AS I sat in my PJs at 8am on strike day last Thursday I wondered if I should use my day to catch-up on sleep, housework or school work? I then wondered if people really know why their local schools were mostly shut and what the strike was really all about, so I write.

Is it okay that by midnight on Wednesday I have already worked 30 hours when my contract is for 32 over a five-day week? Is it okay that I now have to work until I am 70 to get a pension? Do we really want our children being taught by 70 years olds? Can a 70-year-old deliver good teaching?

Even more important than pay and hours, what about the kids! Has the Secrteray of State for Education Michael Gove lost his mind? Has he forgotten that education is for our children and their future?

Why is it okay for children with special needs to get less support than ever?

Why is it okay for Mr Gove to change what grade students achieve while they are studying for their course?

Why is it okay for him to change what needs to be studied with no time for teachers to prepare for such changes?

Why is it okay that he can tell schools that if a student does a retake the first grade achieved will be what the school is judged on?

Why is it okay for all assessment to be done through examination when we all know the population of our schools is made up of different people with different needs, different learning styles and, of course, different ways of showing their skills and knowledge. Does he not know that coursework and oral assessment can show us a lot about a person's skill?

Is it okay for Mr Gove to be our Secretary of State for Education when he has no respect for education and no understanding of what good teaching looks like? Is it okay that the biggest teaching union in the country has expressed a vote of no confidence in our education secretary and yet he is still in post, making disastrous choices about the future of education.

I chose to be a teacher, I love being a teacher, and so I can accept but not like my pay, working hours and pension. But my son did not choose Mr Gove, and he should not have to accept the destruction to his education and future. That is why I, his mum, a teacher, was on strike last Thursday.

Louise McGee

Secondary school teacher

Address supplied