How are teacher strikes affecting your school? Because every child, parent, teacher, head and school will have slightly (or wildly) different experiences.
Like the pupil who told me he’d loved the last strike day because it coincided with his birthday or the head who didn’t know until that morning who was in, who was out and who was shaking their placard all about.
Happy, successful schools are built on strong and supportive relationships. However, most people have an opinion on strike action, and conversations can become highly emotive. With so much unrest, everyone has a role to play to ensure that positive, professional relationships are maintained in the coming weeks (and beyond), and irreparable damage isn’t caused.
But how?
Respect others’ opinions
Just because we don’t share the same opinion as someone doesn’t mean that we are right and they are wrong, although that’s usually our default thought. Instead:
- Listen to learn. By doing this, we can better understand people’s reasons for striking. The National Education Union (NEU) members I’ve chatted to are fighting for better conditions, adequate funding for schools, Special Educational Needs and mental health difficulties. It’s not all about personal pay packets.
- Be aware of your own biases. For example, a teacher friend says her local community was torn apart in the ‘70s during the miners’ strikes and has vowed never to strike herself. However, she is very aware that others have different beliefs, values and memories, and that’s okay.
Disagree well
Sadly, the days of having a healthy debate and ‘disagreeing well’ seem to be gone. When we watch our politicians in action, is there any wonder why? Laughing in each other’s faces, shouting over the speaker, heckling like farmyard animals. Most would benefit from a social skills intervention promoting kind words and actions, turn-taking and how to keep sheep noises to yourself!
As teachers spend all day, every day encouraging pupils to be pleasant to each other, I’d like to think that they would practise what they preach, even in tricky times – and most do. However, some heated arguments have occurred on social media and, I imagine, in some staffrooms.
To disagree professionally:
- Remember, you can’t control others’ actions and behaviours, but you can control what you think, say and do – if you want to!
- Although there are times when acknowledging your own and others’ emotions can be helpful, if things are becoming heated, it is better to focus on the facts.
- STOP! Pausing is especially powerful if you are about to say or do something you may regret later. Walk away and pull on all those great strategies to slow your thinking down and regain emotional control. Make a cuppa, go for a walk, breeeathe.
Reflect and improve on your behaviours
How often have you said to your class, ‘Every action has a consequence’? Yet, in times of high emotion, we can react in the moment without considering any potential fallout.
So, what could we do when that happens?
Saying sorry goes a long way. Usually, apologising face-to-face rather than by email is more sincere, more straightforward and less likely to end up in a to-and-froing conversation. When you do get things wrong, be kind to yourself. We all do it – we’re human!
Learning from our mistakes isn’t always easy, as we are creatures of habit. Also, life is so busy that we don’t make time to truly reflect; we just move on to the next thing.
- If you’re a headteacher, maybe go back and reread that last strike letter to parents – what messages is it giving to and about your team? Could you collaborate with NEU members to make some tweaks?
- If you’re a teacher, think about what you said at the classroom door or in your posts on social media. Will your words help to maintain strong relationships with parents?
Ask for advice
Who do you ask when you have longer to decide whether an action is a good idea? It needs to be somebody who thinks differently from you, maybe someone removed from the situation – perhaps someone who isn’t a teacher.
Otherwise, when you’ve written that tweet and are about to post it, your year group partner will whisper, with a twinkle in their eye, ‘Do it!’ - which often isn’t helpful.
If you’re on your own or only with people who think and act like you, ask yourself these questions:
- ‘What might someone who thinks differently to me say?’
- ‘What happens if I take out my feelings and look at the facts?’
- ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’
And, failing all that, why not take a leaf out of the Laughologists’ book? If we’re about to say something during a session and unsure if we should, the rule of thumb is, ‘Don’t!’ In the spirit of complete openness - it’s a thing some of us are still working on!
