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.

@Easilyanxious I am with you all the way on that hope.

Your child has a right to an Education - very true.

However they are school 30hrs a week max.

What are YOU doing to further your child’s learning the rest of the time normally ? For an 11yr old do this and more of the same and he will still have an education. Formal sit down taught stuff is but a small part and is easy to catch up. Get ahead with the non school stuff and he’ll be a fab human being.

Teach him to cook, clean, shop ,diy ,budget negotiate relationships etc etc . Complex maths ( what isn’t already in all that ) Shakespeare etc can come later

@Easilyanxious it's not money. You can't get masks. They are not available - as the medical profession will tell you.

but they all have PPE. I want PPE. I can keep doing this if people are finding this hard to understand ?? I have one DD working in a supermarket - has PPE

Its not necessarily easily and available to a satisfactory level PPE.

They also need a proper tracking and tracing and clear info.
My personal gripe is not teachers who are scared of catching Covid in school, I totally understand that.

Its scary and schools as we know are crowded places. What has deeply annoyed me - is that my dc have been abandoned by our two schools - to varying degrees for reasons I cannot fathom when literally on our street similar age DC at other schools are pretty much carrying on as normal.
This is my grievance and the irony is - instead of being deliberately obstructive and awkward and turning this into a a woe is me - we cant teach on line - thing....many more parents would be very happy with DC at home, learning!

@mumsneedwine not medical grade that are needed for dr and nurses but plenty of others available

Which other countries have managed to make primary education work with ten working days’ notice to get half the year groups back (including all the under sixes), and with a further ten working days to get all the year groups back, with no extra funding? Why don’t schools find out and just use their model?

@Biscuit0110
Schools will not be shut down because they didn't provide in this time. Most teachers are trying their best, but teachers didn't train for this. Expecting perfection is unreasonable, similar toxpecting the manager of your local Mcdonalds to deliver you delicious chips that they cook on their stove at home because the McDonalds is shut.

Some people are more interested in "teachers working" than in children learning. (Most) teachers will go the extra mile to help children learn, but I am certain that me spending all day trying to make a video that children can access from home will not help them to learn more, as the available resources are better than what I would come up with. So I am working less, directing to decent quality resources and supporting where I can. I miss my job, because it is not a job that is possible to do at home. However, I want to know that the children and staff are safe before 180 children return to school.

I shop in at least 1 supermarket weekly. I've not seen any worker in our local branches wearing any kind of PPE, the only measure is the protective barriers at the tills, and distancing markers.

For those whose schools have abandoned you I am very sorry. But some schools are doing their best - we are not all the same.
Have you tried Oak National lessons ? They are really good.

red It takes less than a year to retrain.

You can't get masks. They are not available - as the medical profession will tell you.

People seem to be getting hold of them to do their shopping.

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.

This is your problem.

I sat and read the guidance and thought about what it suggested and how heads are supposed to comply with it AND still manage to comply with all their other responsibilities and duties to various different groups with different needs.

Its impossible.

Take one example. They are supposed to move all 'unnecessary objects' from a classroom and put them in a storage area if possible. And to remove all toys that can't be cleaned.

Now every classroom I've ever been in, never has any 'spare' space. Its always full of something with storage being at a real premium.

Then you start to think about the logistics of working out what is 'unnecessary' and what 'can't be cleaned' (and by implication who is going to clean the items that are used) and the fact that its Reception who are one of the first years back and they learn through playing with toys rather than other forms of learning you start to scratch your head.

So what ARE the children going to do in school? Who is going to move all this stuff? How are they going to split the children into smaller groups? (without thinking about the inevitable complaints of how little Johnny isn't in the same class as Freddie)

And then you think about this is supposedly for just a couple of weeks (2 at max in ours) before the rest of the school is supposed to be back (it being impossible to split up a whole school into smaller classes in terms of staffing and classrooms) and you think why are they even doing it for 2 weeks?

And there is all the disruption of moving everything around a second time (somehow when these kids are back in school and supposed to be being taught)

If they REALLY want everyone to return for a month before the holidays, then why not wait for two weeks and just have everyone return as normal (as its the only way possible).

