Teachers are striking - and it’s about time.
By Claire Wilsher
Teachers haven’t been on strike since 2008. But on February 1st 2023, more than half of schools (51.7%) in England closed, at least in part. And, across many cities, there has been a second round of strikes to bookend the month.
Marches happened nationally, with people - teachers and allies - standing up for their rights all across the country. It was huge; it is huge. The power at the protests was electrifying. The anger, the frustration and the hope was palpable.
With the first major strike behind us, now is when the real work starts.
One day of strike action was a minor inconvenience. The kids in my class were buzzing to be honest! One child in my class was so excited to go to the cinema that she got worried when we said we were still opening the doors for vulnerable children. It will inevitably have been a slightly different picture for parents, but one day is one day.
Following the first strike, the government is banking on the public’s frustration and anger to grow. They want everyone to be annoyed at us: at teachers, at nurses, at rail workers, at postal workers. If that happens and the public turns on us, the government wins.
Striking is never a decision that’s taken lightly. When your job revolves around looking after small humans, even a day of not doing that feels huge. And losing 4 days pay during a cost of living crisis is hard to stomach. But ⅓ of teachers are leaving the profession in their first 5 years: something is really broken.
What is causing the teachers’ strike?
Lots of people will say that the teachers’ strike is about pay - in part, it is. Teachers have lost 23% in real terms since 2010, and support staff have taken a 27% hit over the same period. People in full-time state employment are using food banks and being forced to move back into family homes after not being able to afford rent and bills.
We’re striking because the government has promised pay rises without actually funding them. Instead, our cabinet asks schools to find the money to fund pay rises from their own budgets. Already there are not enough adults to support our school system. Staff are so far stretched that everyone knows the good places in school to cry. We mustn’t rob Peter to pay Paul.
A pay rise without funding is not a pay rise; it’s a way to cut school funding even further. It’s becoming abundantly clear that the Conservatives don’t care about state schools because they didn’t go to them. It’s easy to underfund, under-resource and overwhelm a system that you don’t have any emotional investment in.
School funding cuts in real terms
Funding for schools has been slashed. School spending per student fell 9% between 2009-10 and 2019-2020. Although there was an injection in spending this year, spending per pupil is still down 1-2% in real terms compared to 2009-10.
In practicality, this lack of funding looks like not enough glue sticks or equipment in a classroom. It looks like lessons derailed by misbehaviour of children who don’t have the resources they need and don’t understand why.
Underfunding is having to split classes because there is no budget for supply teachers. It’s teaching 45 pupils instead of 30. It’s not enough adults to support the children appropriately.
As a teacher, I feel torn. I’m left to spend my whole lesson working 1-to-1 with kids who may otherwise disrupt the whole class. Without support, I must simply hope and pray that the other 28 pupils somehow manage to learn something.
So yes, strikes are about pay; but they’re also about placing value on what we do as teachers. We must value the future of our children. These strikes are about making sure that any pay rise doesn’t come out of school budgets.
Fighting for the support we need to teach children well
We’re striking because the government consistently adds more hoops, more assessment, and more expectation, with no added person power. So our jobs get harder and harder and harder. Workload increases but time does not. Teachers’ time is already full, so, when faced with immovable targets, it is us who must bend. Our time, our lives and our wellbeing all take the hit.
On top of the personal sacrifices expected of teachers as standard, our social care system has been systematically underfunded and broken down. In a social care system that has no capacity, teachers become everything.
At this point in time, teaching feels a lot like failing. Because you do, all the time. I am not delivering what the children need or deserve, because I can’t. I can’t do a job that should be done by six people. I can’t be a teacher, a mental health nurse, and a social worker. Destroy the systems that did offer these services and destroy the people who have to pick up the slack.
The strain is even worse for support staff. Lower pay, less perceived value, and minimal appreciation. Teaching Assistant (TA) roles no longer seem to exist as they should, so TAs are left to pick up 1-to-1 support roles for children with the highest need. The children who we cannot support in classrooms are handed to adults who don’t get adequate training and who get paid less. Thus TAs spend all day with a child for whom just being in school can feel next to impossible. These support staff are relied on for the toughest parts of the school day, and undervalued when it matters the most.
My personal experience at the teachers’ strikes
I’ve been teaching for a year and a half. I don’t want this to be the end, but a system that treats people like this is losing staff and losing them fast. I’ve seen schools and leadership teams forced into impossible corners, unable to provide for staff or students.
Wellbeing meetings and emails that present good news are well-meaning plasters on a system that is haemorrhaging staff. Really good staff too!
We deserve better, and the kids deserve better. We’re striking because the system is broken, and so are we.
Going on strike felt like solidarity and it felt like power. It felt incredible to be part of exactly what the government is afraid of. Our power in unity is why the government is introducing new bills to crack down on public protests. It’s why secondary picketing is now illegal. And it’s why the new anti-strike legislation is designed to cut off any industrial action at the knees. Because it’s scary how much power we all really have. If we stop working, the country grinds to a halt.
My hope is that this momentum continues, and that it creates real and lasting change for the education system. I hope these widespread strikes invoke change for the public sector as a whole.
But change can only happen with public support. So lobby your local MP, talk to your mates, and prioritise education and the public sector when you vote next. Change only happens when we all stick together.
Claire is a primary school teacher in Bristol and when she’s not getting bullied by 7 year olds she likes long walks on the sand and dismantling capitalism.
Read more of Claire’s writing on her personal blog or in another political piece about how she felt when Boris left number 10.
Title image credit: Manchester Evening News
