To think the idea that schools won’t be back full time by September is an absolute disgrace?

[LovingLivingInLockdown]

The government and teaching unions need to pull their fingers out. There should be no excuses.

The effects of 6 months out of school is going to be damaging enough, both educationally and mentally for hundreds of thousands of children. Not to mention the unnoticed abuse and neglect.

Teachers should be wearing PPE with spit screens if they are vulnerable and this should be being organised now. Temporary classrooms should be being built in playgrounds and school fields. Random testing routines in all schools should be being devised as well as guidelines regarding children’s contact with others outside of school and home. Whatever it takes, it must be done.

Our society expects parents to work while their DC are at school and if they want to get the economy moving again, schools being back by September should be non negotiable surely?

@Teateaandmoretea

Unions did say not to engage with requests to help plan the reopening of schools.

This is because it is not a teachers job to plan the re opening of schools. It is the job of the governors, HTs and LEAs.

Would you like help with anything else, or are you happy to continue twisting things to meet your narrative.

Don’t gaslight, it’s there in blank and white. I don’t blame individual teachers and would rather look forward but the unions haven’t always been positive in this, to pretend otherwise is fantasy

This is a member letter from about a month ago:

The National Education Union (NEU) wants wider school reopening to begin as soon as it is safe to do so. But your safety, that of your students, their families and society as a whole, must be our priority.

We have joined with the GMB, Unison and Unite to publish joint union guidance for use in discussion at schools prior to wider opening.

The first checklist for primary members has been published, in response to DfE advice issued on Friday.

When the DfE publishes its advice for secondary schools and for early years/nursery settings in the next few days, the NEU will issue further joint checklists in response. We will also compile further advice to members in post-16 settings and to supply members early next week.

Click here to read a PDF of the primary schools guidance.

Wider opening should only happen when the national tests are met and there is full compliance with the joint union checklist.

In the meantime, we are advising you to continue to work as you have since the start of lockdown and to contribute to any practical discussions about how the school can comply with the checklist and open more widely in safety. NEU guidance on ensuring safety in the current situation remains unchanged here.

Tonight, we are holding a Zoom call to discuss our position. Click here to register for our members Zoom call at 6pm.

Best wishes to you and your families at this difficult time.

@FrippEnos so HTs aren’t teachers now LMAO

@SmileEachDay yeah with no definition of what safe actually meant

@Teateaandmoretea

So HTs aren’t teachers now LMAO

Really that is the best that you have?

Don’t gaslight, it’s there in blank and white

You need to find out what gaslighting is.
And don't believe everything that you read in the paper.

with no definition of what safe actually meant

Actually with 5 really clear tests, and then a checklist.

What you plan to tell children and families who they can and cannot see as well , who will enforce this ?

So are head teachers not teachers? How are they meant to plan if other teachers don’t support them? In reality real life teachers worked bloody hard to make it happen because they are professional people. The unions otoh...

"Disgrace", it would be if it was all a conspiracy to inconvenience parents, mentally damage children, and widen attainment gaps between rich and poor.
But it's not a conspiracy. It's a mis-managed mess. Schools get no funding for PPE, extra staff or new buildings that would be currently needed.
I'm hopeful that at the very least alternating timetables or some sort of longer day with staggered entry will mean all students can come back properly soon.
As for "cosseted", no. We deal with teen prostitutes, drug addicts, kids being groomed by County Lines gangs, some of the staff in my school have been assaulted by parents. We also deal with the everyday, ordinary but still vital mental health needs of the mainstream, complex too. And we try so fucking hard.
The teacher bashing on here is pathetic. I'd never dream of telling a builder or a doctor how to do their job. Some of you should seriously think about applying for the profession, we have a real shortage at the moment due to people leaving because of stress and workload. Please come and show us how it is done.
Really, come and sort it all out if it's so simple.

Actually with 5 really clear tests, and then a checklist.

Eh?

And yes, I agree the unions can be very obstructive.

Tea

You said the union did not define what safe meant. They did. They outlined 5 tests that would need to be met and have subsequently produced detailed checklists for schools to follow.

Baffled truly that people are still hell bent on defending the indefensible and undermining hard working, professional teachers who deserve respect.

You said the union did not define what safe meant. They did. They outlined 5 tests that would need to be met and have subsequently produced detailed checklists for schools to follow.

They told teachers not to engage with the reopening of schools. Mayhem has not ensued.

Teateaandmoretea

Do you really not understand what a head teachers job is?

And do you really not understand the difference between a teacher and a HT?

Tea

You’re not really making much sense. I don’t know what your comment has to do with mine. I suspect we’re not going to agree. Have a lovely evening

I think the thing that non-teachers may not appreciate is that the unions / professional bodies for heads, teaching staff and non-teaching staff are overlapping but largely separate.

@formerbabe

I can only speak for the two teenagers I have here, but as much as they miss school/college and friends temporarily they would miss their grandfather even more if he died

Sorry to sound mercenary but a grandparent dying is a fairly normal occurrence. It's not beyond the realms of normality.

Wow... so grandparents can die just as long as you get your childcare? Nice.

@Teateaandmoretea you're looking really silly and petty now. You have been provided with what the union was saying word for word and you're still arguing about it.

Wow... so grandparents can die just as long as you get your childcare? Nice

I don't need childcare...I'm a,sahm. Wow, imagine how quickly society can change like this and parents are seen as unreasonable for wanting their kids to go to school...truly bizarre

If your child falls and seriously hurts themselves, how are they suppose to uphold the 2m rule to see to them? Seriously?! Listen to yourself and stop being selfish.

Who are you talking to there, Jadee?

I love it when non-teachers bring up the real world as an insult for teachers. During my 10 years as a teacher I saw and heard things that still haunt me today- neglect, mental and sexual abuse, self-harming, suicide threats, poverty, mental illness, domestic abuse in children and their families to name but a few. I never experienced even half of that during my 10 years working in the "real world" private sector. And to say teaching is a job for life and that we're immune to redundancy is bollocks. Due to school funding cuts schools can no longer afford to keep staff. At my last school the teaching staff were told that the school could no longer afford to keep all teachers and TAs. They made 3 TAs redundant and all teachers had to submit a short essay explaining why they felt they should keep their job. I volunteered to go because I didn't want to teach anymore. And another teacher was made redundant as well. They went down from 8 teachers to 6. Teaching is not a safe job anymore BECAUSE OF THE GOVERNMENT!

Jadee753

That was covered way way way back before primary pupils returned to school.