Could they get furloughed workers to help in schools?

[BlackWhitePurple]

We keep hearing that one problem with reopening schools is that there aren't enough staff to cover split classes.

Would it be feasible to ask now for some furloughed workers to help out in September? I'm thinking the likes of hairdressers, sports coaches etc who are unlikely to be back to work any time soon. If the government are still going to be paying furloughed wages (which presumably they'll have to, if the industries can't open), they could offer to pay 80% instead of 60% or whatever it is, do background checks now, and put some training in place to allow them to at least supervise groups of primary-school children. Also offer to pay SAHP the same amount if they help.

I'm thinking the school could then move, say, the older age groups (from primary) into, say, a village/scout/church/community hall, and spread the younger classes out over the remaining classes and assembly hall.

The teacher could then do the actual teaching, and then leave the class with the TA to complete work, and then go into the other classroom to teach there. An extra person in each class would help with supervision.

It's not ideal, obviously, but it would allow all pupils (in primary at least) back to school with social distancing in place. It would need money to be spent (to boost the furloughed workers' pay, add some SAHPs, hire halls etc), but they've already found billions, and it wouldn't be prohibitively expensive in comparison (plus it would allow taxpayers to return to work).

Obviously it wouldn't work for every school, but it would be a start for some.

It's not likely to go on forever (if everyone goes back to work then we either go back to normal, or Corona spikes again and we go back to lockdown).

Anyone have any other ideas for how things could work?

It's obviously not a bad policy to have and many organisations do insist on it as a blanket policy but no, you don't necessarily have to wait before starting someone. Some, especially if a person has a lot of addresses or has ever lived in London can take months to come back. Most take a couple of days.

This is hilarious. I'm a TA in a special school...I would love to see members of the public told to f**k off and be spat at/punched by my kids.

Schools are professional workplaces OP, you can't just throw untrained people in them, that's why people are offended.

A DBS doesn't really protect anyone. It provides comfort in that you can "prove" you checked someone out and it may deter some people from attempting to work with children but it's the policies and procedures in school that actually protect children.

Plus having a bad one doesn't necessarily prevent you working with children. Before all this, we had reformed gang members working as mentors with some of our most vulnerable children. By definition, they have some pretty nasty stuff, including murder, on their DBS checks.

The largest problem is space rather than staffing.

A DBS doesn't really protect anyone. It provides comfort in that you can "prove" you checked someone out and it may deter some people from attempting to work with children but it's the policies and procedures in school that actually protect children.

Absolutely. That's why dbs checks are the least important part of this as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway, as I keep saying, furloughed workers is a moot point because the are 1000s of out of work supply teachers at the moment. If it was just a case of staffing levels, this would be really easy to resolve!

The older groups would be in community halls etc where desks could be far enough apart that the entire class could be taught by the teacher
We can't fit a whole class in our school hall and that's bigger than many community spaces.

Unfortunately schools buildings and staffing are limited factors

Back in 2012 our wonderful government, with Gove in education, approved cutting school building sizes and reducing required dimensions for classrooms. This went hand in hand with increased pupil numbers.

LucilleBluth

Spat at, punched, kicked, sworn at, threatened,

And don’t get me started on medical training or team teach ....

Everyone seems to think school employees are so replaceable and unprofessional.

I’m fed up of people assuming you can just walk into a TA position and ‘do a bit of photocopying’ it a bit like an accountant ‘Just adding up’ or a nurse ‘checking a temperature’

Honestly some of you go sort your own work issues out and leave schools to the professionals.

Yeah, the time a pupil set his work ON FIRE rather than sit and do it was an experience I wouldn’t wish on anyone...

@WowLucky

A DBS doesn't really protect anyone. It provides comfort in that you can "prove" you checked someone out and it may deter some people from attempting to work with children but it's the policies and procedures in school that actually protect children.

Plus having a bad one doesn't necessarily prevent you working with children. Before all this, we had reformed gang members working as mentors with some of our most vulnerable children. By definition, they have some pretty nasty stuff, including murder, on their DBS checks.

Of course, but we also have safer recruitment among other things. How would this work with mass volunteers? I’m SLT and I manage the volunteers at our school and I do take a safer recruitment approach when they join with character references, alongside DBS, training and trusting the safeguarding culture at school.

