Yesterday I attended an important meeting as the union rep for my school. The lady who normally did it is on secondment elsewhere. Legally my employers (the local authority) have to provide opportunities for reps to get together to discuss important issues affecting teachers and ultimately the effects on the children we teach. They even threw in a free lunch!! We had someone from head office who traveled a fair distance to train us.
Teachers are leaving the profession in droves. This year the number of probationers dropping out in their first year of teaching has DOUBLED throughout Scotland. The numbers of teachers deciding to retire (very) early has shot up in the last few years. There is a local authority near mine where the average length of service of teachers working in a classroom is just 5 years. There aren't enough supply teachers to cover illness. And the Scottish Government wants to know why.
Short answer is excessive workload and a salary freeze. I won't bore you with the knowledge that teachers do not just work from 9am to 3pm every day or that our salary is 25% below what it should be as we've had no/tiny increases for a long time.
So today I called a union meeting (get me!!) and we discussed some of the issues raised. And everyone is onboard to tackle our workload issues. I think it just needed someone to say I'll do it (me) then everyone else has jumped onboard.
Maybe my PRD meeting has spurred me on a bit, maybe losing a bit of weight has increased my confidence. Who knows? But I've had this song stuck in my head since yesterday!!
Go for it.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteWe'll be reading about you in the paper soon!! lol Watch out you don't get power crazy!! Good luck! x
ReplyDeleteHaha! Doubt it :-)
DeleteI agree wholewheartedly with your comments. My daughter's a secondary school teacher, 11-16 yr olds. She spends several hours on work at home, unpaid of course. She gets to school by 7.30 every day to plan and doesn't leave until 5. It's crazy to think that you all work 9-3!!
ReplyDeleteI get so tired of friends making snarky comments about only working 9 to 3
DeleteGood for you , but watch you don’t become everyone’s mouthpiece and are left in the headlights as the train comes. ( Can you hear the voice of experience there!) i was one of those early retirees on 85% of my pension and have learned to live much more simply and with much less stress. Counting down the days now, I’m sure. Ps i couldn’t comment for a few days as Google seemed to have had a hissy fit to itself.
ReplyDeleteGood advice! Still aiming to retire early myself and working on living on less money. Glad you can comment again :-)
DeleteI've had several experienced teacher friends here in the US with the same complaints and people are leaving in droves here as well. One was just informed that her program is not to be funded in the coming year and she'll need to seek another position for her final year until retirement. Good luck to you and congrats on your ninety days weight loss.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteThat's awful about your friend. I hope she finds another position or works out a way to retire a year early.