448242011-06-30T10:10:40.810+01:002011-06-30T10:10:40.810+01:00Anonymous 9:46 - what are these "luxuries&quo...Anonymous 9:46 - what are these "luxuries"? I work in the private sector, but my wife is a teacher. She get much fewer perks than I do and works just as hard - if not more. We even pay for childcare on her days off so she has the time for marking & lesson planning.<br /><br />Surely teachers are money generating by helping to educate our future employees - which should be cause to give them as much support as possible, not criticise and de-value them. How can we expect a proper education system if we don't treat the people responsible for it properly?<br /><br />Also, I'm assuming you're happy for your children to be taught by people in their mid/late 60s? I'm not sure I'd want to be in charge of 30 teenage boy/girls Physical Education at 63GAnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8633333836657746309.post-65559773991928181962011-06-30T09:46:23.477+01:002011-06-30T09:46:23.477+01:00Perhaps if you taught economics you would realise ...Perhaps if you taught economics you would realise that the country cannot afford the overly generous pension package given to teachers by a socialist government with a union gun held to their head. <br />Stop behaving like a spoilt brat and smell the coffee – the money earning sector cannot provide the luxuries you covet so stop holding us to ransom by denying our children an education. If you don’t like it quit – you have a choice unlike a great many without work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com