Then we have the point that its being proposed that teaching assistants act as full teachers in this interim. Something they are not trained for. The teachers are being expected to oversee them, whilst also not being allowed in the same space as them (according to the guidance). Its extra workload, contradictory and places the burden of education on untrained individuals anyway. Quality of teaching isn't going to be a priority here and under the circumstances is going to be at best limited and will be patchy.

Really what these 3 weeks of 'staggering' is about is testing the water to see if infections go up. Its not about the welfare of the kid or the education of the kids.

I really don't think that a lot of people saying the schools should open have read the guidance and what is being expected and how unrealistic it is.

Thats a gross politicial move by the government to shaft teachers in a political point scoring move.

We shouldn't be surprised by a union reprisal because a) its fully justified b) there are politics going on here.

Its a situation which shouldn't be arising. Its deeply cynical.

At its heart those actually who go to schools - thats school staff and the kids - are the ones who are being screwed.

If the government had a clue about schools or listened upfront about concerns and challenges of reopening rather than a unilateral declaration more akin to one from a authoritarian dictatorship, than one which was by consensus it wouldn't be such a fucking mess.

But here we are.

If you’re a decent parent they aren’t losing out on an education.
What an utterly obtuse statement. If it is a teacher saying it shame on them they are a disgrace to the 'profession'
Education matters and teachers more than anyone should value it.
I am a teacher and learning matters to me. I feel very angry that most children are now missing out.
I am teaching full time via Zoom and the children are getting as good as we can give but inevitably than they deserve. Many children are not getting that and are suffering for it.
We should never have closed schools, and I am fed up that the lily-levered Gvt yielded to the mob hysteria.

I would have thought that in this time where key workers such as delivery drivers, supermarket workers etc are now 'valued' teachers would want to do their bit. Or is it only OK when others are and not them?

On a thread full of bile, spite and stupidity that has to be the most stupid remark.

Teachers are in school already doing their bit.

Teachers want your children to be safe. They want their children to be safe and they want to be safe. You seem to think that's unreasonable. It isn't.

Opening the school to more than the children of key workers will not be simple because social distancing has to be maintained as far as is possible. Children will probably only be able to come back part time for the foreseeable future and that takes careful planning as well as rearranging classrooms, dining halls and outside activities.

So many lies and so much hatred of teachers here.

There you go:

www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html

Teachers are in school already doing their bit.

Many of them are doing very little unfortunately.

Laurie in the last two weeks I have wrote 7 SOW.

Would you care to explain what that is, while you rant how little we have done?

@mumsneedwine or are you saying you should have the same ones that Drs and nurses have ?
Or would you be happy with say a washable cotton mask ?

I am teaching full time via Zoom and the children are getting as good as we can give but inevitably than they deserve

That is still a helluva lot more than many are getting and good on your school for delivering this.

If all teachers were delivering to this level, the public sentiment would be very different.

Also, I wish people would stop going on about PPE. Me wearing a face mask and some gloves will not stop the virus from being spread between the children and staff, if we're all in a small, poorly ventilated room all day, especially if the children are 5 and therefore will not be and should not be sat at desks all day.

I wish I had a magic solution but I don't. I do want to get back to work and give the children something to look forward to. It might even be fun (because normal lessons won't be possible as I shouldn't be going near the children or touching their work to help them, which is about 80% of teaching). But it won't be risk free (though, what in life is).

musicman

Your post was lovely and it didn’t attract many positive comments, which surprises me, as it contained a lot of wisdom. When my children were young, I kept them away from the ‘fast editing’ that you describe, even though I didn’t know it had a name.

You did lose me a little at the end, however, when you alluded to the sentiment ‘perhaps now parents understand how hard a teachers job is.’ This does bother me.

All jobs are hard if you aren’t trained to do them. You wouldn’t ask somebody to act as a doctor without providing training, medicine or equipment. We can all administer a bit of Calpol, apply a bandage, but anything more complex might need instruction or guidance, and I think the instruction and guidance given from schools recently has varied greatly, and that’s a valid concern, arguably true given the number of times I’ve seen it mentioned.

Anyway, it was a really good, well thought out post, so thank you.

Ps I remember those powercuts in the 1970s. I still keep emergency candles. I think today’s kids will stash emergency toilet roll instead.

in the last two weeks I have wrote 7 SOW.

I’m sure you have.

My sons teacher, on the other hand, posts two worksheets a week.

The quality of what’s been delivered is highly variable and in some instances it is at pisstaje levels.