‘Teachers must run summer schools to help pupils to catch up’

[DNAshelicase]

...said the children’s commissioner. Uhmm no hun. I’m a teacher and have already worked through Easter and half term for free, contrary to popular belief we are not paid for holidays. If I’ll be paid handsomely for overtime I’d consider it but tbh I need a break. Wouldn’t get into the profession if we didn’t care about the kids but they aren’t more important than our own kids, the suggestion is a piss take.

FrenchSeal
With all due respect,

That is OK you don't have any

FrenchSeal

I think what really is needed is a new, more positive relationship between teachers and the public.

I suspect that for you and given what you have posted this would be teachers once again giving and parents not budging.

Teachers offering to take a voluntary 20% pay cut in recognition of their reduced workloads at present (with the funds freed up going to the NHS and perhaps some treats for nurses like meals out and weekends away), alongside a programme of summer work, would go a long way towards achieving that.

Delusional.

What about those of us who have been working at normal, if not increased pace, since lockdown started? Should we also have to take a 20% pay cut so that we can buy treats for the NHS?!

Mind boggling.

Sorry but my y1 child has not been taught. They have stuck a load of bunf on google classroom. Mostly links to online resources. Occasionally said well done that’s great when parents have stuck stuff on, and gone to school once every two weeks for a day of looking after the key worker children.
My child has not once had a phone call from his teacher or any zoom lesson. He won’t even consider looking at google classroom anymore.
All this for full pay. Really! And now they need a 6 week break. Seriously!

olivehater

If you have a problem with your child's teacher or school, then take it up with them.

Don't be a dick and lump everyone in together.

@BlessYourCottonSocks My most ambitious child, I have the full spectrum with the 4 of them. Everyone thought nursing would be low pay but it isn't looking that way.

@HopeClearwater when nurses knock off it's normally after 12-14 hour shift which they do 3 or four times a week

Year 1 are back now olive I assume, so you can put away your bile.

You find yourself in the 7 per cent if unhappy parents.

I don’t have a problem with them. I don’t honestly expect them to be able to teach my child or any reception/year 1 aged children when they aren’t going to school but let’s not pretend that they have been working super hard through all this.
I have friends that are teachers and they have definitely been enjoying plenty of down time. They done “need” a six week break. They want it because that is what they have come to expect.

No my y1 child is not back. His school has decided to stay closed. Sorry for expressing an opinion. Bile is quite an emotive word. I know people find home truths hard to take.

olivehater

I don’t have a problem with them.

Who exactly is "them"?

I have friends that are teachers and they have definitely been enjoying plenty of down time.

So have many of my friends that have been working from home or furloughed. So lets not pretend that it is just teachers.

They done “need” a six week break. They want it because that is what they have come to expect.

"They" have it because it what their contracted summer break is.

And as has been said, change the contract, change the pay.

Bloody hell, I'm glad that I teach in the Real World, not the fantasy world of some MNers. My school has received dozens and dozens of thank you emails and treats for the staff room and nice messages when sending in work that the kids have done at home for us to check over and reply (in detailed length) to.
It must be very draining, living with the Eeyore mentality of posters such as FrenchSeal, constantly looking to goad, criticisce, complain and mock.

Please down be pedantic Frip.
I don’t have a problem with my sons teacher. But no she has not been teaching him because she hasn’t been there. End of.
Most of my friends that are working from home are struggling. I work for the nhs in a fairly frontline role. So I have carried on working throughout. This is my first week off.
If you are going to be pendantic about what teachers are contracted to do it is in their contract to teach during the school year. They are not doing this. Therefore they don’t really need a break. If they want the 6 week break fair enough but then fairs fair, perhaps they should take a drop in pay for not being there when they are contracted to be there.
My schools teachers have made it very clear they don’t want to go back as it isn’t safe yet (like it is suddenly going to become safe). I didn’t really get that choice in my job.

My school won’t be taking years 6, 1 and R back till 8th, 15th and 22nd June respectively.

