To feel like parents aren't allowed to criticise teachers anymore?

[velaryon]

I have the utmost respect for the teaching profession, especially the hard work and dedication of many teachers despite a pandemic and nationwide lockdown.
But at the same time, I've seen a lot of parents genuinely concerned about the teaching & communication at their DC's school who were immediately accused of 'teacher bashing' and being too lazy to teach their own children.
AIBU to think this is absolutely ridiculous?
I don't see anything wrong with questioning the level of teaching a school is providing, provided it's done in a sensitive and understanding way. IMO it's ridiculous how quickly someone is accused of teacher bashing for asking a legitimate question.

SOMEBODY MAKE IT FUCKING STOP!!!!
🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

@velaryon

You know that the government has set no expectations for schools during this time?

They gave 48 hours notice to close, they said to be ready for key worker and vulnerable children on Monday (with the key worker list released in the middle of Thursday night) and to provide free school meals (with a shambolic system by the way.)

They released guidance saying the curriculum was suspended and no other guidance on how schools should direct their staff.

It's no surprise there are inconsistencies and people are frustrated. We all are. Parents and teachers. But we should be directing that towards the people who got us into this mess, not each other.

It's fine when it's well thought through.
We get bashed over govt directives/plans/lack of
We get bashed for INSET days
We get bashed for following procedures set by govt/leadership
We get bashed for the unpaid holidays we have.
We get bashed for pushing and wanting kids to do well.
I have had parents ring me directly and raise a concern/issue. I have listened professionally and dealt with it. That is fine.
Parents bashing us on fb cos 'homeworks too much/too little, we haven't installed more sinks/we aren't overriding SLT and working on Zoom' etc etc.

I don’t think the issue is with individual teachers although many of them on Mumsnet threads seem to have bought into the hysteria about death and transmission rates esp for children.

What pisses people off is the utter negativity and intransigence of the unions. It seems like they’re putting blockers up for the sake of it and using this as an opportunity for political aims and point scoring which is vile and the only people suffering are the children which they profess to care about.

Yes. Absolutely. You never see a Mumsnet thread criticising teachers

YAWN. This is boring now.

OP it's a pandemic. This isnt going to be normal education. We are trying our best but we arent going to be able to effectively teach like it's a normal day when we are at home with nothing but a laptop and probably 2 kids running around. Teaching isnt going to be 'effective' for anyone in the country until this passes. If you are incredibly concerned, maybe because teachers arent sending work, speak to your school. If you are concerned that your kid isnt doing the work, that's your job to fix right down unfortunately. As a secondary teacher I teach over 280 students. I cant motivate every one of them. Thats not a parents job. Its frustrating for parents, but its frustrating for us too as I am sure the pressure to catch up will be on us when the time comes.

We arent miracle workers. We are humans who are trying to educate hundreds of kids with no plan and no idea what we are doing to be honest. They didnt have a 'how to teach during a global pandemic' module on the pgce. Some reasonable amount of leeway has to be allowed in this situation surely.

If you have concerns about teacher performance then you should raise that directly with the school through their complaints procedure, though you won't get anywhere if you haven't made contact.

*That's a parent job

Sorry, but in a time like this, I think there is NO room for criticism under any circumstance. This is an unprecedented, hopefully once in a lifetime crisis. The teachers are doing their best. If it's still not good enough for you...then you have to accept that they're still doing their best. in this totally alien situation. Guaranteed. So therefore, you will have to ride the wave until things go back to a sense of normality. Kids are resilient - they will be fine!

What a stupid fucking question. Is it allowed? Half of MN is teacher bashing threads at the moment.

I think the NEU is doing their members a disservice that is going to backfire. Their advice not to engage isn’t helpful.

