|
|
|
10 November
Fair Pay Campaign For Teachers Continues
Winter Strike Avoided But Fair Pay Campaign For Teachers Continues.
by SoftwareGuru
posted Monday 10th November 2008 15:19 GMT
The second proposed all-out strike action of the year may have been avoided last week but the 'Fair Pay For Teachers' campaign has already chalked up the support of over 100 MPs.
Back in April, the teachers' strike sent out a clear signal not to accept the "boom and bust" pattern of public sector pay.
It's one thing to ask people to tighten their belts during tough economic times. It's another to do so in the face of rising inflation, low teacher recruitment, retention and morale.
Failure to invest in teachers' pay will have far reaching consequences for the economy in the long-term. A lack of talented teachers who pursue more profitable careers elsewhere will be sorely missed by the next generation of pupils.
|
|
Where's the incentive to teach?
| |
Bold Thinking
It is often true that people avoid taking action against the unthinkable until it is too late.
Species can become extinct, climate change can occur, the world's entire economic system can be plunged into chaos because as a race, too often we wait until the damage is done before tackling the problem.
How much damage has to be done to education standards, innovation and invention before the root causes become apparent?
If teachers are indeed underpaid, it is not surprising that 'shallow learning' as described in the previous blog post has become the norm. What incentive is there to go beyond the culture of instant? A flawed system that measures the value of a collection of pupils' skills and ideas in a league table of results as if knowledge was a sport.
At the frontlines, it is the teacher who is faced with the challenge of instilling the desire to embrace deeper learning into pupils.
|
What Lies Ahead...
Everyone it seems is feeling the economic pinch.
University and college lecturers are now also calling for a pay increase of 8% or inflation plus 5%, as reported today in The Guardian.
With a tough budget on the horizon, the issue of teachers' pay and public sector pay in general will most definitely come under intense scrutiny.
Over the last ten years, was Gordon Brown correct in his policy of paying off the national debt? He now stands accused of leaving the "cupboard bare" by Conservatives who claim that proposing unfunded tax cuts would be irresponsible and merely "pass the debt onto the next generation".
At least there's always (Rory) Bremner, Bird and Fortune who offer a satirical look at the global financial system and our current predicament.
'Silly Money' runs on Channel 4 and can be streamed from their site.
Click here to browse our AntiVirus software. |
|
Posted by
admin
at
17:17
|
|
Latest developments, facts and opinions on the UK's education industry.