How do teachers feel about schools being open in Sept?

[Meangallery]

So kid's education is to get priority, schools are to open in Sept and if infections rise the Government will close down everything else.

Will the Unions tolerate this? It feels like teachers will be on the frontline next year...

Hi theluckiest - yes, sounds similar! We were surprised just how many parents were key workers in the end.

aragog only very few schools. Teachers were doing shifts in the hubs but these were mainly once a week, or once a fortnight. A friend is deputy head at a primary and he was doing two days in a hub and then a bit from home. He's childfree and so was loving life.

theluckiest yes I don't know a single teacher in England, so of course, sorry. I should've said in my first post but in fairness I do lose track of how different things have been.

My BIL and SIL teach in Scotland. One is head of year. Neither worked in a hub once. They were setting work online, but a few hours work a day. Less than usual 110%.

@theluckiest

Actually, this has raised a very important point...to my colleagues in Scotland, how do you feel about going back in the next few weeks?? Not September at all!!!

Next Monday, the luckiest. Full time, full school, no SD between children.

Scottish teacher here. Every teacher in my authority worked in a hub, apart from those who were shielding. It was one week on and two off. I preferred it to working from home as it was more normal. On hub weeks we didn't have to set daily work but my colleagues and I usually did a weekly post of things to do. Engagement wasn't great which was soul destroying at times. I worked my normal hours which of course were regularly impacted by my own children's willingness to get on with their own schoolwork and caring for a shielding parent. I am proud of my commitment and that if my colleagues.

I'm just going to get on with it next week. I have no idea what lies ahead or what things will look like. I'm not frightened but I am cautious.

In truth I have mixed feelings. No PPE, no distancing (I work in a secondary, not a teacher but in a support role dealing with behaviour), not sure how it will pan out with track and trace and having to isolate etc. BUT I need to see that the vulnerable students are ok, it’s been a long time andI don’t feel like it’s safe to leave them any longer. We have to go back, but I don’t know how that should look to be what’s best for students, staff and the wider community. Also selfishly, I struggled with working from home during lockdown and would like to be in school for my sanity. The last 2 weeks of term I was back full time and it was what I needed after doing a couple of days a week throughout (we stayed open all the way through and including holidays up to end of summer term. I should also say I am in the midlands so our students are due back on 27th Aug.

In short, I don’t have the answers to all of the problems, I just want contact with the students now.

tempnamechange98765 - sounds like your friends in Wales have had totally different experiences than my teacher friends and colleagues in our part of England. There's certainly been no lottery win feelings here!

@tempnamechange98765

It's time teachers are doing the same as other key workers ie being out at work. They are keyworkers and many haven't been out to work during this pandemic.

A lot of the teachers I know actually WANT to be back, full time.

Are you a teacher, @tempnamechange98765?

I'm not a teacher, I'm not a keyworker.

Oh right. I wonder why you would be on a thread specifically asking teachers how they feel about schools going back?

Tempnamechange..

I know no teacher who has the conditions you describe. We’ve all worked our arses off, much much more than normal. What did you do during lockdown?

I don't think there any point going over what has happened, we all have different lockdown experiences, there wasn't enough direction from the DOE, now it seems the Gov are trying to use positive vibes to think our way out of this - it isn't enough. Are the Gov ensuring all the kids have access to computers and Wifi or are we just going to keep our fingers crossed they won't be needed?

I know some teachers who have worked their arses off.

Then yesterday I heard a primary teacher on R4 describe her experience of the last few months WFH. Her husband was apparently much older than her and retired. She said ‘we didn’t expect to experience retirement together just yet, it’s been lovely.’

I thought, oh dear, you’ve just bust a bit of a myth. She’s basically admitted to having retired on full pay for months.

Are the Gov ensuring all the kids have access to computers and Wifi or are we just going to keep our fingers crossed they won't be needed?

Fingers crossed is the whole strategy!

Don't be silly Frog. I don't know this teacher so don't know if she did nothing or not, but the experience of having no early alarm, no commute, can go for a walk with your dh morning, noon or night and just do the work later, time in the house together - of course it would feel a bit like being retired!

My school was never actually closed. We opened over Easter and May half term - including the bank holidays. Over the last school year I worked for 42 weeks - I am paid for 39. (Admin staff).

@Mistressiggi

Don't be silly Frog. I don't know this teacher so don't know if she did nothing or not, but the experience of having no early alarm, no commute, can go for a walk with your dh morning, noon or night and just do the work later, time in the house together - of course it would feel a bit like being retired!

Good grief I hope my retirement doesn't feel like 'working more hours than I normally do' which is what many teachers posting here feel they are doing.

@tempnamechange98765

It's time teachers are doing the same as other key workers ie being out at work. They are keyworkers and many haven't been out to work during this pandemic.

A lot of the teachers I know actually WANT to be back, full time.

What the fuck are you on and is is only prescription or can you get it over the counter?

Or sshh from a friend in a small baggy?

Why are there people who aren’t teachers on a thread asking teachers how they feel about September?

Fedup21

I blame their teachers as they clearly didn't a good enough job teaching them to read.

Askmehowiknow having more flexibility over when I did the hours - sitting in my garden to do some of them - doing work in my pyjamas - peeing frequently - being able to get out for walks in daylight! - all of this felt a bit like retirement to me, not that I've experienced it.

Well, I suppose being able to go to the loo and have a drink more than zero times during the daytime DID feel like winning the lottery...But I don't know a single colleague who, like me, didn't work at least 10-15 hours a week MORE than normal.

Re handwashing: it would be amazing if it only took 20-30 seconds So, you are at least 3-5 minutes walk away from the one staff toilet block (that's if there's no-one on the corridors) but when you get there, only one member of staff is allowed in at once. So, you queue outside, with another (maybe) 20-30 staff of the same sex who are also trying to wash their hands...Erm, 3-5 minute walk back to your classroom....Hmm, what could go wrong when you are 10-15 minutes late for your next lesson?

I get really angry when people go on about what teachers have been doing in lockdown like we are some sort of alien race and not just normal people.

I’ve spent lockdown on my own with a four year old while DH works 70 hours and week and does nothing a home (because he is knackered) and before the holidays started I was also doing a couple of hours of live lessons a day, along with marking, planning, answering a thousand e-mails from kids, calling parents and attending online staff meetings.

It has been hell. Teachers are parents too. We have the same struggles and many of us have been WFH full time (on a bloody PT contract).

I've been working my full hours at home, whilst juggling two DC under five, whilst my DH also works from home full time. I have had to do an awful lot of work sat on my bed, on my laptop, and have constant back and neck pain.

I only wish I'd had as much time off as the teachers I KNOW OF. No it's not a huge sample, but it's still every single teacher I know who's been enjoying this slower pace. My other SIL is a primary teacher (Wales) and complained a lot that she was bored! She came to take my DC out for a walk to give DH and I an hour or so to work in peace, and she was complaining that her boss had asked her to fill in some forms. And then joked "I probably shouldn't complain because I am actually meant to be working today!"

tempnamechange98765

Yes my days have had slower pace but that doesn't mean that I, or the teachers that I know of, have been lazy.

And yes I have been bored, I have been bored because I want to be be around the teenagers that I teach, they might be annoying, they might be surly and they might be loads of other things but they are the job and them not being there makes the days boring and slow.

Is this making any head way in to your thought processes?

And just another thought about hand washing.

In order for anyone to wash there hands in lukewarm water the tap has to be run for 5 minutes.