Our children have the right to an education.

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So many posts about whether schools will be safe when they reopen but I’m not seeing this point made. Lots of discussion around the childcare that schools provide and the importance on children socially.

My 11 year old has lost all interest and I can’t get him to do anything significant. We’ve had one zoom social with his teacher and classmates. So pretty much zero learning going on.

We know children are less susceptible and there is some discussion around whether they’re transmitting less. The children of key workers (i.e. the ones more likely to catch and spread it) have been at school the whole time and as far as I know there haven’t been massive outbreaks in schools.

So I think I just want to loudly shout: our children have the right to an education.

The woe is me I am a teacher is nauseating for those of us in medicine, that do actually have a great deal of risk to contend with every single day

You have PPE! You have goodwill and support to do your jobs. You realise that schools will be key in keeping down 'R', don't you? If children are transmitting, there clearly isn't a hope in hell for us as a profession but also in keeping the disease at a low level in the community. So rather than dismiss what teachers are saying, how about listening and contributing what you know as a professional which may help us deal with some of our fears and provide us with your experience as to what works and what doesn't?

We will not always be at crisis level, and very soon this will all be over and the dust will settle. The schools that have failed their children will be exposed, inquiries will be held and those schools can expect to be closed if they are failing to such a degree.

Many posts on here seem incapable of grasping the concept that there will be consequences for ignoring children in danger, not providing school work for half a year.

Educate your child then. Why should teachers lives be put at risk

Drive yourself to places...why should bus drivers lives be put at risk?

Grow your own food, why should supermarket workers lives be put at risk?

Millions home educate their children around the world and many do a great job of it. What’s stopping you?

You must have a very poor opinion of teachers then if you think a parent with no formal training can take on that role and do as good a job?

And besides, school is more than the actual subjects learnt...interaction with peers is crucial.

Clavinova , schools have already been told to fund everything needed for June from existing budgets .

Forgetting teachers are people seriously willing to risk young lives when the daily death count is higher than when schools closed ?
Interested to hear how people think the situation has improved since then which means is now ok to reopen schools.

Great! More jobs for those that actually want to work. Best to get rid of the dead wood now I say, things aren't going to get any easier. We have a huge recession now, so we have plenty of highly skilled, intelligent professionals that can flood the teaching industry and bring skills, energy and a bit of 'can do' to the profession. The best thing that could happen to the sector is new blood, if this thread is anything to go by!

Great! We have several years of teacher shortages whilst these heroic messiahs who will lead us to great new heights are trained. And several years where kids education suffers because they are being taught in huge classes or by teachers who aren't teaching in their specialism!

Fabulous. What we we talking about again? How kids education has suffered and how there is a lack of quality teaching during lockdown?

Great. Of course.

Great joined up thinking on how to solve the lost education of the last few months with years of even more problems in the sector.

Those born in 2020 have a bright future to look forward to.

Many posts on here seem incapable of grasping the concept that there will be consequences for ignoring children in danger, not providing school work for half a year

Catastrophising much? Grip shop. Buy one.

There speaks someone who has never experienced poverty. By which I mean REAL poverty, not the kind envisaged by the middle classes where you have to swap shopping at Waitrose for Aldi

You know nothing about my life and what I may have been through, where I may have been and what I may have experienced. Don't insult me. I am high risk and have a child who is high risk. I don't want my children to lose a parent and as a parent, I don't want to lose a child. I can, fortunately, afford to take some time out. I recognise that priviledge for what it is and also recognise that many others can't take that kind of risk. I wouldn't be here contributing to a discussion if I didn't care what happens to everyone else, nor recognise that my experience of covid, when it happens, will very much depend on what is happening elsewhere. What happens in schools when they open determines, in my opinion, everyone's experiences going forward. It is too soon and ill thought through. So if necessary, I will withdraw and do what I need to and keep my family safe.

It is down to the parent to make sure they provide their children with an education, this is why parents are fined when they take them on holiday.

You don't have to have your children sat at a desk all day, but you are the parent and it is for their benefit. If your child doesn't respect that their education will shape their future then that is on you.

Yes it's so easy educating from home whist also wfh doing a full time job yourself , this is why many send their children to school otherwise we would home educate in the first place
If teachers don't want to go back then all schools should be offering more help and stuff online at the moment it varies from one school to another
I don't see this outcry from teachers in other countries who have gone back ?

