The one day strike this week troubled me in respect of the impact it had on schools, many of whose staff did not wish to or indeed did not strike.Large numbers of schools had no idea how many staff were going to strike until the day itself. That is not acceptable & a very simple change could mean school managers asking staff if they were coming in or not.Closing a school during term time is in my book just not on - short of swarms of locusts, volcano eruptions or the plague schools should remain open & I have lost a great deal of faith in professional teaching staff who (for the first time in many cases) have gone out on strike over pension reform.I know a school which goes to extraordinary lengths to ensure a member of staff who takes time off during term time is dealt with robustly, how then does the same school justify closing the whole school during term time for any reason.Working parents were hugely inconvenienced by the strike & in this day & age I find it unacceptable for any school to close through strike action where there are enough staff or volunteers available to run the school in an emergency.I visited two of Central Bedfordshire's offices on Wednesday & at both found two rather sad looking pickets outside each, but inside I struggled to notice much difference in activity levels.An interesting 'sound off' by Kelvin McKenzie on this subject in the Daily Mail.
