What I would have told the ABC about today's strike.

Back in the day...

Today as I was driving home from Mothers group I decided to tune into the ABC. Funnily enough they were talking about the teachers strike in Melbourne today. Of course callers were calling in and saying about how teachers are paid too much and saying how they get 14 weeks of holidays. I called in and got through, but they were just about to break to the news, so said they would call me back. Okay, they said they may call me back. And they didn't. Haven't. So far.

Here's what I told the lady who took my call and what I would have said on air:

I was a teacher. Currently I am not a teacher as I have had a baby and because I wasn't in an actual concrete job I wasn't awarded any maternity leave.

If I had the choice to strike over either pay or conditions I would choose conditions. Hear me out. While I believe that teachers are definitely underpaid for the effort they put in, as a graduate teacher, I have had a really hard time securing a job.

I was lucky enough to score a job when I was fresh out of uni. In fact, I still had a few months to go. But because suddenly an Indonesian teacher had up and left to Indonesia and they were desperate - the Victorian Institute of Teaching awarded me special Permission to Teach. I was full time teaching years 7 - 9 Indonesian. I had well over 100 students, most with the usual attitude of I'm never going to Indonesia so why should I? Which, okay, fair enough. But I had been there 4 weeks and I was asked to write reports - due in 2 weeks. Rough.

As much as it wasn't the best of schools, I enjoyed the team I worked with and was eager to stay there. The staff begged me to apply for the position, a year contract, for the following teaching year, because they were concerned nobody would apply for it. As it happened, somebody else did.

I was informed that I was unsuccessful. I tried to remain cheerful and said to the principal that "I was young and beautiful, surely I'd get a job" (but on the inside I was crushed). He said he admired my resilience, and explained to me a little thing I had never heard of before called merit & equity. Basically, it means if you have more experience than me, you have more rights to my job if I go to renew a contract. And by law, the school must advertise a job, even if they have hinted that they want you back, you must still write a 5 page response to Key Selection Criteria, and go for the interview.

From there I began relief teaching. While it's good money and experience it does not 'count' towards anything as your 'years in service' are counted by the years you are actually engaged in either a contract or ongoing work with a school. I went back to uni to improve my prospects of finding a 'real job' and to this day I haven't used that second degree.

Through relief teaching I got a job teaching ICT and from that into a classroom for 2 terms. But then I had to reapply for my job and the same thing came back to bite me: merit & equity.

I fell pregnant so I decided to relief teach until the baby came.

For me, when I started my degree in 2005, I was told there were not enough teachers and that Indonesian was in high demand (I studied Primary and Indonesian teaching). By the time I graduated in 2008 there was a surplus and Indonesian was being phased out.

How are we supposed to attract young, fresh and fantastic teachers to the profession if they cannot feel secure or feel like they can build up their career?

Going back to the oh you get so many holidays and heaps of money debate: holidays are often spent marking and preparing for the next term. Even the big summer one. I was discouraged to go to Indonesia to see my family in my holidays because I 'ought to be planning for next term'. (and yeah, I probably should have been!). And did I mention - you get so run down from working over time that you are often SICK in your holidays? Also, there is no flexibility in these holidays, you take them when you're told to. Which really is sucky when you do go to visit family overseas and because it's school holidays ends up costing twice the price (which I could justify because I had a job and an income at the time).

Report time is a mad time. You are up all hours of the night, and if you are a specialist you can easily have hundreds of reports to write. I recall throwing up in the middle of the night because I was still writing reports in my sleep.

The bottom line is, the salary teachers get is not enough compared to the effort they put in and the cost of living, as well as the conditions they have to work under to maybe, just maybe be able to keep their job.

... And you get almost the same wage stacking shelves at Coles...

As for me, it is unlikely I will return to teaching. I want to give my son a quality of life where he is not in Childcare all hours of the day and then comes home to me not being able to spend time with him because I need to mark and plan (but full respect for those who do - it's tough and I'm cheering for you!). To return to relief teaching is unrealistic, as I cannot just pick up the phone at 7, have my son in childcare by 7:30 and be at a school by 8:10 in Frankston. Child care centres don't just let you put your child in randomly, and you can't put them in every Thursday and Friday because you might get a call to teach. Childcare is expensive and realistically I probably wouldn't make enough return to make it worth while.

And while I'm no perfect parent and I definitely have my days, I believe I am a better mother than I ever was teacher, and I am the best person for that job.