Why are the unions being so obstructive?

[YardleyX]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-53072305

I just don’t get why the unions are dead set against any proposals to open schools?

People are mixing in shops and on public transport; football matches and TV studios are back in action.

Why on earth are we continuing to deny an education to our children?

At least get a concrete plan in place for September, and stop this never-ending delay because “it might not be safe”.

So much for being guided by the science. How many of the teaching union representatives are professional scientists in any discipline?

You know that Boris has said that exams are still happening next summer? So the curriculum isn't really suspended for those year groups.

Chair of Govs here.

Not unions, government.

Quite frankly they are making it up as they go along. Generally, johnson seems to have just blurt out whatever idea pops into his head during the briefing.

Exam boards are looking into it. But yes, the curriculum was suspended for all.

wizzbangfuzz do you actually know that or are you just assuming?

I don't want childcare I want education. These bubbles do nothing for my child. A partial timetable wont help him, a bit of time to see teachers wont help learn what is needed for gcse's. Going to the toilets to wash his hands all the time won't be helpful nor will the noise from the rest in his bubble.

That's what the government should be focusing on.. Getting them all back into education. For some this will mean homeschooling and if these things don't meet the approval of parents, they can also de-register and homeschool using the support network.

However, until government stops messing about and follow through none of this can happen. They were so quick to think about companies surviving and creating furlough that they failed to realise the issue they are still causing with our children.

Other countries like France offer weekly tests. THey have effective track and trace systems in place. Schools have been closed down because of outbreaks. It's not all back and education as usual, read local news from around the world. THe only country that seemed to be doing ok was New Zealand until a couple of Brits arrived looool.

And aren't some areas starting to notice little spikes in positive results since more restrictions have been eased? One of the reasons why face masks on public transport are mandatory.

If you want schools back fully then every adult and child in school needs testing weekly - as per other countries.

I can’t be arsed to explain it all again.

But it is the government being dicks.

Heads and staff have planned and helped and given up time and sanity to try to get a system that works and the government butt in at the last minute and ruin all our best laid plans.

Blame the government. They are actually in charge. The unions have no power anymore. Hence why working conditions in some schools are so terrible and there is a staff shortage.

Jesus, there are a lot of very ignorant, stupid and ill-informed people on this thread.
sashagabadon If your sister really is SLT and not a member of a union, then she is very stupid too.
It's the very first thing any NQT stepping into a classroom is advised to do, for legal protection in case of an accident or a litigious parent.

And I really cannot be bothered to attempt to correct any of the misconceptions and crap being spouted on here.

The government seem (successfully) trying to shift focus onto unions, but my school and the others in my area are all open in line with the government's own guidance, restated by the Prime Minister this week. Every member of staff has been involved in risk assessing for wider opening. It is the government who say year 10 and 12, and 25% of them at a time. It is the government who say maintain social distancing in secondaries, and it is the government who say that we shouldn't use other buildings, nor should we incur any extra costs in wider opening. Not the unions.

But thank you to those of you who are, once again attempting to educate those who are determined to slate the entire teaching profession for something that IS NOT THEIR FUCKING FAULT.

I would usually offer holiday clubs And after school activities for free but fuck that this year since every man and his dog thinks I am a wanker who does bugger all and gets paid loads.

No thanks. All good will gone.

Have the exam boards reached a conclusion yet? I know they closed the consultation part around the 9th, but haven't heard anything else since.

wizzbangfizz - i'm not sure if my 'eh' was understood how i inteded it. It was not aimed at you. It was the exact sound that went through my head when i read guidance that said 'no expectation of social distancing but children should be kept apart' or 'children should be taught in groups of 8, in groups of no more than 15'

Im sorry you experience has been poor. I'm involved in 4 schools and the experience is very different in each. I've had to complain about one. I feel if it was all the unions fault the experience would be more similar.

Just had a quick google and apparently it's definitely not the same as this year. There will be exams of some sort

you do know that the government suspended the curriculum as soon as schools closed?

Can you provide a link to the DfE documentation which states this, please? Because I've looked for it and can't find it, and no-one on MN who says this has ever been able to back it up with DfE documentation.

People are being a bit harsh on the unions. Why are unions expected to come up with solutions? Did the govt go to BMA or individual hospital trusts to lead on increasing ICU capacity/nightingale hospitals? Or increasing manufacture of PPE?

You need a co-ordinated approach and the people in position to do this are central govt. This is from Oak National Academy:

It has been built by more than 80 state school teachers and organisations across the sector, working together

Why wasn’t the govt leading on this and giving it more resources? I don’t understand the role of DfE.

OP- you mention people mixing in shops, football and TV studios. Clearly these are very different from schools in terms of number of people, space and the length of time that people are in close contact.

The Government has not announced any plans to give schools more funding for additional staff/hire of additional spaces/safety measures. So the only way for all children to go back to school full time is for teachers to be in classes of 30+ in small enclosed spaces for 6-7 hours a day. Classes would actually probably have to have even more pupils since some teachers will be at higher risk and not able to be in school.

Do you know any other job where employees are being asked to enclose themselves in a small indoor space with a large number of people all day, with no PPE (not even the visors etc that shop staff are wearing)?

www.bowerham.co.uk/9086-2/

schoolsweek.co.uk/coronavirus-schools-closed-and-exams-cancelled-your-questions-answered/

basically when gcse's get cancelled this cancels the curriculum.
Exam boards have until the end of the month to decide what will happen from September. They could really fuck over everyone and introduce a new curriculum. Wouldn't be the first time this has been done.

Old BBC report that explains what it all meant

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-51980831

Stuff like this
www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/adapting-the-secondary-science-curriculum
Suggests that the government is expecting kids to learn new stuff at home

@User0ne

National Government refuse to meet with them and reject the plans they put forward while changing their own guidance weekly or more often.

That's utter rubbish isn't it and straight out of the media shit the education unions have put out to justify their extreme stance.

Made me laugh that one teacher at our school that is one of the most militant was at a black lives matter rally with absolutely no social distancing whatsoever...and on pictures on social media of partying at friends (colleagues house inside)....but oh no, can't possibly take any risk to educate some poor and disadvantaged child.
Makes me sick frankly

@Nellydean21 why he has a right not to agree with the unions on everything and not to be in them
Quite a few teachers don't belong to a union it's not a given that you must

I'm not entirely sure what suspending the curriculum means, but the DfE guidance for secondary schools is pretty clear that high quality remote education must be provided.

continue providing full-time provision for vulnerable pupils in all year groups (including year 10 and year 12)
continue providing full-time provision for children of critical workers in all year groups (including year 10 and year 12)
provide some face-to-face support to supplement the remote education of year 10 and year 12 pupils, with a clear expectation that remote education will continue to be the predominant form of education delivery for these year groups and that this should be of high quality
continue to use best endeavours to support all other pupils remaining at home, making use of the available remote education support and ensuring a high quality offer

I mean, we haven't seen any of the promised devices and internet access that would enable our most vulnerable and disadvantaged students, the ones least likely to attend the full time provision we offer for them, to access online learning. But that's what the government expects of us.

Can you also link to where you have read that European countries are testing their children and teachers weekly ?