Focus should be on wider issues regarding strikes not just pay - Yorkshire Post Letters

Your columnist Sarah Todd (The Yorkshire Post, March 1) describes the car parks of schools being full of nearly-new cars and wonders how teachers can afford them while asking for a pay rise.

I wish the media would focus on the wider issues regarding industrial action taken by teachers, rather than just pay.

For years schools have been seriously underfunded, so that the budget is having to be stretched and resources limited. This means not only fewer glue sticks and library books, but also less money for human resources.

For the last fourteen years I have gone into a primary school on a voluntary basis and seen at first hand the results of this underfunding. I am taking on more of the jobs the teaching assistants used to do, the laminating, photocopying and repairing of library books, while the TAs are being used to work with small groups, individual children or even whole classes on a regular basis.

Special school places are limited, so mainstream schools are having to work with children with educational needs without the necessary training or resources. It is well known that the restrictions of Covid had an adverse effect on the social skills of young children, and in many cases school staff are having to teach children how to play or to have meaningful conversations with others. This is before any academic skills can be introduced.

Staff are demoralised and feel undervalued, constantly under scrutiny and feeling that they are being blamed for any shortcomings in achievement. These are dedicated professionals who are in school before 8am and leave after 6pm, planning lessons and evaluating progress, not wanting to take industrial action but knowing of no other way to raise awareness of the situation.