Coming to the aid of teachers is not flavour of the month. Our online staffroom forum has been visited by “Miro” who confesses to being “horrified” at receiving a mailshot from the Educational Institute of Scotland asking for pound;3 for Teacher Support Scotland. Miro complains:
“A few things that came to mind are: 1. We pay our EIS subscriptions for that support 2. The charity office has the same address as the EIS 3. Is teaching now seen as a case for charity?
4. Is the EIS no longer there to provide that support?
5. How bad is teaching actually becoming if charity is needed?”
“Needtoknow” replies in kind: “I agree wholeheartedly with all of your points and would like to see all EIS members make similar points to their executive.”
It is left to “LisaF” to protest: “Sorry, but I generally support the idea of helping out others and would like to contribute to a fund which supports teachers in need.”
One of her needs, however, was for EIS reps to listen to her complaints about job-sizing, which they allegedly did not.