In November 1979 Pink Floyd released its seminal concept album The Wall - an epic double-album rock opera based around the concept of a depressed and jaded rock star called Pink whose eventual self-imposed isolation from society serves to form a figurative wall around himself.
The album includes the anthem Another Brick in the Wall the lyrics of which declared
We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teacher, leave them kids alone
As with any concept album of that era its a long playlist and as The Wall continues on from Another Brick into Goodbye Cruel World it is clear that the building of Pink's psychological wall is now complete with him entirely cut off from the outside world.
Of course as the album playlist moves on Pink eventually begins to regret his self-imposed isolation from the rest of society with The Judge in the final album track entitled The Trial ultimately declaring Since, my friend, you have revealed your deepest fear. I sentence you to be exposed before your peers. Tear down the wall!
Yes the whole album is pretentious and self-indulgent as only nineteen-seventies Pink Floyd albums can be but as we revisited the playlist today we were reminded of the current NASUWT ballot where 82% of NASUWT Members balloted that they were in favour of strike action. Which is perhaps another metaphysical wall being constructed to keep out the real world at a time when it’s clear from recent exam rankings that the IOM is bench-marking very poorly against the UK and many other jurisdictions for GCSE and A Level results. And where for several years now IOM schools have consistently struggled to support our generation covid students.
So with this we ask - has the NASUWT read the room correctly?
What appear to be the core issues?
As the BBC reports
A recent pay deal which saw all IOM teachers receive an uplift of between 2% and 7.6% backdated to 1 September 2021 was implemented despite opposition from the union. But a further pay increase has been recommended by the Independent School Teachers Review Body in the UK that could see UK wages go up by between 5% and 8.9%. So IOM teachers got a pay rise backdated to last year anyway but now the NASUWT want an even bigger pay rise (presumably also backdated to last year) because that would provide parity with the UK.
To cut it down to the bare bones let us also recall that having fought hard around ten years ago to completely de-link the Manx education system from the UK teaching pay and reward system, now that it suits them the NASUWT apparently wants to re-link the IOM to UK recommended levels of pay and reward. A somewhat circular argument perhaps worthy of a nineteen-seventies concept album in itself - where a depressed and jaded headteacher having placed a figurative IOM paywall around himself now wants to break down the paywall he himself constructed and engage with the outside world again!
In response Education Minister Julie Edge has renewed calls for teachers to de-escalate action and cover morning breaks which would mean more pupils could learn in the classroom again rather than remotely.
So is the NASUWT reading the room correctly?
There will always be solid support for professional educators to be paid correctly and it’s widely acknowledged that the teaching profession here has a problem with teacher retention with 36 teachers having resigned their posts in 2021-22 alone. Together with a teacher recruitment problem as a result of the IOM going through a fairly unique cost of living crisis with a post pandemic spike in IOM property and rental prices which, on top of higher utility and food costs, is now putting a big squeeze on many IOM middle earners.
Many schools, and particularly the apparent NASUWT main power bases of Ballakermeen & St Ninians, have also been cancelling lessons due to high levels of teacher sickness and absences claimed to be the result of poor morale.
From Manx Radio on the subject of teacher retention
However equally, although admittedly not specifically on the watch of the current Education Minister who has only been in post 12 months, the Manx education system is acknowledged as not doing itself any favours over the pandemic period. To illustrate this point in an article linked below the BBC reported that 49% of parents and carers who took part in a 2020 Government survey said they were dissatisfied or extremely dissatisfied with the volume of remote learning provided over the lock-down period. While 45% surveyed also said they were unhappy with the quality of the learning.
The BBC report on dissatisfaction
The BBC report in relation to the survey
Furthermore talking of lock-down and post lock-down educational performance this week we also discover that the 2022 IOM GCSE results are amongst some of the worst in the British Isles.
The rankings break down like this:
UK % of A* to C 79.3%
Jersey % of A* to C 81.7%
Isle of Man % of A* to C
Ballakermeen 75%
Castle Rushen 63.5%
QE2 76.9%
Ramsey Grammar 74%
St Ninians 63.3%
So we ask has the NASUWT, whose main membership base seems to centre around struggling Central Douglas schools Ballakermeen & St Ninians which are currently sending some Year 8, 9 & 10 students home as they can’t provide teaching services to them, read the room correctly when balloting strikes for Member pay increases on top of pay increases already granted and backdated?
IOM Newspapers: Ballakermeen & St Ninians students being sent to work from home
At the end of the day we suppose that ultimately it’s up to the public to decide whether our struggling generation covid students have been dealt a fair hand and whether the NASUWT asking for additional rewards despite clear and present teaching issues that have affected Manx students is regarded as either a timely or proportionate response in the current climate. But as the lyrics of Another Brick ultimately conclude: How can you have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?
Pink Floyd's The Wall
