"UsforThem" Get Schools Back to Normal campaign

[twomonkeys2]

Just found this online and I think it's brilliant. Importantly, I think, it's not about a scientific debate - it is about a moral argument that we should not expose all schoolchildren to further harm by keeping them home without planning their return. AIBU to think this needs more attention??

There is a petition and Facebook page.

Schools have just shown how rigid they are - such a can’t do attitude it’s frankly embarrassing

This is absolutely untrue. When schools were closed to all but key workers, the curriculum was suspended. Schools had no obligation to provide any remote learning at all: they did it because they care about the children and their development. Teachers have had to adapt what they do to meet circumstances that they could have never imagined.

On top of that, many schools have completely redesigned what it means to be a school. Mine, for example, will shortly be open for all year groups with all children attending part-time with some in-school learning and some remote learning. Others have become community hubs providing clothes, food, emotional support and parental support for all of the families in their area.

To suggest that schools have been rigid during this time is naive at best and deeply insulting at worst.

There will be a very small minority that this applies to. I'm sure that home schooling could continue for those pupils. I'm just not certain that keeping every child at home indefinitely is necessary to protect this minority.

I don't think that everyone should stay at home indefinitely but that group needs a different plan. My fear for them is that they will be forgotten as our attention will be on something else. Maybe it could be something similar to the Pupil Premium funding and used at a later date when a vaccine is available or scientific evidence shortens their list of conditions that require shielding? I'm not a shielder so probably not the best person to make suggestions about this but shielding children don't have the small freedoms that others have like seeing friends outdoors so the help needs to include emotional needs too.

There is one shielding child at our school (leukaemia). She already has a fair amount of time out of school due to treatment etc and has always been provided with home working packs, so I expect this would continue.

Schools have just shown how rigid they are - such a can’t do attitude it’s frankly embarrassing

I never heard teachers complain that they gave up their Easter holiday for free? Or that they were not acknowledged for helping the NHS with donations of ppe and scrubs?

They are justified to complain that the government didn't plan the reopening of schools in collaboration with schools so ended up with dozens of amendments. Or that there's been no offer of money to make things easier eg money for cleaning or textbooks so kids don't have to share and maintain social distancing? The government had from late March to start planning? Why do I think that they didn't start planning various plans the way that head teachers did for their schools?

Thanks for posting this op. I want schools open asap. My dc initially coped well with lockdown, actually enjoying the extra activities we were doing at home and quite enthusiastic about home learning. They really have had enough now. They are lonely and want their friends...they are missing their sports and activities. My eldest is ridiculously bored. I'm so disgusted by how children have been treated.

This is why schools are in disarray (and no, it's not the fault of the teachers and unions):

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jun/12/headteachers-berate-non-stop-guidance-changes-for-englands-schools

And further explanation as to why this petition, worthy though it is, is addressed to this who show no signs of caring about education:

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jun/13/schools-and-councils-in-england-not-consulted-over-summer-catch-up

I think mine would be more harmed by loosing their diabetic Dad or their asthmatic Mum

I wish you and your family well but with the greatest of respect, my dc are being harmed by missing their education. Why should people who dont know you give up so much? There are always vulnerable people...immuno compromised etc. We can't all stay indoors forever to protect them. Keep your kids at home if you're so worried and let mine live a normal life.

Formerbabe you'd better hope that doesn't come back to bite you.

In what way @Iggi999

Life isn't risk free. My mother died when I was a child. My dc has friends who have sadly lost parents to cancer. It's not unheard of.

A healthy child is at very low risk of dying from coronavirus. The figures are extremely low. Nearly half of all deaths are in the 85+ age bracket. I'll take my chances. The vulnerable can shield if they want to.

@cantkeepawayforever @iamnotthe1 some schools may have delivered remote learning well but very many have not. My son’s schools provide an A4 sheet each week with links to Twinkl. That hardly takes a lot of thought.

@flamingochill I keep hearing about saintly teachers who have foregone their Easter holidays. There are some teachers who worked - and thank you to them - but there are many more not working a full day and who haven’t worked a full day for the last 12 weeks. I have a fair few teacher friends and they are all working but at about 50% capacity.

Plus what about all the private sector workers who have taken salary sacrifices, losing holidays, losing jobs. I refuse to feel sorry for teachers for having worked a bit extra during a pandemic especially when the vast majority are not working full time.

I think people are starting to realise exactly how much teachers / schools moan and the extent of the Union stronghold

And oh the irony over being preached to about how every day of absence from school is hugely detrimental to their education to the extent I receive shitty letters about the time my dc had off to attend serious medical appointments..and now six months off and no one gives a shit about our dcs education.

