Can I ask why you didn't strike?
Teachers on strike
- Thread starter Dr House
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Can I ask why you didn't strike?
Soldato
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Soldato
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Erm surely we don't want people becoming teachers because it's a soft option "Job security, long holidays, good pension" as they're doing it for the wrong reasons. We want people becoming teachers because they love to teach, inspire the next generation. Heck both at school and uni my best teachers were the ones that had worked in the real world first and could draw on their real world experience.
I don't support the teachers either.
Some private companies don't provide pensions for employees. We all have different jobs to do to keep the country going. I'm sorry but the teachers need to know that the world don't revolve around them.
We're all having problems right now. The teachers need to be thankful that we ain't Greece yet.
Some private companies don't provide pensions for employees. We all have different jobs to do to keep the country going. I'm sorry but the teachers need to know that the world don't revolve around them.
We're all having problems right now. The teachers need to be thankful that we ain't Greece yet.
Soldato
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Bingo!
At our school the number of teaching assistants seemed to be exponentially increasing as I went through the years
. I'd always look at them and think "If they sacked those two teaching assistants they could employ an extra teacher instead and have the class half the size!"I don't understand what they're complaining about. They should have realised that final salary pensions are unaffordable.
My pension scheme is for every 1% I contribute, my employer contributes 1% (max 4%). That's crap compared to the public sector. To be honest, it's crap compared to most private sector employers too tbh.
My pension scheme is for every 1% I contribute, my employer contributes 1% (max 4%). That's crap compared to the public sector. To be honest, it's crap compared to most private sector employers too tbh.
That only shows a percentage of the earnings and not an actual value. If it took into account the fact that well qualified teachers would earn a fair bit more in the private sector, then I think it would look be a bit more even. I'd like to see a similar graph of public vs private physics graduates for example.
That is/was the benefit of being in the public sector - crappy pay but a good pension!
Deleted member 66701
Deleted member 66701
There's plenty of money to fund pensions at their current accrual rates, which will actually drop from 1.9% to 1.4% of GDP over the next 50 yrs.
Or have you bought into the "we're broke" lies?
Soldato
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Because I'm very new to the profession (am in my second year) and yes, I know it's going to mean I'm going to lose money in the long run, and a heck of a lot.
But my boyfriend works in the private sector and doesn't even have a pension, and even with the changes it's still a decent pension scheme to be in, IMO.
With the reforms, I'm going to lose £237k over my career (if I stay within the main pay scale. If I ever am deputy/head, I'll lose more). I will have to increase my contributions by 30% and can't retire till 68 - I can't imagine myself doing the job at that age. I'm only 24 and am falling asleep on the sofa at tea time on Friday night - an almost 70-year-old woman trying to control a class of 30 while being on feet all day? Don't think so! All to get much less out of it at the end.
But I'm not going into the pension scheme with any false promises about what I am going to get out at the end of it.
I think that people, quite rightly, are very angry about it, and it's all well and good saying that people in the private sector don't have these so-called "gold plated pensions" (which is untrue, unless you've been a head at a big school, no teacher is going to be 'rich' in retirement), but if you'd taken on a very difficult (albeit very rewarding) job, with the promise of being taken care of in your retirement, and then were told that actually, no, you're not going to get that after all, then anyone would be angry.
Having said that, and being supportive of the people who did choose to strike today, I didn't feel that strike action was something I could do. It's not the fault of the children in my class or their parents that the government are being arses.
One of the real problems in my opinion is the ridiculously top-heavy local authorities, with lots of people on stupid salaries for doing very little, and local authorities simply taking on too many staff, money for old rope. The public sector pension scheme was untenable for that reason, along with others, and it's people who are actually essential who are having to pay the price.
I certainly think there'll be more strikes - even though the government says they're still negotiating, it seems like their minds have been made up, there is no real negotiation going on.
Will I strike next time if it happens again? Can't imagine so. But I do sympathise with the people who strike.
Soldato
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Of course as I stated before it was the Tories that started the pension raid, Brown merely finished it.
http://www.rosaltmann.com/whathashappened.htm
Soldato
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Bingo!
At our school the number of teaching assistants seemed to be exponentially increasing as I went through the years
I made a prediction many years ago that Govt would start replacing teachers with classroom assistants with little or no qualifications. I am sorry to say I was right. Classroom assistants do a good job but should never replace a teacher.
With the current trend I also forsee that school Departments will consist of two or three teachers preparing lesson plans and classroom assistants delivering them.
I hope I am wrong but both New labour and the Tories are going down that road.
Soldato
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Unfortunately your pension when you retire which may now seem not too bad will decrease in real term thanks to Govt measures. This is before they do anything else. When you do get to retire it maybe at 70 or more as Govt might change the goalposts in about 20 years.
As you climb the ladder you will come to see the services provided by local authorities as valuable.
I wish you luck in your career. I am at the other end and teaching after time in industry. Education has its rewards but they are less likely to be a financial incentive to teach in the future.
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Soldato
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It's as if someone deliberately made a lot of wasteful jobs. Maybe to fudge the unemployment figures or something. Wonder if they had a similar idea and got more people to go to university to also fudge the unemployment figures. Hmm.....
Soldato
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I think you're missing the difference between public and private. Private companies are answerable to their shareholders, whereas it's you and I funding the public sector.
Do you think it is fair to spend that much on pensions? Remembering that taxation raises around 40% of GDP in total, so this is the limit of government spending unless you go for the Brown fiscal diarrhea plan, is it fair that we spend 3.5% of government income on the small number of former public sector employees claiming their pension each year?
That's not what I meant and you know it. Well done for totally misconstruing my point. If you remove the perk (decent pension) which balances out the (comparatively) poor pay, then anyone given the choice is going to go down the private sector route because they will earn more and have a similar pension potential. That will result in a drought of teachers and our education system will suffer.
I don't buy any of this 'average' teacher's pay is better than private sector either. Maybe if you take into account private-sector workers on the minimum wage but not if you conducted a proper like-for-like comparison based on qualifications (degree) etc.
Exactly.
I know teachers think the world revolves around them but the strike isn't just about teaching staff, as shocking as that may be to some. Many of those workers could also earn far more if they weren't working in the public sector, I took a 20% pay cut to move to the public sector mostly for job security and a better pension scheme, both of which no longer exist if the reforms go through.