Did any teachers have it easy over last 11 weeks?

[PicaK]

I nearly lost my shit yesterday with someone who insisted most teachers have had an easy life and not doing a proper day's work during Covid.
I'm not a teacher but many friends are and I don't know any who haven't had a full workload. It's absolutely not the message that's coming across on social media either. Most teachers saying they've done more work.
But then I wondered if my snapshot was accurate.
Does anyone personally know any teacher who has coasted/had an easy ride? (I am not talking about your kids' teachers who you have opinions about but friends or family where you have more insight.)
I'm hoping it's a no tbh and I feel justified for feeling so put out.
Aibu
Yes - yeah the teachers I know have had it easy
No - you're right all the ones I know have worked as much if not more.

@GazeboParty

I suspect you are always right *@FrippEnos* regardless of the topic!😁

Mr Pot, this here’s Mr Kettle.

Have a friend who.is a teacher and a friend who is a TA, both until recently doing one day a week in school. Teacher doing a bit more at home but says its only half a day at best. Both at primary school level.
DCs in secondary school only been set limited work by core subject teachers, nowhere near normal timetable.

3 family members all full time teachers have all been in about twice a week max since closures. All 3 say they havent done much at all

Friend honestly admitted because he teaches sport with a bit of geography he has four hours work a week. Not his fault he misses bringing on the kids sports wise.

The exams next year haven’t been cancelled YET. Ofqual and all the exam boards are putting stuff in place for class of 2021. They are working on the assumption that education may not be normal for the next academic year

@TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince

The exams next year haven’t been cancelled YET. Ofqual and all the exam boards are putting stuff in place for class of 2021. They are working on the assumption that education may not be normal for the next academic year

I think they need to reduce the course - something like - if there 6 sections to the course - they provide 6 questions for testing and the schools remove the one - so it doesn't matter as much which order they taught in.

They are likely to apply some sort of consideration for any Covid issues. I know this because l had an online exam meeting with one of the boards

Two of my neighbours are teachers (sports) and both have been very open about the fact they have done nothing since lockdown started.

Well, I’ve worked my absolute bollocks off. So have all my colleagues.

The government need to have some sort of plan to make sure everything coming from schools is identical. So what they produce is standardised across every school.

Not this shambles that Bojo and Gav have created.

@TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince

They are likely to apply some sort of consideration for any Covid issues. I know this because l had an online exam meeting with one of the boards

The thing is just saying we'll lower the pass mark isn't good enough. There is to much variation on the support schools are providing, is it safe to say that the majority of private schools seem to have got their act in gear almost immediately? But there are too many state school kids who are not getting enough support from school - despite the protestations from many teachers on this thread who are doing an amazing job many state schools are not. The kids who are teaching yourself A levels from a textbook are surely at a disadvantage?

🤷🏼‍♀️I’m just saying what l know to try and mitigate some people’s fears, it hasn’t come from me. It came from Ofqual.

And the the grade boundaries move around every year. They aren’t static. It depends on the performance of the entire cohort every year. The boundaries are only decided when all the results go in to the boards

@TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince Sorry Emoji, that wasn't meant to sound like an attack. I have heard other people mention grade boundaries as a solution and imo it really isn't - that was all I was saying!😬

Grade boundaries do change every year but it's usually minor adjustments and closely linked to carefully considered analysis of paper demand, nature of cohorts etc.

A lot of people are making suggestions concerning exams such as removing content, changing boundaries etc but none I've seen are feasible using our current exam system (I could write several pages on why removing some content isn't workable for example).

I think the focus on exams is a distraction. There is massive emphasis on grades in schools, largely as this is how progress (attainment really) is measured. Realistically grades are (or should be) a signfier of a level of skill or knowledge within a subject area to allow students to access the next level of learning or provide a summative assessment.

Personally I think the subject of exam performance should be separate from the discussion on the issues we face ensuring the education of our current school cohort.

But they DO move, sometimes dramatically, when all the marks across the country come in.

If the cohort

Just like in most jobs, there will be teachers who have done virtually nothing for the last three months and there will be teachers who have done significantly more than their usual.
Can we stop the teacher bashing?

If boundaries move that dramatically then I imagine there would be serious questions from ofqual. That certainly hasn't been my experience of the awarding process. Although I admit different qualifications probably have different processes a "huge" move in grade boundaries isn't usual for the ones I am involved with. Of course I'm only referring to usual circumstances and for established qualifications, not for new courses or new specs. Or exams taken in the aftermath of a global pandemic.

I'm not saying boundaries won't move because of the unprecedented circumstances but implying that grade boundaries move significantly on a regular basis says something about the design of the assessments!

My subject has significant grade boundary changes every year.

One year the grade boundaries were 2 marks apart😡. Another year they were 7 or 8 marks

Alittleodd

If boundaries move that dramatically then I imagine there would be serious questions from ofqual.

With the grade boundaries being set by percentage pass instead of ability pass the amount that the boundaries can/could move is actually quite large.

From memory the only thing that Ofqual could do is ratify that the exam papers where of a similar difficulty.

I had a very Year 11 heavy timetable so have definitely not been working as many hours as I normally would in the past 11 weeks.

I can't wait to get back to work. I am so worried about the impact this is having on young people.

Am a teacher. Working very hard and also think it should not be underestimated that a lot of what we are doing is very new to us.

I am working in a combined year group bubble - two year groups I have never taught before in a building I have never been in before. My managers I had only ever before met in passing.

So any new job is tiring right? But I have my old job still (virtually) and my own children at home, too.

PPA and NQT time lost.

So yes, very very tired. Think most, if not all, at my school are the same.

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jun/15/2m-children-in-uk-have-done-almost-no-school-work-in-lockdown

71% of state school children have had no online lessons at all.

Think that tells us all we need to know.

Must be very frustrating for the dedicated teachers who have strived to deliver an education to realise that the rest of their profession has let the side down so badly.

@YardleyX

71% of state school children have had no online lessons at all.

Think that tells us all we need to know.

Must be very frustrating for the dedicated teachers who have strived to deliver an education to realise that the rest of their profession has let the side down so badly.

My children have had no online lessons at all. Their teachers (at two different schools) have worked extremely hard to provide them both with relevant work that they have both enjoyed and learnt from. Online lessons would have been awful to try to juggle and a lack of them is no measure of the quality of the teaching or the dedication of the teachers. It says a lot about you if you think this means children have been let down and I feel very sorry for you and your very narrow mind.

Read the article, then.

2 million children have done no learning at all.

Yardley X
Why do you think 2 million children have done no learning at all?
Do you think that zoom/ teams/ online lessons would decrease this figure?
Much as we’d love to move in with our pupils and make them do their work I’m told it might be frowned upon.
You muppet.