I think people are starting to realise exactly how much teachers / schools moan and the extent of the Union stronghold

Teachers are working as directed by their schools, LA's and academy chains who are at the behest of the central government.

If you want to get into an argument over hours worked, trust me that overall teachers put in way more hours than they are paid and use their own money to buy stationery, school supplies, treats for the children and photocopying.

I am completely fed up with teacher bashing.

@overtherainbowliesoz most people in decent jobs work more than their paid for. Yet teachers seem to feel they're somehow special and hard done by. It’s life. It’s not right and we should fight all these injustices but teachers do not suffer above anyone else.

@formerbabe too right. Fining parents for a few days off when apparently 6 Months isn’t an issue.

they’re

There is the teensy problem that teachers are leaving the profession and there is a shortage. It makes sense to retain the good ones.

What’s going on in schools isn’t down to individual teachers though, it is the government that sets the guidelines and has done for many years. As individuals all the teachers I know are hardworking, put long hours in and want the best for the children in their classes. I’m not a teacher by the way.

I agree.

The teachers I know work so hard. They have no say in whether schools go back. The government is setting those rules.

I understand many people feel strongly about this but please don’t post about ALL school children. Mine have not been harmed by staying at home.

Ditto. I know some of that is down to sheer luck, privilege and our personal circumstances but you still can't generalise. Loads of us are getting on fine and happy to continue until it's safe.

Personally I think that deaths in the community could cause far more long-term harm and distress than some missed school.

I also think it's very sobering how people have turned a blind eye to the shocking underfunding of education and now expect it to be fixed. The reason the solutions aren't easy to arrive at are because we have some of the largest class sizes in Europe. Alongside buildings in poor condition, limited washing facilities and an absolutely terrible teacher retention rate and massive recruitment shortfall, we are now deeply in the shit. Nobody cared until suddenly the alternative was looking after their own kids and now they think the answer is to shout and blame the teachers and demand they work in an unsafe environment and make them feel MORE like leaving. It's not working, guys.

There’s not actually that much of a shortage. You’re not so special we’d do anything you say to keep you. I think this has highlighted how much of a change we need in schools. Out with archaic, jobsworths and in with a new style of caring, dynamic teaching

some schools may have delivered remote learning well but very many have not. My son’s schools provide an A4 sheet each week with links to Twinkl. That hardly takes a lot of thought

Do you have some data to support your use of 'some' and 'many' here? Independently published research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows that, on average, children are spending 5 hours a day on remote learning. This wouldn't be possible if only 'some' were providing adequate remote learning.

I can't comment on what your child's school is providing without having more information about what else they are doing at this time. As I said, there are a number of schools that have taken responsibility for feeding, clothing and supporting large sections of their local communities. It may be that there is a valid reason why they can't provide more remote learning. Equally, there might not be. Without knowing specific details about exactly what is happening within the school, I couldn't pass judgement there.

Quite.

In a group of young teachers I know who have just finished training, one has just left to join industry & one has gone abroad. They even have to but they own flipping staplers & department equipment. The ones at the other end of the spectrum are retiring early.

No wonder with the abuse they get.

I'm not a teacher, but I do know a few and they work very hard and are extremely caring & dedicated.

@Iamnotthe1 just because pupils are being taught doesn’t mean it’s by the schools. There’s a lot of free resource out there - Twinkl, BBC Bitesize, why has this had to be the case if schools were providing teaching? My friend is a head of year and he laughed the other day about napping all afternoon. That doesn’t mean he isn’t a hard working person generally but means that teachers should stop pedalling this rubbish that they’re working so unbelievably hard (not) teaching children whilst the rest of us are working trying to teach our children and keep our jobs.

There’s not actually that much of a shortage. You’re not so special we’d do anything you say to keep you. I think this has highlighted how much of a change we need in schools. Out with archaic, jobsworths and in with a new style of caring, dynamic teaching

Good luck with that.

1. Pupil numbers in secondary schools in 2019 were the same as in 2007, teacher numbers fell by 7%.
2. Due to a population bulge, pupil numbers are expected to rise by as much as 10% between 2019 and 2023.
3. One in five new teachers leave the profession after their first two years, while four in ten leave after five years. These high exit rates are increasing for each successive teaching cohort.
4. 22% of schools in the most affluent areas report vacancies or temporarily filled positions – but this increases to around 29% of schools in the most disadvantaged areas outside London and 46% in the most disadvantaged areas inside London.

@saladsMakeMesad exactly! Get teachers trained that can embrace teaching - that probably means people who’ve worked in the private sector and understand how it all works