Teachers' Pensions and Strike Action

It looks very much like the entire teaching profession in the state sector is going to strike. All the unions, including the one for headteachers, are balloting their members to see whether they want to walk out for a day (or however long it takes). I have to say that I am personally not in favour of strike action, although I do agree that the British government is clobbering teachers in many different ways by ploughing on with their policy of cuts to public services.

Why don't I agree with strike action? I think that there are pros and cons with it and the cons outweigh the pros.

Pros:
1. People notice that you are actually quite annoyed, rather than nodding and grinning in the right places.
2. Since all the unions appear to be behind the action that shows an unusual amount of solidarity between the various parts of the profession.

Cons:
1. You lose a day's wages, which in times of economic hardship is hardly desirable.
2. It annoys the general public because they then have to look after their children instead of the state doing it.
3. It can therefore make the public unsympathetic to your cause and ultimately defeat it.
4. If a march is organised it will almost certainly be taken over by idiots who like smashing stuff up, and your cause will be tainted by their actions.

Instead of strike action, in my view, working to rule would be far more effective because it means that you take home a full pay packet, you don't annoy the general public and the general public might notice that teachers do a lot more than turn up at 8.30am and leave at 3pm, looking after their offspring in the meantime.

Working to rule would highlight the fact that teachers work a lot harder than many give them credit for as many of the extra, "outstanding" lessons are planned in a teacher's own time. The free time given as part of the timetable for planning (PPA time) is only enough to cover the curriculum at a basic level, not produce resources that make Ofsted inspectors dribble. You would also find that teachers would be less tired because they will get the opportunity to rest properly, and no-one can tell you that you're not doing your job because you are actually working the hours that you are paid for.

Just a thought...