But they aren’t all teachers

@SallyAlly2020, thanks for sharing that - I wasn't aware. Local schools are still teaching (at different levels)

Thank you for your replies - seems like everyone's very stressed at the moment

The issue I can see here is that quite often these questions are best directed to the individual school in question to get a specific answer. Schools are offering different things at this time for many reasons (their pupils, access to technology, staffing, school facilities, how SLT are able to implement DfE guidance etc.)

There have been many threads on here on the part few weeks where the general tone and phrasing has been written to promote arguments between schools / teachers and others. Schools (just like other sectors, businesses and places of work) are working in the midst of a global pandemic with ever changing guidance. There may be lots going on behind the scenes at a school to explain why particular decisions are made that people don’t see from the outside looking in.

OMG do you know why I chose to be a supply teacher rather than apply for another post as a class teacher? The almost constant complaining from a small number of parents. It was endless and contradictory and I felt like I couldn't get anything right.
I'm furloughed at the moment so am only getting an incredibly small amount of money to live on (I'm usually part-time anyway) but I'm still glad I'm not in a longer-term post after reading the threads on here at the moment.

Teaching is a job.
As in every job some do it well, some are OK, and others are poor.

They should not be above criticism.

My own experience is that they do moan a lot, but the UK can be a nation of grumblers.

'Teachers'. Like they're a herd of cattle yes?

What about 'nurses'? Do you feel you'd like to more freely be able to critisise 'nurses' OP?

Or 'dentists' - lets do them. They're probably all the same too ... trying to get out of doing dentistry half the time ay?

FFS

Rosebel: "I think george is right. Loads of people have and continue to work but they just get on with it. I don't understand why it's so different for teachers."

Teachers have and continue to work and are just getting on with it, too. And then we log on to MN and are confronted with threads like this, and end up having to defend and justify what we do.
Many of us have simply had enough.

I think there is a divergence of expectations.

Government didn't tell schools to deliver the curriculum, to run live lessons, to mark work......in fact they didn't really give guidance about what should be provided.

But parents expect as close to the school experience as possible and often don't appreciate the barriers to delivering it to the school population and only really think about their individual children.

The complaints then seem to come about 'teachers' rather than the government approach and discussed endlessly but not nearly so often communicate directly to the school in a specific way.

Teachers generally don't decide what they will deliver at this time. They don't choose. They are told by the management of their school and the management spend a lot of time trying to work out what very limited government information means.

So really the complaints and discussion aren't actually about 'teachers' but that is how they are voiced and why the people who actually are teachers are then demoralised and depressed.

Just wait until the 'return' happens after half term in its many many different formats. Then people really will complain about 'teachers' because they imagined a return to some kind of normal at school but the reality won't be that at all.....al they will hear that some other school down the road is doing it differently and it sounds better so they will complain about 'teachers' and some will decide that he remote learning provided by 'teachers' was somehow better.

It's not normal amd it won't be for a long time. There isn't a definition of what 'good teaching' or 'outstanding teaching' is right now. Government has deliberately not been very specific because it will be im possible for all schools to deliver the same into their different situations. But who do people discuss and blame - it's 'teachers' - not usually a specific named teacher in a specific school, but a complaint or discussion about 'teachers'

It starts to feel like comments about Blacks or Jews or Gays - targetted at a wider group.

I haven’t seen thread after thread started by teachers to “moan”.

I have seen thread after thread challenging teachers (often perfectly politely, to start with) then descending into “what do they do all day anyway” and “stope their pay”.

When teachers defend themselves, they aren’t moaning. Teachers aren’t starting these threads!

I think the problem is that parents are having such a different experience from different schools. It’s bound to be a concern for many parents and teachers.

I think there is a divergence of expectations... and
I think the problem is that parents are having such a different experience from different schools...

Spot on. My school is one of those trying to continue with a full timetable of lessons. We are getting very positive feedback. It’s VERY hard work though.

Has anyone ever actually stopped for a moment and thought that teachers might be parents to.
We are tearing ourselves inside out right now trying to do the best for everyone.
This isn’t down to us. We are trying our best. It’s insane the relentless threads on this.