To wonder why teachers are not teaching my child?

[Nickynackienoo]

I am a nurse redeployed to itu. Doing 13 hour days and stressed up to the eyeballs at the moment. My children (12 and 8) go to school on my work days and on my days off i keep them at home with me according to the government guidance. As far as I can tell, the teachers at school are just childminding and not teaching anything. How is it that they can have just 4 kids in the school and not manage to get them to do at least some work? How can I possibly do the job of a teacher on my days off? They have send so many links via email that I can’t make sense of, it’s so overly complicated. Surely as key workers they should be doing the job they are being paid to do? I must be missing something, can someone fill me in?

OP - I would worry about something else. Like all those children who's parents have lost their jobs, or have no money coming in and are not eligible for the gov financial help schemes. Those children who live in abusive homes and cannot escape to school anymore.
I understand you are tired, many people are working their asses off at the moment trying to juggle everything.
Complaining that your 12 and 8 yr old kids are not being taught at school is, well, meh. Go and pick up some free food on your way home. (And donate some of it to a family who need it).

It's mad. I know 4 teachers. All have told me that their workload is reduced due to lock down. None are going into school more than one day per week, and they have told me they are doing 2-3 hours prep/marking etc per day.

Of course there will be some teachers doing more than usual. There are also some teachers who, like furloughed workers, have got a much reduced workload, some of whom dont have their own children to home educate either.

It is not teacher bashing to note this.

It is simply stating a truth.

Cheeky git op

We're all in the same position OP, I suppose at least you still have a job, not much consolation, I know.
Thank you for the wonderful job you are doing.

A suggestion for the 12 year old to stay at home to do their work.
There is no teaching taking place in school, it's just childcare.
Those wfh are unable to teach their dc either, it's shit for most people now.

I find it really hard to understand that some teachers are unable to understand what is happening in their school isn’t happening everywhere. My DC have had zero direct contact from their school, there’s just work on the website and the odd video of a teacher reading. I’m worried about this and have every right to be.

I think most of us do realise there is inconsistent stuff going on. We're just trying to stop people thinking that teachers doing nothing is the norm. And that just because some aren't teaching, it doesn't mean they're sat at home doing nothing, there are plenty of non-teaching tasks that a teacher has to do.

My response to concerns like yours is - can you contact the school (again)? Ask them for more direction? If not, there is the BBC stuff and the Oak Academy stuff. I'm sorry I can't direct you to anything more specific.

Lemonblast It’s “vile” to personally address a poster that way without actually discussing the points they raised.

You may well be right but not until you argue your point successfully rather than insulting the poster and running.

It seems to me that the kids of key workers are at a definite disadvantage as we are not able spend as much time teaching them

Nor are the kids of parents working from home, or the kids of single parents who are working, or the kids of parents who don't have resources, or the kids of parents who just don't have the knowledge to assist their children.

Many, many people are muddling along the best the can.

I don't understand why children of key workers can't do the work set for them at school. No sensible person is going to expect the art teacher on rota that day to deliver a physics lesson/ answer maths question/ start a PE lesson but its surely not hard for any teacher of any discipline to set up a comfortable study environment for a few hours with access to computers- it's also a few hours of their day where they could get on with their own marking/ emails etc.

I don't think OP is being unreasonable to expect to spend some time with her DC after working 50 hours on an ICU ward under the current circumstances, without worrying about them catching up with their homeschooling.

Quite, @fivesecondrule and that's precisely what is happening.

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

No, what you have said isn't teacher-bashing. You have stated about a handful of teachers you actually know and then given balance by saying you know there are some doing more and some less. This is true for any profession and we know it.

Teacher-bashing is when someone makes a statement like:

Teachers aren't doing anything because they're not teaching.

Why are teachers just out enjoying the sun?

Teachers are at home, doing nothing, on full pay.

Why are teachers on MN when they should be working?

Etc. etc.

I note that some teachers are on mumsnet during school hours. I don’t think that happened before lockdown? Without stating the obvious, that doesn’t help the cause

I work in 3 schools. 2 of my schools don’t want me in. As I work there on a a zero hours basis, I am not being paid for those hours usually worked. I am not working today on that basis.

Why assume we are all full time?

How is it vile? We seem to be able to minimise the risks every other keyworker is taking, slate teachers etc so I minimised what the NHS staff are doing and put it in black and white. Oh wasn't that ok? Thought not.