The country is on its knees, a hair's breadth away from bankruptcy. Do you really think the Government is going to pay out for the salaries that would be needed to employ all the staff needed for six weeks of summer opening?

I think what really is needed is a new, more positive relationship between teachers and the public.

Couldn't give a shit what people who don't understand my job think. Haterz gonna hate and all that crap.

Fucked if I'm bending over backwards for 'the public'. Imho they should be grateful for what the majority of teachers have done for their pupils over the last 10 weeks. But we don't expect that and it frankly doesn't bother me either way. I'm certainly not doing any more than I have been doing to desperately hope that 'the public' appreciate the teaching profession and realise they've been wrong about us.

Although I did like it when we decided our new tag should be 'Shit but essential' which seems to be Joe Public's perception of schools and teachers.

I wouldn’t want my kids in over the summer to be taught. I’d much rather they be able to see their friends, go to the park, actually enjoy a bit of normality rather than the ‘new normal.’

‘Imho they should be grateful for what the majority of teachers have done for their pupils over the last 10 weeks.‘

Do we still have to be grateful if our kids are in the group who have had the bare minimum?

I'm with you OP. I've worked over the Easter holidays and the May half term. I need a break and don't want to work over Summer, which we are not paid for.

Ds will be doing GCSEs next summer so I’m expecting him to be doing some work over the summer. Some support from school would be good.

In the hope of some return to normaility in September, Teachers will have a most difficult job assessing, guiding, supporting students in so many aspects of education and mental health who have had various different experiences through this terrible time either from good/poor home schooling provision or the students level of engagement, Teachers need the summer break to prepare

@princessspotify when my DH knocks off it’s after 12-14 hours working both in the classroom and in the evenings and it’s 5 days a week plus ~4 hours over the weekend.

My kids have not had zoom lessons, because of security and IT issues. I don't have a problem with that, it's not the be all and end all.

Work has been set, they have been submitting it, they have got feedback from their teachers, and several calls just to check in and encourage them to continue to make the effort and engage.

I am lucky that my kids are older, that they are very self-motivated, and that we already had a tutor engaged for math and science, to get them up to speed when we moved here. And they've got their Dad for maths and science support, and their Mum for help with Arts subjects. We've certainly had to step once more into the breach dear friends!

Also, this isn't our first time on the merry go round, education was severely impacted when mine were just five and seven and we went through devastating earthquakes. I had to homeschool them then, without any resources from teachers and schools, and while our city did it's merry little best to destroy itself and everyone who lived within her. (NOT blaming the teachers and schools for that, in that situation obviously! Our teachers were marvellous on the day, holding it together for the kids, making sure they kept safe, and didn't fall apart).

I get that some children have received less, some have received more. All schools, all teachers, all their circumstances, are not created equal. I respect our teachers and our school and I trust them to do their best, according to their circumstances, abilities and resources. If I didn't, and I was unhappy, I might be querying them as to what was going on and why, but I wouldn't be assuming the worst, or making suppositions about the reason for the lack I perceived.

I am grateful for the efforts they've made, and the job they've been doing. (Bog standard state academy comp' here.)

Sorry for the novel.

@CarrieBlue give him a pat on the back

In answer to a question pages back about why some teachers are working more hours.

When prepping a lesson for class I build in 'teaching' time where I talk, deliver knowledge and get feedback. In that lesson I also include time for marking in some form or other. When prepping a lesson for home I have to include instructions for this and create lessons in a very different way. It takes longer to develop.

In a lesson a pupil asks question and I answer - online the child emails. I can get 60 emails from a single hour lesson - many asking the same question - 90% of the time the answer is on the work in front of them. It just takes a lot longer. Not more difficult. I imagine that many teachers are like me and thrive off the interaction with the kids.

To the posters saying that their teacher friend and neighbours have been sat in the garden/on a bike ride etc. I imagine that, like my classes, they are accessing the work at all times. I have my emails on my phone so I can answer them at any time but my marking I am doing at night as the vast majority is done by then - I would rather mark in on go than as and when.