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KentOnline / KMTV
  • 29/11/2023
A teacher explains why staff at Oasis Academy are striking.
Transcript
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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