I wouldn't swap places but it makes a point of how moaning about what everyone else is doing and making comparisons and minimising is a shameful thing to do. Saying people that don't work for the NHS will have kids that are better educated because their parents are at home doing sod all really (when that isn't true!) Is just really low.

Everyone has different worries right now. Sure worrying about money and childcare isn't as scary as worrying about death but don't compare, it's nasty. I think I made my point with my last post and the responses

find it really hard to understand that some teachers are unable to understand what is happening in their school isn’t happening everywhere.

There are virtually no fixed rules about what schools have to be doing. so no schools are being unreasonable as there is virtually nothing they are officially supposed to be doing. Parents complain if the school doesn't do things in the way they want, but parents are not in charge. Some parents want more work, some want less, some want mainly online stuff, some want paper based. There is simply no pleasing everyone.

Why don't you blame the DfE, who have given such limited guidance. If they were saying that all schools had to be teaching children via pre-recorded or video lessons each day, then maybe we would be unreasonable for not doing it. They don't say that though as they know full well they have not funded or resourced schools with the technology or training to be able to do this. They also know just how many families there are out there who can't afford devices and broadband access at home.

Just out of interest OP, if you’re working 13 hour shifts, is your school open for all that time, and if not, who is looking after the children at the other times?

We are both key workers in NHS working in clinical areas, kids in school 4 days per week. The teachers are supervising with the work set for the whole class. When the children are at home with one of us we try to do the same (whilst resting/housework etc as per other families who are still working. I’ve made my peace with it and have accepted that we can only do the best we can with the schoolwork.

Get over yourself OP. You have childcare, how the hell is a teacher supposed to teach a range of age groups and when they don’t know what work their actual teachers are setting.

How are your children disadvantaged. Other parents are either trying to work around their children which means everything takes twice as long and there is no end of the day and catch-up on work goes on into the early hours of the morning. Alternatively they have lost their jobs or are potentially on the path to losing jobs and are too stressed to concentrate on home schooling whilst worrying about how they are going to pay their bills.

On mumsnet the following things count as "teacher bashing":

• speculating that teachers, like other workers in any profession, include excellent ones, mediocre ones & poor ones
• suggesting that not every teacher is a perfect, diligent, motivated & selfless educator.

OP ignore the gaslighting on MN you are not wrong. The number one rule in dialogue with schools is you must never criticise a school. Not ever. Not one little bit. They can't take it. All that will happen is you become the baddie, they can't possibly remotely be under scrutiny and are always doing their best whatever the outcomes are. This is integral to the culture.

I don't understand why children of key workers can't do the work set for them at school.

I think the vast majority are. So this is a concern for the poster's school and they should contact the school to ask.

Teachers have to follow the guidelines/policies set out by their school. Unfortunately, no teacher on MN can answer questions about the level of support a poster's child is receiving because we don't know the child, teacher or school.

People need to ask their school. SLT will be able to respond.

@YappityYapYap that's a shit post and you know it.

This certainly doesn't reflect the thoughts of any teachers that I know.

Leflic get back in your box I’ve seen enough teacher threads on MN to know that there is NO point in criticising or critiquing. The aggression that is levelled is crazy.

Teateaandmoretea
I find it really hard to understand that some teachers are unable to understand what is happening in their school isn’t happening everywhere.

This is funny because the complaint that teachers are putting forward is that provision is different from school to school.

It would be really unfair for the children going into school to be taught by professional teaching staff, as they children at home aren’t getting this opportunity.

OP, most children at home have working parents, or parents looking after young children. The majority are not being carefully homeschooled!

It’s fair to set the same work for all children, so keyworkers’ kids are not at an unfair advantage by still having a formal education.

I’m a teacher and I’m not offended by your comments. You just clearly don’t get it.

I couldn’t begin to calculate the hundreds/thousands of unpaid hours I’ve worked as a teacher in my evenings, weekends and unpaid holidays, so find it hilarious that people are put out that we might have reduced work hours in a pandemic crisis.

I note that some teachers are on mumsnet during school hours. I don’t think that happened before lockdown? Without stating the obvious, that doesn’t help the cause.

No words. Just none.

Can you send your kids in on the days you’re not working? Might stop you acting like such a martyr.