Kids actually prefer learning in huts...

[noblegiraffe]

...says the Minister for Collapsing School Buildings Gillian Keegan

She was saying this to try to make the claim that the huts are really very good indeed, but we all know what a hut is like and really this is a damning indictment of the state of the school buildings that the kids were forced to learn in previously.

As we head into the winter it's going from 'the kids are too hot to learn anything properly' to 'the kids are too cold to learn anything properly' season in my classroom. If anyone calculated the amount of learning lost due to unsuitable school buildings, and not just the ones that have been forced to close because they are actively dangerous, then we might start wondering whether this was the best way to produce a future workforce.

Incidentally, anyone still wondering why schools were closed on 31st August right before they were due to re-open, the advice to close schools was actually given to Gillian Keegan on 21st August....who then went on holiday.

https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/gillian-keegan-raac-crisis-temporary-classrooms

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/raac-8-things-we-learned-from-baroness-barran/

Not at all. People are posting and bumping it up so that people can see Gillian Keegan went on holiday instead of dealing with a crisis and also the brighter ones are seeing that 'kids actually prefer huts' is a totally ludicrous response by a government minister to a crisis involving actively dangerous school buildings.

My kids go all misty eyed when I tell them when I was a child we could travel in the boot of the hatchback. If kids today love school in a hut, they'd really love getting there in the boot of a car.

I am not sure why people are not more angry and astonished like @noblegiraffe .
Why the actual fuck is this Education Secretary still in post?

Or are we all so brainwashed into thinking as long as children are in school (regardless of the quality of building) and in front of a breathing human (teaching qualifications irrelevant)

For fucks sake people. Get angry!

@MondieBee
Great post!

They don't need perfectly temperature controlled, newly built classrooms with a tablet each and digital whiteboards etc, or they'll all fail GCSEs and then life.

God knows why you've brought technology into this, but we are in a position where kids were being taught in schools where there was a highly likely risk of the school falling on their head. This was the government assessment of the risk.

Surely we can all agree that there is a gap between 'perfect classroom' and 'classroom that is going to kill you' which could be explored.

I think they were probably trying to compete with the Secretary of State for Health who this morning seemed to be arguing that the staffing of the NHS on Christmas Day is unsafe.

I went to Primary school from 1968 - 1973 and one of the classrooms was a 'hut' then.
Our local Primary school has a 'hut' for reception and nursery classes and has since long before my now 26 year old DS went there. His secondary school has numerous 'huts' which gave been used as classrooms for many years. Teaching in these 'temporary' classrooms which are permanent features is nothing new.

We could consider questions like:

Is it acceptable for kids to be expected to learn in classrooms that are over 30 degrees?

Is it acceptable for kids to be expected to learn in classrooms that are under 16 degrees?

Is it acceptable for kids to be expected to learn in classrooms where buckets are needed to catch the water when it rains?

Is it acceptable for kids to be expected to learn in schools that are known to be riddled with asbestos which may not be safe?

Is it acceptable for kids to be expected to learn in classrooms where the ceilings may fall in unexpectedly?

It's been decided, last minute, that the last one of that list is actually not acceptable. What about the others?

We had ‘temporary’ huts in high school. I actually did really like them. You got a couple of minutes fresh air walking to them, and there was no hustle and bustle in the corridors to contend with.

Obviously schools falling to bits is a bad thing, but I don’t think temporary classrooms are the worst option… definitely better than remote learning 🤷‍♀️

Do we have this documented in a reputable government survey of a range of children from different backgrounds? And what month of the year was it conducted?

I'd like to see a number pie chart representing the feedback children gave.

Its the will of the people.

Obviously schools falling to bits is a bad thing, but I don’t think temporary classrooms are the worst option… definitely better than remote learning

Or, and hear me out on this, the govt could have dealt with the problem in a more timely fashion when they first knew schools were falling apart in a dangerous fashion 5 years ago so that neither huts nor remote learning was needed?

As people have said, kids find lots of suboptimal stuff exciting. When I was little, power cuts were the most exciting thing ever - we got the torches out, huddled under blankets and ate chocolate and biscuits for dinner.

I think it could get a lot worse than huts. We'll know the shit has really hit the fan when the government starts to promote "outdoor learning" for school children and parents are told to send thermals and waterproofs.

Well, yes that would have been a lot better. Unfortunately it didn’t happen.

The government has acted appallingly. We are lucky that no one died from having a roof collapse on them. Hopefully people will (finally) see what a shambles the current government is and stop voting conservative.

But in the meantime, I can’t get too worked up about temporary classrooms.

They're hardly huts surely. They're just temporary structures that have been used at least for the last 30 years when I was in high school. Our windows blew in in the main building. It was as about a million times better than the online school dd was put through and definitely better than the ceiling falling in.

Let's face it, there are huts and then there are huts.

Will Keegan have visited a school with dilapidated, 20+ year old Portakabins with minimal comforts such as heating, ventilation, toilets, etc or will she have visited a school with brand spanking new 'temporary' classrooms with proper insulation, heating, lighting, blinds on the windows, self-contained toilets, cloakroom, etc?

I'll bet money it'll have been the latter.

Maybe portacabins are that sweet spot between perfect and dangerous and the best we can do right now?

Maybe portacabins are that sweet spot between perfect and dangerous and the best we can do right now?

Indeed. But trying to make out that kids being in huts because of government incompetence and kids' lives being in danger is a good thing is something that a government minister should really try to avoid.

My dd was taught in a hut for 2 years, she liked it because it had its own orgs, toilets (2) and a little garden they grew veg in

I was taught in 'huts' in upper primary. They were 'temporary' but stood for 20 years! They had good points - cosy with the heating on, quiet because there were only 2 classes in it, each class had their own door so less waiting in lines, etc.

As a teacher, I would rather be in a 'hut' than an open plan classroom.

It shouldn’t be but it was for me. I spent the early 70s being taught in the village hall as the primary school had asbestos. Secondary school was spent mainly
being taught in porta cabins as the weren’t enough classrooms/proper bricks and mortar buildings. It wasn’t until college that I had all my lessons in a proper purpose built building day after day. It felt extremely posh/privileged/exotic. That was the late 80s.

@noblegiraffe I think you are being beastly to the Minister, she has only been in post for a short period of time and so cannot really be expected yet to know what is going on. Additionally you have failed to mention in any of your posts that the government in an act of tremendous generosity is spending your money on rebuilding or refurbishing as many as 50 schools a year in England. At that rate all the schools in England will be replaced in little more than 400 years. The oldest buildings at Winchester College are already much older than that, and look at the quality of alumni they have inflicted upon the country.

Wouldn't she have got the job based on that fact that she did know what was going on? The facts were available
If she didn't, the mind boggles!

In a government where Grant Shapps and his many names are a senior minister I think you can be sure that knowing what is going on is not a requirement, or even on the list of desirable qualities.

The misty-eyed memories of the past aside, the point here is that Keegan is pissing on your backs and telling you it's raining.