There's one issue about why teachers are striking that I haven't seen come up, but it's probably been discussed- it's that morale in education is kind of in the toilet. Definitely amongst support staff, but given that teachers are leaving the profession in droves I imagine they're not having a good time either.
The kids we're supporting are still traumatised. They're struggling to recover from the pandemic in the same way adults are. Like us, they never got a chance to recover, to talk about their feelings, to relax, play, create in order to come to terms with the shit we all just went through. They were just expected to get back to work like the rest of us. It resulted in a lot of anger, sadness and violent outbursts that we, the adults in charge, have seen the brunt of.
There's been articles about education staff getting slapped, scratched, bitten, punched and otherwise assaulted on a semi-daily basis and whilst that's always been the case to some extent- I'm probably not the only one who thinks it's worse lately.
The kids aren't to blame here- neither are the parents in a lot of cases. Its the fact our government dropped the ball on this pandemic so badly, the reverbs have hit mostly ordinary people like a lump hammer.
Especially vulnerable people- like young children. They have big feelings and no where to truly express them.
If it were up to me, we'd abandon lessons all together and replace the curriculum with a lot of time to play, draw, create, sing and... talk about stuff. We'd install soft play inside and let them just climb. Get out trampolines. Send them up the climbing walls. Organise football matches. Whole day PE/exercise sessions. Hold gaming tournaments. Art sessions. Singing. One to one therapy.
But no- our capitalist hellscape won't even let the children rest and come to terms with what they lost in the pandemic. Time, experiences, certainty... relatives.
It's hurting them and in turn, its hurting us.
AND WE'RE NOT EVEN PAID ENOUGH TO DEAL WITH THIS SHIT.
