Teacher strikes: ‘Deciding to close our school has been horrible’

In the high school study room, Tia is twirling a pink fluffy pen in her hand. She’s nervous about her mock IT exam next week.

“It’s my only practice, and then I have the real one,” she says.

On Wednesday she will be among the only students attending Wales High School in Rotherham, which is due to close over pay due to a staff strike.

The decision to close was “terrible,” says headmaster Pepe DiIasio. Only 12th graders taking mock exams, at-risk students and the children of critical workers are expected.

“Students have missed a lot of time in the last three years and we don’t want them to miss any more,” he says.

Pepe’s office, just a short walk and a few flights of stairs from the study, is the headquarters of this center of 1,900 students. He was busy preparing for Wednesday – sending letters to parents, making sure those who have children with free school meals get money for lunch and providing laptops to children who need them for online learning to disposal.

Some parents have taken to social media to criticize school closures, arguing that families will be fined for keeping their children out of school – but Pepe has had no such complaints.

Planning ahead is difficult because members of the National Education Union (NEU), which is coordinating the strike in England and Wales, don’t have to decide if they will attend.

As a past president of the Association of School and College Leaders, Pepe knows this. However, about 30 employees have told him they will not be working and he estimates the total could be more than 50.

“One of the gifts of Covid is that we are fully prepared for this type of situation and what we can do is move to a distance learning curriculum almost immediately,” he says.

Striking teachers also do not have to stop work to cover strike days. Here, it’s up to senior leaders like Assistant Principal Hannah Feerick to prepare assignments for students to complete at home.

“They just follow their schedule like they would on a regular Wednesday,” she says. “Well, if they have math first, they do the math work for the first period.”

The school library will serve as a temporary classroom for new students – but how many there will be, Hannah won’t know for herself until the morning.

She hopes that lessons can be learned for further strikes by the NEU in February and March.

“If we get something that works for everyone, hopefully we can just pick that up and reapply it.”

Down in the science technicians’ room, the chorus of “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” blares out from a radio hidden behind a row of plants. This part of the school is a retreat for Jo Smethurst, the scientific resource manager, who spends much of her day pacing between the labs and checking the step count on her leopard-print smartwatch.

Jo is not a faculty member and will not be on strike, but she may not be able to work due to her own childcare issues. She says it’s been “stressful” checking for an email from her son’s elementary school every morning asking if it’s going to close or not.

“I’m trying to see if I can find grandparents so I can get childcare for the day. Or I need to have the day off, or his dad needs to have the day off,” she says — which could affect her income since he’s self-employed.

Despite her childcare puzzle, she’s largely okay with the teaching staff going on strike over the rising cost of living.

“Petrol, gas, electricity – everything goes up,” she says. “We want our wages to go up and teachers want their wages to go up.”

Around the corner from Pepe’s office, Ross Napier is rattling through a stack of 13th grade economics essays, green pen in hand.

Ross represents NEU members at the school and plans to go on strike on Wednesday. He left the industry to teach in the mid-1990s because it’s an “attractive job,” he says — but that’s changed because of the “erosion of wages.”

His partner is also a teacher, they lived “happily on one and a half wages” for 12 years, while she only worked reduced after the birth of the children. Then she went back full-time.

“In real terms, we’re worse off now than when my partner was working part-time,” he says.

Ross DJs – mostly house music – on the weekends to pay her bills and mortgage.

“The extra income allows me to stay on in teaching when so many are leaving,” he says. “I love the job.”

Ross says he didn’t hear much chatter about the strikes among his non-NEW colleagues because “most teachers don’t really have time to go to the staff room.” Last summer he had to give up his job as a janitor because he didn’t have time during the work week.

Most of his students will be taking exams this year, so he sees the strike as a “massive decision”, but he adds: “One day of strike doesn’t have nearly the impact of the cuts we’ve had over the last 12 years. “

Schools Minister Nick Gibb told the BBC the government was concerned about phasing pay rises in line with inflation, which he said would mean embedding inflation in the economy.

The Department of Education, which has spoken to teachers’ unions about pay, has recommended that schools remain open to “as many pupils as possible” – and the picture will differ between schools in England and Wales. There have already been strikes in Scotland and teachers in Northern Ireland will go on strike for half a day on February 21st.

Back in the study, 12th grader Oliver says he’s glad his geography simulation is on Wednesday.

“I prepared and revised,” he says. “If I’m due for an exam next week and it’s the week after, I’ll have to repeat another week.”

But for his brother, who is in 10th grade, the day of the strike means a day back to studying at home – reminding him of studying during Covid.

“The wider disruption is a bit worrying,” says Tia. “At the same time I feel like I have to support my teachers because they do it for a good reason.”

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