Unions

 

Join a union.  If you can, of course.  Some teachers and headteachers will be working in a country where it is just not possible.   If you’re in a place that has a strong teaching union or even a non-specialist union, join it. 

It doesn’t matter if you are put off by their politics because you don’t have to get involved in that, just join it anyway.  The fees are not extortionate, far from it, and for that you get the protection of people who have the sole aim of looking after you should the worst happen at school.

You don’t even need to join a teacher-specific union, any general one will do.

But why?

Bad things do happen at school.  The advertising of teacher positions tends not to focus on the emotional, financial, social issues that you, as a teacher, will be dealing with on a daily basis.  You know all those images of smiling students and smiling teachers with bright shiny teeth in impeccably tidy classrooms?  That isn’t quite how the reality in nearly all schools.  

Schools tend not to tell you that part of your role will be as a carer in charge of some seriously mucked up young people who have an intense dislike for the rigours of school life and who have parents who are deeply suspicious of schools and teachers.  These issues lead to problems – sorry for stating the obvious there.

You could be physically attacked, verbally attacked, bullied by management and of course, have a false accusation thrown at you.  You could have medical issues that the school get irritated by, you might have personal issues that the school simply don’t care about.  In all of these cases, your union is there to help you.

Sure, there will be many employers who do actually care about your welfare but when push comes to shove, it is your union who will protect you the most.  The management of a school often have no choice but to try to discipline you, warn you or even sack you because that is the procedures that have been set up.  Their hands are tied in many cases.  The rules were set up to protect the school and to protect the student; never the teacher.  Always remember that.

One in four teachers in the UK have faced a false accusation made against them such as “he hit me”, “she touched me”, “he swore at me”, “She called me stupid”.  I mean the list goes on and on and on.  The trouble is that even if the allegation is false, it is the teacher who will suffer the most because most of the time it will be they who will be suspended from the school pending an investigation.

I’ve seen the reaction of many teachers who have been on the sharp end of a false allegation.  It’s horrible.  There is incredulity, confusion, anger, fear and many many tears.  It’s a truly awful situation to be in.  Whilst the headteacher may be sympathetic, there isn’t a lot that they can do about it because the procedures have to be followed. 

I’ve talked to headteachers about their frustrations when these things happen.  They lose a good teacher even for a short time, they have to get a cover teacher, the classes affected are chaotic and rumours fly around the playground and around social media.  Even when the allegation is confirmed as false, in most cases the teacher will decide never to come back to that school or just quit as a teacher because no job is worth that hassle.

It remains one of the myriad of reasons why there is a shortage of teachers in the UK (and other countries) particularly male teachers who are the disproportionate victims of such allegations.

But what you can guarantee in all of this is that the union will try their very best to look after you, get your case resolved as fast as possible and will give you the legal advice that you need.  The school will not do that.  Your friends and family will support you but they do not have the clout to help get any issue you have at school resolved. 

I know some people are concerned that their union is too politicised (and if you ever go to a union conference you’ll see the backstabbing, jockeying for position and gossiping that would equal any political party) but the ordinary employees and volunteers of any union – those working at the chalkface so to speak – are there to help you.

Joining a union is like having some kind of insurance for when things get really bad – and they can get really bad in teaching for a wide variety of reasons.  Hopefully you’ll never ever have cause to ask for their help but surely it’s better to always have that option than suddenly find yourself in a traumatic situation without and yet being alone? 

I now know why, when I first started training to be a teacher, each and every one of our lecturers told us to join a union, any union.  If you’re teaching right now and are not part of one, please heed these words.