By striking, I’m teaching my pupils something profound

If I can’t back up my own convictions with corresponding action, then what am I showing my students?

First, they came for the train drivers, and I did not speak up because I was not a train driver. Then they came for the nurses, and I…

Martin Niemoller’s words are at risk of becoming a hackneyed cliche these days, but to me they continue to ring true. When people fail to stand up for an idea they believe in, the idea tends to dissipate like a puff of smoke in the wind, or to wither on the vine.

That’s why I have supported the striking railway staff who are protesting over diminishing minimum safe staffing levels, as well as pay. It is also why I supported nurses in their strike over the sustained systemic underfunding and managed decline of the NHS, as well as pay.

And it’s why I, a teacher, will be striking on Wednesday: as well as making a case for those in my profession to receive fairer pay, I will be protesting the underfunding of education as a whole, and the increasingly limited opportunities that students find themselves presented with as a result.

It’s also why I agreed with Kevin Courtney – joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU) – when he told The Independent that it was important for children to witness teachers standing up for what they believe in. He said that most secondary school students supported the strike. Of course they do (turkeys and Christmas, etc). But with the former point, he has struck the nail firmly on its head.

As an English teacher, I don’t just teach grammar; I also use the texts we study to help impart important messages about morality. A core principle of the English curriculum at my school is to stress the importance of community, responsibility and the role of the individual. Priestley, Dickens, Orwell, etc.

With that in mind, I feel that it is crucial we take action. Our government has already taken clear steps to try and kneecap future industrial action, with restrictive laws around the right to strike. During a year 7 lesson this morning, I was struck by the similarities to George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

In this country we have an administration which keeps back the milk and the apples for itself and its cronies. Which breaks its own laws. Which would happily take the propagandist Squealer on board as party chairman. Four legs good, two legs bad; four legs good, two legs better. Pay tax good, avoid tax bad; pay tax good, avoid tax better. Get caught out; pretend to be sorry. The analogy is weak – at no point am I minded to compare Liz Truss to the fleeing Snowball.

But by laying down my board pen on Wednesday, I am demonstrating to my students there is a matter important enough to me that I’ll stick my head above the parapet, forego a day’s pay, and stand up for myself and others.

If I cannot back up my own convictions with corresponding action, then what exactly am I teaching my students?

Will Topps teaches English at a secondary school in Devon and is a freelance journalist