Message to the East Wichel Community from our Teachers regarding Industrial Action

East Wichel Community from our Teachers,

 

We wanted to take a moment to address the recent industrial action that have been taking place in the education sector. We understand that you may have concerns and questions about why we feel this industrial action is necessary, and we want to provide you with some context and explanation.

First and foremost, industrial action is not something that we take lightly. We are passionate about our jobs and deeply committed to providing the best education possible for all children. However, we have reached a point where we feel that we need to stand up and fight for all children across the country and for future generations.

There are a number of issues that have led us to this point.

-        The teacher recruitment and retention crisis – one in three teachers leave within the first few years of qualification

-        Teacher training targets are routinely missed - there has been a decrease in applicants to become trainee teachers for two years running

-        Woeful school funding – school staff are being asked to do more whilst school budgets are crippled by rising costs

Our children deserve so much better.

This is only possible through a serious commitment to funding schools. Our campaign is calling for investment in education, for investment in this generation of children, the generation hit so hard by the pandemic.

So those of us who have taken industrial action are shouting out: Save our schools! 

We shout it for the children; we shout it for the parents and carers; we shout it for the support staff who do so much, for so little; we shout it for all teachers, some of whom can’t join us because it isn’t financially feasible to take a single day unpaid with the current cost of living crisis. 

We have not sat idly whilst taking industrial action, we have: 

- Written letters to MPs 

- Held a pickett line 

- Marched in Swindon 

- Marched in Bristol 

- Marched in London, with 50,000 other teachers from across the country

We want you to know that we are not taking industrial action because we want to inconvenience you or your children. We are taking industrial action because we believe that it is necessary in order to draw attention to these issues and to advocate for better educational opportunities for all children and better working conditions. We stand with all public sector workers who were not so long ago, lauded for being key workers.

We hope that you will continue to support us in our efforts and understand that our industrial action is not against the community. It is about standing up for our profession and advocating for the resources and support that we need to provide the best possible education for your children, for all children. 

Save our schools! 

Love

The East Wichel Teachers