Another strike.

[opas]

Meant to post this yesterday, eldest arrived home from College announcing that there will be a strike next Thusrday 2nd Feb.

Mrs O

[Lori]

Yes, I saw the notices in the Salles des Profs when I met with Nina's teacher Thursday.  Feb. 2nd.

Lori

[HLG]

Yes, apparently there have been huge cuts in the number of teaching

posts offered - and we can all see that the situation in secondary

schools isn't getting any easier so how thegovernment expects to get

things right with fewer teachers is beyond me.

Well at least we can take comfort after reading the Guardian's article,

where we learn that 2/3 British schoolchildren have been bullied or

have bullied someone, that roughly a quarter of the girls and a large

majority of the boys have punched another pupil....

[HLG]

practical question:

what do you do when there's a strike?

do you stay home? (does your pay get cut down if you do? Are there

systeme-D ways not to be "penalised"?) do you get organised with other

mothers, taking turns watching the kids? Find a babysitter? Ask the

eldest teen to watch the younger ones?

[SaligoBay]

HLG,

If it's a collège it'll still be open.  There is a certain core staff who aren't allowed to abandon the school, so you can still send the little darlings if you want to or have to.   The worst that can happen is that they'll be bored.

Not all the teachers will be on strike anyway, but you almost certainly won't know which ones will and which ones won't until the day.

If it's a small village school that's already understaffed, they might politely ask you to keep your children at home if you can, but if you can't, they will be looked after in the school by somebody, but not taught.

Are you getting the feeling that the whole of your life in France is just one big Système D?  [:)]

 

 

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="HLG"]practical question:

what do you do when there's a strike?

do you stay home? (does your pay get cut down if you do? Are there

systeme-D ways not to be "penalised"?) do you get organised with other

mothers, taking turns watching the kids? Find a babysitter? Ask the

eldest teen to watch the younger ones?

[/quote]

Send the little blighters to l'école privée. They don't seem to

strike. This causes a certain amount of restlessness amongst our

offspring and associated Nasty Little Friends as (as far as they are

concerned) half the village is getting an extra holiday that they are

not. I try and explain that their attempting to learn the difference

between the sujet and objet of a sentence prior to the

age of 7 is not, in fact, a pain in the bum, but is instead a vital

component of the "Happiest Days of Their Lives," and they should be

happy that someone is prepared to get up on their hind legs and attempt

to do it rather than chickening out and spending the day hors combat beneath the duvet . But they heap scorn upon me.

Personally, I think that the occasional strike is necessary for

teachers to maintain mental eqilibrium. Otherwise thay might be more

tempted to strangle their charges.

[Mistral]

As SB says, if it's collège you always have the right to send children in, even if they sometimes try to convince you not to. It's practically unknown for every teacher in a collège to be on strike. Even in the big strikes of 2003, there were teachers working.

Primary schools don't like to tell you, but they should take every child over the age of six who turns up. They usually ask you to keep them but nothing forces you to do so. If every teacher includer the the directeur/rice is on strilke, then they can close the school. But only then. Around here the primaries and maternelles tend to warn you in advance if the teacher will be on strike.

So for child #1 (in collège) I will be sending him in to collège anyway.  I know that his english and maths teachers are regular strikers, the french teacher probably won't strike and I don't know for music and art as they are replacements of replacements. For child #2 (primary) we'll wait to see what the maitresses tell us and then call in the in-laws if necessary. Child #3 (maternelle) should be on classe verte so I don't know what her maitresse will do (she's a quite regular striker too) but if she's not there, then she will go to the childminder all day instead.

This is the annual post DGH strike.

[Tourangelle]

DHG I think[:)]

[Wendy]

Is this strike a france-wide one or just in one area?. Also that bit about the bullying-is that reported as happening here or over in the UK? just curious as my boy is regularly accosted at the school gate in the morning by a group of local boys in the school and he gets kicked if he dosen't supply them with bubblegum. He dosen't of course, I think he handed over some on one occasion though out of fear.  Teachers are not interested in this. Ive tried. Starting tomorrow this Mum will be watching from nearby !!!.

[Tourangelle]

It is a nationwide strike.

If your son is getting bullied you should make an appointment talk to

the CPE, whose role it is to deal with this sort of thing.  HTH

[Joy1]

My two children have just come home from their primary school here in

76 to tell us that their school is on strike on Thursday. Of course

they are delighted, having never had their teachers go on strike in

England, so it's all fun to have an extra day off during the week.[:)](

They have wednesdays off anyway so it's a bit like having a weekend mid

week!) Fortunately I don't work so can look after them without problems

but I  wanted to ask forum members if school closure is a regular

occurrance? We are new to France having only arrived last autumn.

[battypuss1]

Can't speak for your area; I was in Normandy. One daughter in privee and one in publique. They both (teachers, not kids) went on strike....but NEVER at the same time! So strike monday for one, thiursday for another, oh the fun.

[Mistral]

[quote user="Joyanne"] I  wanted to ask forum members if school closure is a regular occurrance? We are new to France having only arrived last autumn.[/quote]

You need to count on at least one strike in sept/oct  (rentrée strike) probably one in December (something "social") one in february/march (DGH/DHG) and possibly one in april/may. That's on a standard year, if there's a big social problem like the retirement question in May 2004 (I think) or December 1999, then there will be more and they will probably last longer.

I know I'm sounding cynical but I sometimes feel that the unions set the dates in advance and then look for a reason.

You need to remember that not all strikes are as strongly followed, it depends on what people are striking against and what time of year it is. As mentioned before, secondary schools don't close and primaries only close if all the staff are on strike (although it's very difficult in a small school to be the only non-striker out of four teachers)

[SaligoBay]

[quote user="Mistral"]

I know I'm sounding cynical but I sometimes feel that the unions set the dates in advance and then look for a reason.

[/quote]

LOL, Mistral!  [:)]

[opas]

Our primare was closed yesterday, so anyone who works were requesting childcare off other mums, College was open ,but no canteen. Eldest would have only had P.E and Music as all her other teachers were on strike, so she stayed home.

To add insult to injury, she informed me that because she was absent would need an absence form filing in her diary..........I forgot, am picking her up in a while, she only has school half day on Friday, so I expect a bit of flack at La Vie Scolaire!!!

[Mistral]

[quote user="Opas"] she informed me that because she was absent would need an absence form filing in her diary.[/quote]

This is a basic requirement and I am horrified that our vie scolaire doesn't ask for it (to say nothing of putting themselves outside the law) The pupils have worked this out very quickly,  now when their parents send  them off to collège on a strike day, they  "get lost" en route. And the school doesn't check up on this which means they could be anywhere all day while their parents assume they are at school.

The 4eme C made me laugh. They asked on Tuesday if I was striking and were very annoyed when I said no. "But that means we'll have 5 hours of perm!!" So I went through their timetable with them. They had 1 striking teacher and that was the last hour of the day, so they could go home early anyway. Somehow, I don't think their parents would be told that. [;)]