Third day of teacher strikes - video Dailymotion

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KentOnline / KMTV

2 years ago

A teacher explains why staff at Oasis Academy are striking.

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00:00 I'm on strike here for a few reasons and it starts firstly with the safety of staff.

00:04 I believe that we need to improve the behaviour within this academy in order to protect the

00:08 health and safety of our members.

00:10 Secondly, I think that we also need to do that in order to protect our students' health

00:14 and safety, which is first and foremost because they're our primary stakeholder.

00:18 And third, I want to send a strong message towards Oasis Community Learning that they

00:22 can do more to protect us, our safety and the safety of our pupils in the workplace.

00:27 I'm really pleased to say we have made a lot of progress in negotiations.

00:31 I'm not going to go into details because that's between us and the Trust at the moment, but

00:36 we have made progress.

00:39 There are just some things that we need to see immediate action on, which is safety,

00:44 particularly on this site for our members.

00:47 We now have 88 members, it's doubled in the past couple of weeks.

00:50 But also, more importantly, safety for our students because they are also not safe at

00:54 the moment.

00:55 I am very confident.

00:57 We will go into meetings again tomorrow and I am confident because we are getting onto

01:02 the same page.

01:03 Previously, we were miles apart, we're not miles apart now.

01:07 And we've had some really good meetings, negotiation meetings with the leadership.

01:12 So I've been here for three years, as I've said, and I've seen ups and I've seen downs.

01:16 However, since we've balloted for strike action, I haven't seen a significant improvement

01:21 in behaviour to protect the safety of our members and our students.

01:25 Speaking from personal experience, I haven't personally been harassed.

01:28 However, even as a strong teacher within the classroom, I have had my door kicked in by

01:32 students.

01:34 We have had threats of death towards members in our union.

01:38 We've had sexual harassment, we've had bullying towards members, and that has been something

01:44 that we feel that needs to be dealt with more effectively.

01:47 I think the threats of rape against female teachers, the use of the N-word, the threats

01:52 of having our throats cut for little things like asking a student to stand in a line,

01:58 those are their reactions.

02:00 It's kind of disproportionate, I think, to what we're actually asking them to do.

02:04 We're not asking them to do the earth, we're asking them to stand in a line.

02:07 And those are the reactions that we're getting.

02:09 Physical assaults against staff have been on the up, barricading staff into classrooms,

02:14 60 kids at a time.

02:16 The behaviour is excessive and we're not going to tolerate it.

02:21 When we went into classrooms last Thursday after last Wednesday's strike, we had students

02:26 coming up to us saying thank you.

02:28 Yes, they're a little bit gobsmacked that we'd been on television or the radio, but

02:33 a lot of our kids are beautiful humans, they're amazing, and we have great relationships with

02:38 them.

02:39 Would you agree?

02:40 The reason why I'm here is because I love these kids and I have a real affection for

02:43 this island and the community.

02:45 I'm not from here originally, but I'm here and I haven't taken a job down the road at

02:49 an easier school because these kids deserve a great education and the majority of them

02:52 are absolutely amazing.

02:53 What we're talking about is a small minority who threaten the safety of our staff and students

02:59 and that's what we need to sort out if we want a great education for kids on this island.

03:03 And ultimately that's what we're here for, we're here to educate these children and we

03:07 want them to go out into the big wide world and be successful human beings, that's why

03:11 we're here.

03:12 And as we say, a lot of these kids are gorgeous and have been really, really supportive.

03:19 The majority of parents have also been really supportive, we've had a lot of messages of

03:24 support from our parents and from the community as a whole because everyone wants the same

03:28 thing ultimately, we want this academy to be successful and for the students to be successful.

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