Will teachers get less criticism when the children finally go back to school?

[converseandjeans]

There are often posts on MN complaining about DCs class teacher or their school. Will teachers enjoy a new found respect once this crisis is over? Will some parents suddenly realise that it's not actually that easy to keep children on task? Bearing in mind the average primary school class has 30 children in it.

I’ve always had a huge amount of respect for teachers. I will still despair at the lack of individual attention and herd approach to teaching but I’ve always know there is very little individual teachers can do. Although some are better than others.
My children are different my daughter is dyslexic and has dyscalculia but wonderfully creative and intelligent. My son is very good at reading, maths etc but has poor attention and needs encouraging to do art and creative activities. Neither are supported in a ‘outstanding’ mainstream school or by a teacher of 30.

My son is very good at reading, maths etc but has poor attention and needs encouraging to do art and creative activities.

I wouldn’t have thought your son needs supporting with that as such. That’s probably how a lot of the school population are!

No. The ones who like to complain about teachers are no doubt forgetting the teacher has up to 29 others in the class and will wonder what all the fuss is about. Both of my teenagers have said it's much easier to concentrate without anyone else around and are finding the work set by their teachers easier to understand without distraction. I get why that is but some parents will blame the teachers for not having control of the class etc.

I've always had respect for teachers but I've worked in classrooms with a third of children having special needs before so know how tough it can be.

Teacher here working from home. Would far rather be at work with my students. The amount of emails I am fielding is insane. Using Teams and thus all students can contact me all the time - as they are anxious, which of course I understand, I like to respond quickly to try and put their minds at rest.

I teach economics to Y12 and Y13.

thatswotshesaid how are you managing to get him to settle to do academic work?

I’ve always respected teachers. I think the moaning is being done as parents are still expected to do their full time job from home whilst also teaching their kids. A teacher can concentrate on teaching and not try to join conference calls throughout the day or manage a team of other people working remotely around the country.

No. I’m going to give it a few days then actually complain about the pathetic school work the teacher has sent my dd. It took her 10 minutes to complete and was far too easy. We had two sheets sent us on Monday.

Ive has to print material off line for her.

My dc go to private school and the the school were very quick off the mark to make sure we continue to pay our fees at all costs as the teachers were continually supporting us.

nichy teachers are also wfh and trying to get their own children to do work.

Probably not. My husband and his colleagues have been, and are doing, their best to continue with setting up online courses. Trying to monitor vulnerable children and ensure their safety as best they can, and iron out problems with the system. Within days there was criticism and frankly abuse posted online. Sometimes it's just depressing because I know how hard he works.

As some people haven't stopped criticising teachers.

No it won't change.

Only if they have managed to teach 🐖 to fly by the time this is over.

No. I’m going to give it a few days then actually complain about the pathetic school work the teacher has sent my dd

I'd be complaining about having to pay the fees and asking why what they are offering isn't coming close to what many thousands of state school teachers are offering. I wouldn't complain about an individual teacher unless they were not doing what the school have said they must do and even then I'd be reluctant as you don't know her situation.

A teacher can concentrate on teaching and not try to join conference calls throughout the day or manage a team of other people working remotely around the country

Because teachers don’t have families? Because we’re not working on making our face to face resources useful in the online context which means a massive rethink? Because we are not fielding question after question? And in some cases fielding work from several hundred students at the same time?!

No this is going to make everything 10000 times worse. It'll be "well when I was homeschooling my DC he was as good as gold!" and "when I was teaching GCSE maths to my y10 they picked it up no trouble so you must be teaching them wrong!". Everyone in the world is an expert at teaching already, except for actual teachers. And now they will have their "homeschooling" experience as evidence of how superior they are. We are in for an absolute shit storm when this is all over. I'm considering a change of career!

I think in general teachers are respected. In all the time ds(16) has been at school he has probably had 30+ teachers. There has only been 2 teachers that I have criticised and for genuine and specific reasons.

Don't make the mistake because you see some criticism of some teachers that all are constantly criticised. Teachers are all individuals and only human!

katnissk maybe you're right 🤷‍♀️ I just hoped that some parents with more 'challenging' students may have more empathy when they realise that their child doesn't actually do much work.

zombie that's a shame for your DH.

I've always thought teaching almost a calling.
I think people who complain about teachers may have a legitimate problem and should address it with the school and will continue to do so. But many people like to moan for the sake of it and that won't change either.

I have been close to tears reading some of the posts, regarding teachers, I've the last few days.
I have gone to post several times and then thought what's the point?
All of the teachers I know are working their backsides off.
Planning and setting work remotely, marking work, answering questions/emails, supporting pupils who are struggling emotionally, going into work,on a rota, to provide childcare for key workers children and our vulnerable pupils and gladly giving up our unpaid Easter holiday to do so.
We could also be redeployed, at any time, in any area of the council.
Neither myself or any of the teachers I know are complaining about any of this and are just getting on with it.
Many people, in many areas,are working incredibly hard and doing what needs to be done.
However, it just seems to be another opportunity, for some, to undermine and devalue further the role of teachers.
At a time like this we need to pulling together not ripping some people apart.

Have to say daughter's school haven't been very good while they've been off and barely set any work at all. So they'll probably be massively behind when they go back. Having said that I rarely find teachers are the problem, it's usually the senior team who are at fault. Oh and the fact that now schools try to run like actual buisnes which doesn't work.

Sadly I've seen teacher bashing on a thread today - the one about private schools teaching full lessons all day via video and Zoom - and why can't state schools do this. What are teachers doing etc?

I work with schools and what I've seen the last weeks has been admirable. All staff stepping up, putting their health on the line, caring about vulnerable kids, comforting yr 11s and 13s.

I wish others could respect them in this way.

No, we'll still get blamed for everything as usual. Look at the posts on here, were either getting slagged off for setting too much, not enough work, the wrong sort of work etc etc. Three days into an unprecedented national emergency and we're trying to do our best.

@rosebel many are trying to get the systems running better for kids to access. My husband's school are having FaceTime meetings twice a day. Then FaceTime meetings with their stage partner to assess where the kids are, and plan for what will happen after the holidays. Some kids are not able to access internet and or equipment. As I've said before it's complicated.

DD, state comp. Teachers are all setting work via google classroom, with either facilities to mark or posting up answers later. They're doing a fab job.

To answer the question, I think many people will appreciate teachers more, but the moaners and whingers will get worse.

No. Knobs complain about teachers. They’ll still be knobs after all this.
Poor bloody teachers just can’t win either way- too much work set, not enough work set, pushing for feedback and Contact during this time or can’t be contacted.
Honestly- people need to get a grip and they just won’t- so I hope teachers know that the people with a modicum of sense and intelligence know fine well teaching is about more than “good holidays” and “finishing at 3” 🙄