To think it’s about time @MNHQ stepped up and did something about the teacher bashing.

[SachaStark]

This evening has been AWFUL here on the AIBU board.

@MNHQ, at what point do you actually plan to intervene and do something about the sheer number of teacher bashing threads, and individual posts? Should we expect any kind of moderation?

Or, is this in fact, “all in the spirit of Mumsnet”? Because at the moment, you’re making it look a darn sight like you agree by proxy.

discuss your profession in general terms or discuss their particular difficult experiences or concerns

Discussions about particular difficult experiences or concerns is absolutely valid. I have offered help several times, by saying posters can pm me if they want help they don't feel they are getting at school. I agree with posters when they say it isn't acceptable that their child's school isn't offering any work beyond posting a web link.

People asking why we're not working or saying we're not working hard enough or asking us to justify our wage right now are making assumptions and generalisations that aren't needed in a debate about education.

I can complain about a boiler repair company without saying all boiler repair people are just out to make a quick buck.

What SallyLovesCheese posted.

and

@Rainycloudyday

And selfishly no, I don’t want my kids being taught by people who are displaying the kinds of behaviours shown on Mumsnet recently

You don't want people who are upset at the poor guidance and how it will affect your children to teach them?

@Rainycloudyday I agree with you - teachers that are disillusioned should leave - it happens in every profession..move on to something that suits you better, it's ok the world will move on.

People asking why we're not working right now or saying we're not working hard enough or asking us to justify our wage right now? Making assumptions and generalisations that aren't needed in a debate about education. Everyone's opinion is needed in the debate - and the debate need to be had rather than shut down - which seemed to be the intention of the OP.

Exactly. If people aren't happy about the teaching or lack of it their child is receiving then they have every right to voice their concerns here.

Everyone's opinion is needed in the debate

Yes, I agree. But making assumptions and generalisations about teachers isn't necessary.

Let me try and come up with a scenario that illustrates what I mean.

Say I am disillusioned by the police because they didn't arrest my ex-boyfriend for making threats against my life. I post my story here and finish with the line "I just don't know what police officers are doing with their time that they're too busy to even go round to his house."

I get police officers replying saying "Hey! We work hard, you know!"

Other posters jump on the thread and respond with "You're not the only profession who work hard. OP, I had a bad experience with the police too, they're terrible, aren't they?"

And repeat ad infinitum.

How different the thread would be if I ended my post with "Have they made too many cuts to the police force or did that officer just think it wasn't that big of a deal? Should I take it further?"

I would have police officers replying with something like "Sorry to hear about your run-in with your ex. Yep, lots of cuts in recent years and not enough of us now, although the government keep saying they're going to recruit more. Make a note of everything, including when you've contacted the police and what happened. Hopefully nothing else will occur, but if it does, make a note of that, too, and go to your nearest police station with your evidence, or call 999 if you're in actual danger."

And there wouldn't be a big bunfight in the thread.

(Apologies for using the police, absolutely no disrespect meant, I have several officers in my immediate family and they would probably cringe at my attempt to sound like a police officer might! )

If people aren't happy about the teaching or lack of it their child is receiving then they have every right to voice their concerns here
Few would say otherwise.

How many times does it have to be pointed out that there's a huge difference between someone discussing a situation in their child's school and seeking advice, and making stupid goady generalisations.

Option 1 - My child's school has only sent us a couple of worksheets a week. Is this the norm? What's the guidance on what schools should be offering? Would it be reasonable to contact school asking for some more work for them? How best to do that?

Option 2 - DC's school aren't doing anything other than some worksheets, and some links to online learning programmes the school has signed up for and they've signposted to the BBC materials designed for the pandemic. The independent school up the road is doing live lessons on Google classroom.if they can do it, why should my child not have it? What the hell are teachers actually doing? There's almost no children in so it's not too much to expect them to actually do their jobs.

It's perfectly possible to discuss the challenges of a specific school or situation without making inflammatory generalisations about a profession.

If people aren't happy about the teaching or lack of it their child is receiving then they have every right to voice their concerns here.

Absolutely, people should post if they aren't happy about the teaching their child is receiving.

But that doesn't then have to become about teachers getting paid for doing nothing.

Viviennemary
Exactly. If people aren't happy about the teaching or lack of it their child is receiving then they have every right to voice their concerns here.

We are now moving in to the circular phase of the discussion :)

there is a huge difference between
why is my DC's school shit
and
Why are schools shit.

There is a difference between
I think that the education system in the UK is shit (try that before the Scottish Jump on you)
and
Why are teachers so shit.

Etc.

I think what gets most wearing is that people complain, then teachers offer suggestions and also explain why some things just won’t work and we’re immediately accused of moaning/negativity/having a “can’t do” attitude.

It seems that often people don’t consider that we might actually understand which things will work in a school and which won’t - better than people who don’t work in schools.

Nice demonstration of the point that teachers are full of generalisations too:

we might actually understand which things will work in a school and which won’t

Which things will work in your school you mean...

Not all schools are the same. I picked up LolaSmiles on making similar generalisations about Schools can't... when what was mean was "My school can't..."

Or actually we could go a little further and it should say "I can't think of a way to make that work in my school". Because there is a reasonable possibility that someone in school has a brain wave, gets a brilliant idea, thinks innovatively and can make it work.

Teachers must also stop their (doom mongering) generalisations about schools can't, won't work... and all that.