I’m not opposed to utilising other buildings, having volunteers, being flexible etc but as soon as we argue that safeguarding standards can be dropped temporarily we are on a slippery slope. It could be done but would need a bit of time to implement.

@TeaStory and @Whaddyathinkofthis i must have imagined all the posts from people scoffing at the very idea of ‘Suzie Hairdresser’ being competent at maths then.

Don’t get me wrong I don’t want to teach either, and anyway come september i’ll be far tok busy doing my actual job (which OBVIOUSLY requires zero knowledge of anything hard like maths, chemistry or biology)

I'm a hairdresser and if they was to put us in a school they may as well let us go back to work.
I'm not on furlough just to have a jolly...I would rather be in work.
Not being funny but I can't teach, the same as putting a teacher in a salon to cut hair, it won't work

But my TA friends who work in Reception or up to about Year 3 tell me they spend a lot of time doing photocopying, cutting out shapes, laminating pictures to create displays etc. I'm suggesting volunteers could do those things and free up the TAs to help the teacher cover a split class.

We'll op, I would say your friends are lucky sods then because all the tas I know and work with are in charge of interventions and nurture groups as well as teaching small groups and covering classes.

Tell you what tho, one thing hairdressers and teachers do have in common is, there’s no shortage of people who think we earn/charge too much for doing something that‘s a piece of piss, and those people have found out under lockdown that that’s not the case 😁😁😁

MadameButterface
So true!
Could you imagine the AIBU
AIBU to think hairdressers charge a fortune? During lockdown I've dyed my own hair and cut my own fringe for the cost of a £10 box dye. What exactly am I paying £75 for at the hairdressers? They give out cups of tea and magazines to butter us all up so we think we're getting a good service. Come on everyone, pile in with your daylight robbery hair stories

ballsdeep Not all TA jobs are created equal. Like @GreenTulips said above, TA roles in special schools are totally different to the so called photocopying that EYFS TAs do. I have a degree, I'm team teach trained, I have qualifications in Autism, ADHD, safeguarding, county lines drug running, prevent, domestic abuse, ACE...etc etc.

You can't just send unqualified people into schools to do our jobs. It takes months for the kids to say hello to you.

MadameButterface

I can only speak for myself. I don't think hairdressers are incompetent. But they're not teachers either!

@WowLucky

I guarantee my HR manager could get all the DBS checks, for more volunteers than we could possibly need done in a couple of days. Whether DBS could cope is another thing, however they are not necessarily needed before staff or volunteers start work, so don't need to be a barrier, provided other checks and risk assessments are done.

What other checks? The DBS is the check unless you are going to post asking for references on social media of course. As for a risk assessment, it'll say that the volunteers are to be supervised and not left alone with children. I'd prefer that the teachers and TAs teach the children and not waste time supervising volunteers who aren't capable of doing the job.

Tell you what tho, one thing hairdressers and teachers do have in common is, there’s no shortage of people who think we earn/charge too much for doing something that‘s a piece of piss, and those people have found out under lockdown that that’s not the case

Haha, absolutely!! 😆

I'm a hairdresser and if they was to put us in a school they may as well let us go back to work

Well exactly!

What other checks? The DBS is the check unless you are going to post asking for references on social media of course.
Every volunteer who supports our programmes has to do a brief application outlining they've got appropriate experience, do a DBS and have references.

This is the norm in places I volunteer too.

@LolaSmiles

What other checks? The DBS is the check unless you are going to post asking for references on social media of course. Every volunteer who supports our programmes has to do a brief application outlining they've got appropriate experience, do a DBS and have references.

This is the norm in places I volunteer too.

Do the references tell you if a person has a caution for violences? Does it tell you if they are a registered sex offender - no, because people pick who will give them a good reference.

A DBS check takes weeks. A reference and a self written claim of appropriate experience mean sod all when it comes to safe guarding.

Same for us too Lola. And the references are always checked. I worry about the safeguarding ‘culture’ of a school e.g. no windows covered, phones locked away, belief that it could happen here would not transfer to other settings.

Sleepy, I read Lola’s post as references plus DBS.

@Useruseruserusee

Same for us too Lola. And the references are always checked. I worry about the safeguarding ‘culture’ of a school e.g. no windows covered, phones locked away, belief that it could happen here would not transfer to other settings.

What other settings are you referring to?