Many people working in education have caught the virus and the November lockdown did nothing to stop its spread. In the SEN college where I work there are many clinically vulnerable young people and it is terrifying news that one of our pupils is currently very ill with Covid, however, that anxiety isn't the main point of this writing. I get that, even during a pandemic, schools and colleges should be open for young people to access education and be with their peers and I'm committed to my role as a learning support assistant. My problem is with the politics of privatization and the current administration of education that maintains poverty wages for people like me working in schools while the system's administrators are fast becoming Fat Cats. Damn them for this extortion and for the policy of privatization supports it.
I've struggled this term to accept the massive compromise we're having to make under Covid: students and staff are confined to class bubbles. Within these bubbles we are doing our best to avoid close contact with each other; our best defence agains spread of the virus. Many educational activities that were previously enjoyed collectively such as PD and assemblies are now delivered virtually. I'm uncomfortable with the amount of time the young people are spending looking at screens in college; although we do make a huge effort to counter that with fitness (through Joe Wicks workouts) and as much outside time as possible (constrained by timetabling because only one class can be occupy an outside space at any one time). It's impressive how the young people have adapted to this virtual world that now replaces real life contact. On a positive note, it's impressive how pupils have adapted to presenting themselves on screen and can now participate enthusiastically with live streaming events such as whole school assemblies with competance and enthusiasm. The pupils somehow seem to tollerate the distorted sound and glitchy visuals that make some of these sessions quite a strain on the senses. I have not mangaged to adapt so well. Last night, that marked the end of the Christmas term, I came home, ate, honoured my committment to Zoom meeting among a Labour Left group and the had to shut down: no more noise, no more people talking, no more talking myself, I needed to just shut down and to rebalance. My job is sometimes exhausting. Being locked in a bubble can be noisy, claustrophobic and dissatisfying.
Added to that is the political backdrop of winter 2020/202. We're being dictated to by the terrible Tory twits trying to run the country; telling us who we can and can't meet up with and where and at what times; an unwelcome intrusion on into personal lives. Like most people, I'm doing everything I possible can not to pass on the virus, or catch it myself, but I don't need this pesky government telling me what to all the time. Feeling infuriated by the Government's policy of outsourcing essential services, the most recent example being Serco getting public money to operate 'test and trace' that has failed to check the spread of the virus. The outcome of that is the shameful statistic of 70,000 deaths (at the time of writing) in the UK. I continue to be infuriated by the Tory agenda of privatisation that outsources essential services in healthcare and education. These private enterprises are serving themselves. I have anxieties about the future. Predications show that we can expect increasing unemployment and a continuation of austerity with further cuts to local authority budgets. This nightmarish scenario of the future is already being realised by a recent announcement of a pay freeze for local government employees. Me and my collegues will continue to earn less than the real living wage.
Feeling cornered, caged and concerned, I got an email from Julian Drinkall, the CEO of the Academy Trust that runs the SEN college where I work. He announced, in rather self congratulatory tone, that he's hired a new recruit to work directly under him for the purpose ... hmmm, for what purpose? ... I'm thinking as I scroll down the message: as a buffer to protect his postion in case of future reducncies? As someone to actually do the work he is responsible for so he has more time for CEO responsibilities such as discussing pie charts over corporate lunches? To bring in a collegue to form a team of exceptionally privileged workers that share the cream and thus Julian Drinkall becomes less exceptional? I don't really know what a CEO actually does day-to-day. Maybe we could swop roles for a day and find out? What do you say to that Jules? You spend a day in my bubble (PPE is currently available from the PC room in the corridor) and I'll sit at your desk and peruse pie charts, or whatever it is that you do, ... I'd like to find out. I suppose it's unlikely that Mr Drinkall will accept my proposal so I'll carry on with trying to express my concerns and channel my fury. After reading his announcement of a new recruit in senior management I started wondering about the salary of said new recruit. And then I started wondering about the salary of our CEO. I asked him and he said that his income was public information so I Googled "Julian Drinkall AET annual salary' and the result showed that he earns £264,000. Blimey! That's 17 times my salary. The search result also showed that last year he milked a bonus of £26,000! That means that his annual bonus last year more that double my annual income as an LSA. It's my labour that is supplying data for his graphs and pie charts!!! What does he do to get such a generous share? This is taxpayers money. It has been designated for education. What on earth does the CEO of an academy chain actually do to claim such a huge portion for himself?
What do CEOs do? What does CEO stand for? Cumulative Extortion Operator? Corporate Employee Overseer? Captain of Empty Office? I could Google it but I'm not going to. My job as an LSA is very real. I work as part of a great team supporting the young people in getting the best possible education and experience at the college. Why does that role have so much less value than that of Mr. Drinkall the CEO?
https://app.croneri.co.uk/whats-new/uk-s-largest-academy-chain-faces-major-dispute