Well, those are generalisations about education and schools. Not a profession.

And we have working knowledge of schools, so are best placed to offer opinions on them using our experience.

I know of some children who are not getting taught on line but their teachers are still getting paid.
They may well have their own children to look after but they are clearly not teaching. So why are they still getting paid?

Yeah we have "show my homework" - work is set, vaguely, and not marked - even the results from mocks taken 4 weeks ago have not been given out - meanwhile some teachers said they would not be setting work while they were marking...certainly not what I'd expect from a full time teacher.

My Australian children (1/4 is back “properly”, the other 3/4 next week) have been set consistent work by their private schools, with follow up of any work not submitted. The older two (years 7 and 8) have sat some tests remotely so that they’re not behind on the curriculum when they return. There were lots of emails about how to check in and submit the tests. The maths one was an area of shapes so they would’ve been allowed a calculator for pi anyway and access to the formulae. The year 8 child has been working hard on assignments.

However, even though there’s been feedback on the day-to-day work set the actual marks for assignments and tests Haven’t been submitted with the head of dept stating (reasonably) that from a pastoral care perspective it wasn’t appropriate to give the children their grades unless they were face-to-face. Maybe that’s why the mock’s results have been withheld?

I phoned up my school, early on, to say that my daughter who is in year r was very unsettled and worried about her teacher, and could she speak to her class teacher for a minute or two? No, she could not as the teacher was not available to speak on the phone at any point. How is that OK? Genuine question. To be clear, the teacher was not off sick nor in any way unavailable to work

I don’t understand why you think it’s the teacher’s job to reassure your child. Or any child. You are the parent and your child is in your full time care. It’s not our job to parent.

And unless you have a personal relationship with the teacher (and if you did, you could simply call her personally), you can’t possibly know if she was in school, ill, or anything else.

I think that poster is gone, Howabout. I asked a question about when they called but zero response.

Teachers must also stop their (doom mongering) generalisations about schools can't, won't work... and all that.
How exactly is it doom mongering to say that there should have been proper discussion between government, unions and schools about practical solutions and likely problems before drip feeding press conferences, leaked proposals, quietly published guidance that's almost impossible to implement across the board?

There's lots of school leaders raising issues, lots of teachers raising issues. It's not because they're doom mongering. They want their school community to phase back to normal in a way that is safe for all.

Of course I'm under no illusions that there'll be a handful of people in the profession who buy into the teachers as heroes narrative and aren't bothered about contradictions in government guidelines on PPE because they're some sort of superhero saving the children from the rest of the profession who are obviously mean, selfish moaners who happen to consider their families and own health to be quite important.

There was a teacher on here the other day saying their head has said the only people who'll be allowed off are those with a shielding letter. Their head is expecting everyone else in the vulnerable category to be in work, and the government think that this is acceptable. There are members of the workforce being told to limit their movements and interactions with others out of work, but then being told to suck it up because the virus couldn't get them in a school.

However, even though there’s been feedback on the day-to-day work set the actual marks for assignments and tests Haven’t been submitted with the head of dept stating (reasonably) that from a pastoral care perspective it wasn’t appropriate to give the children their grades unless they were face-to-face. Maybe that’s why the mock’s results have been withheld

Bizarre. I work in a government school in Victoria and we email the results, scripts, marks and feedback to the students for everything. This includes VCE.

In fairness to my youngest daughters school, they emailed a couple of weeks ago asking to speak to the kids individually on FaceTime to show support and speak with them. My youngest was too shy to do it but I'm not surprised that the Mumsnet teachers find that outside their job descriptions.

Ive worked in a secondary school in the finance department and by some teachers, treated like a second class citizen - one said that a member of 'support staff' should wheel a photocopier around for them as they had no time to print resources ...Some teachers on the other hand were brilliant, got really good results and were really liked by the students and parents.

Its not a one size fits all and it's just another subject to discuss. The old breastfeeding vs bottle feeding debate is as heated as ever are we going to ban that aswell

Nicknacky

Who did?

but I'm not surprised that the Mumsnet teachers find that outside their job descriptions.

And yet some have. Strange that.

I have kept in touch with the children in my classes, I can't face time them because I don't have the equipment.

Presumably it is because they are too young for email etc

Bizarre. I work in a government school in Victoria and we email the results, scripts, marks and feedback to the students for everything. This includes VCE.

It’s probably just our school then, or maybe just the middle school head. It doesn’t matter, they’ll be back next week. I don’t mind either way. Their drafts and day-to-day work is coming back regularly with feedback though, I think the school have done a great job under difficult circumstances.

My son’s work isn’t being marked - year 10.

Is this because government guidance tells schools not to mark work?

I know of some children who are not getting taught on line but their teachers are still getting paid. They may well have their own children to look after but they are clearly not teaching. So why are they still getting paid?
This has been answered multiple times but I’m happy to do it again. Our current workload consists of:

• Being in school to facilitate learning and support vulnerable and key worker children
• Planning and marking work remotely
• Communicating with families via newsletters, phonecalls, email etc
• Recording ourselves reading stories, singing songs etc
• Writing reports
• Planning for the return to school
• Supporting vulnerable children with a range of issues including free school meals
• Online lessons
• Other stuff I don’t know about because my school / my children’s school isn’t doing it!

And as we’ve already said, not every school is doing all these things. We can’t tell you why a Head we don’t know has chosen to go down a particular path but you are very welcome to ask them directly.