We will not always be at crisis level, and very soon this will all be over and the dust will settle. The schools that have failed their children will be exposed, inquiries will be held and those schools can expect to be closed if they are failing to such a degree

You forgot about the inquiries into the unnecessary deaths across a variety of sectors - lack of PPE in hospitals, deaths of bus drivers, deaths of school staff.

We want schools to open in a manageable way. The unions have tried to work with the government for weeks now to find a workable solution but have been ignored. Once again people who do not work in schools, have no idea about the practicalities such as classroom sizes, dining rooms, toilets etc have come up with a plan without listening to those in the know. Let's be honest how many of them went to cramped state schools? There will be no decent education on your child's return. Maybe by working with the unions and headteachers instead of just announcing what they did on Sunday and Monday we wouldn't have the battle that's now going on. I hate being stuck in front of a computer for hours instead of being in a classroom with pupils, but as I teach in a secondary school it looks like I will be doing this for longer.

I'm really torn on this one. This lockdown has been incredibly hard on my DDs, who are adopted and have attachment issues. DD1 (11) has SEN hence thrives on routine and out of school activities. She'll be starting secondary school in September, too, which is enough of a stress in itself. She's also sad that she can't see either of her Grandmas.

DD2 (8) is in year 3 and is really missing her friends. They chat on FaceTime and play roblox together, but it really isn't the same and it's really sad to see how withdrawn she's become.

And homeschooling isn't possible, as I've had COVID-19 symptoms and my DH has to WFH. I've felt awful about it in the past, but I've had to put it to one side and focus on getting better myself. I also know that DD2 has been very anxious about Mummy dying. I reassure her, of course, but an ambulance has been called out a couple of times, and they know very well that people do die of COVID-19. I seem to have passed that stage, so her anxiety is lessening, thankfully.

I know they need to be back in school, and DD1 will be back on 1st June. I'm told that I'm no longer infectious so that's fine. But my DH has asthma, so there is reason for concern. Although he didn't catch it from me, DD2 is the only other family member who has had symptoms and she's recovered so she's clear,

My concern is more about how they'll manage home time. DD1 can walk home or meet us outside the school, so that's no problem. They do handovers to parents in year 3, though, so hopefully they'll work out how to implement social distancing by the time other years go back.

But kids need to be back in school somehow. I have concerns, and I'm sure teachers will too, but this is no life at all for my DDs.

There speaks someone who has never experienced poverty. By which I mean REAL poverty, not the kind envisaged by the middle classes where you have to swap shopping at Waitrose for Aldi

What a colossal wanky statement, Jojobar.

Today in France. This is what you will get. Kids look so happy ☹️



Our children have a right to an education.
Yeah, and schools are doing their bit by providing what they can online. It seems the ones not fulfilling their part of the bargain in your house are you and your child.
Blame Covid-19, and all the Governments who let things get to this parlous state, not the teaching profession, the vast majority of which, is doing all it can to mitigate the effects.

I don't see this outcry from teachers in other countries who have gone back ?

You should hear the noise from Australia.

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I don't see this outcry from teachers in other countries who have gone back?

I am not personally fluent in the wide variety of languages that exist in countries where teachers have gone back so am not aware of their specific concerns. I am sure there have been many.

I do see, however, a commitment in other countries to keeping class sizes small and pictures that appeared on my Facebook feed yesterday from France had teachers with face masks, Denmark with no more than 8 in a primary class (15 is the number we have been given) and Chinese children sat in huge chalked squares outside as space in which they are able to play. Same Chinese children who's bags and bottom of the feet were sprayed with disinfectant, who handwashed and then were sprayed with something (who knows what?!) after the handwashing before they even got in a classroom and a commitment to handwashing once per hour.

Yeah, and schools are doing their bit by providing what they can online

Some are just throwing a few ill thought through work sheets our way and weblinks to oaktree or similar.

I don’t think that qualifies as ‘doing their bit’

@Dontcoughnearme

It is down to the parent to make sure they provide their children with an education, this is why parents are fined when they take them on holiday.

What about parents working from home?

If it is 'down to the parent', why bother having teachers at all? Just make them all redundant since they're not doing anything anyway.

Teachers in other countries have PPE. And less people infected on their countries. And much less deaths.

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I’m not sure being stuck on screens all day while their parents work and never seeing their friends is preferable, personally.

They are very difficult issues. In my view the greater good is getting all children back for one full month of school before the summer holidays. The 2meters is not law and is pretty much made up and children don't die of it on the whole, nor more so than they do of say measles) so I am not too worried about classrooms that are cramped.

If you’re a decent parent they aren’t losing out on an education.