Stirrer Comment

STRIKING TEACHERS GIVE MATHS LESSON TO GOVERNMENT

24-04-2008

Parents and children at more than 400 schools across the West Midlands face serious disruption to their lives today as the teachers stage a one-day pay strike.  "Sir" and "Miss" are getting a predictable kicking in the media, but The Stirrer reckons they are handing out a well-timed maths lesson to the government.

Anyone getting by on £6 and hour or eking out an existence on £12,000 a year might struggle to have sympathy with other workers pulling in maybe three times as much – especially when, as in the case of teachers, they have long holidays and “easy” hours.

But it’s the kids of these low-paid wage slaves who stand to reap the greatest benefits of a properly funded education system that attracts the best and brightest graduates.

There’s no quicker and easier route out of poverty for working class youngsters than a few exam passes – and nothing helps them achieve them like good teachers.

That’s why the latest figures from the Graduate Teacher Training Registry are so alarming.

They show a year on year decline in applications in the following subjects:

English 15.1%
Biology 18.1%
French 12.0%
Mathematics 11.6%
Geography 18.7%
History 13.3%
History 18.5%

Given the common perception of teaching as a job with “easy” hours and long holidays, you have to wonder why Britain’s brainboxes aren’t queuing out of the door to sign up. The answer, of course, is that they are too clever by half.

Most of us understand that the stereotype simply isn’t true; lesson preparation, marking, and the stresses and strains of looking after 30 youngsters for hours on end making teaching an arduous – if no doubt satisfying - career

Then there’s the pay. For the third year running, the government is offering a below inflation rise. This time it’s 2.45% compared to the Retail Price Index of 3.8%.

As the NUT’s Acting General Secretary Christine Blower points out, that “can be seen in no other way than as a pay cut.”

There’s no doubt that since Labour was elected in 1997, they’ve been generous to a profession that was criminally undervalued by the previous Conservative administration.

Many teachers now pull in salaries of £30,000-£35,000, well above the average wage, but they have no need to apologise for this. They do a crucially important job of vital importance to the nation. Now the government has to make sure it retains its appeal.

That's why their sums simply don't add up; they are cutting wages and demonstrably making the career less attractive. Get out the Dunce's cap!

It’s a pity that its come to to strike action, especially as it will life harder for hundreds of thusands of moms and dads and their youngsters, but as any teacher will tell you, sometimes harsh lessons are needed to make a point.