Shameful lack of insight and understanding shown about crisis in Education
FOLLOWING THE result of the pay tribunal, set up to mediate between the teaching unions and SoG, I would like to express how angry and disappointed I am at the comments that were made by Deputy David Mahoney, who was representing P&R. Not once did he extend any understanding, whatsoever, to the financial hardship that teachers tolerate – and like any other public sector worker, will continue to have to tolerate – but there was one comment in particular, that really stood out.
‘Everyone is able to leave if they don’t like it’.
He accused us of having unrealistic demands and that our unions had ‘an awful lot of bluster and a whole lot of hyperbole’.
Both of these comments are utterly appalling and show his shameful lack of insight and understanding about the current crisis in Education.
Anyone who works in an educational setting knows that the conditions we work in every day are woefully inadequate. People are leaving, Mr Mahoney – in case you haven’t noticed or been reading the news or listening to other colleagues when you discuss island-wide issues. Teachers are leaving in droves, for a multitude of reasons – they can no longer tolerate the stress, the unrealistic demands, the lack of funding for resources, being told ‘there’s no budget for that, just do the best you can’, the workload, the lack of infrastructure around schools to help them fix outside issues – like IT, the toll it takes on your health.
As for our pay and the high cost of living not being met or reflected in our current wage, the teacher shortage – did I mention that it’s severe? – means that the island is having to rely heavily on agency staff to plug the gaps – which costs us even more as they need to have their housing and living costs met. Did P&R think about that and factor that into their arguments? And based on the current conditions, teachers will continue to leave, both at primary and secondary level.
Anyone who signs up to be a teacher isn’t doing it for the money – they do it because they want to make a difference to children’s lives and help to educate them in so many different ways – but is it too much to ask that we are paid fairly for that? That we are paid enough so that we can afford to buy food, heat our homes, pay our bills and have a decent standard of living? To not be accused of making a fuss?
Your department has got the result they wanted Deputy Mahoney – but you should take no personal pride in how it was achieved.
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Editor’s note:
Deputy Mahoney said after the hearing that his comment had been ‘taken out of context’.
He said: 'My message to teachers is that they are deeply valued and of course they play an incredibly important role in our community.
'While commenting on the pay situation for all public sector employees, I made the point that of course where any individual is personally unhappy with their salary levels, they ultimately can and do look for opportunities elsewhere and this is common across the public or private sector. But certainly I do not wish to see any of our teachers leave their roles.
'According to exit interviews, most teachers in Guernsey describe their salary levels as satisfactory or good when they leave their role, as stated at the recent hearing. Working as a teacher in Guernsey is not only competitive in terms of salary, but it offers a quality of life, sense of community and work-life balance that is much more attractive than many other places.’