To tell teachers bashers to go and complain to their own fucking schools

[Frozenfan2019]

Aibu to be fed up to the back teeth of ignorant comments like "do your job like everyone else" and " it's your vocation" aimed at all and any teachers who happen to be on a thread. If you have a problem with the teaching provided by your own school contact them. People commenting have no idea of the workload that the people they are trolling online might be struggling with. It's bullying plain and simple and wouldn't be allowed to be aimed at other groups.

Do you honestly believe that every single teacher in the UK is lazy? If not why not contact YOUR school about the issues you have with YOUR child's teacher instead of starting yet another general teacher bashing thread.

As a teacher on here I have to say I have never been more demotivated. I work hard for my kids at school while also homeschooling my own three like so many of us. How dare you make me feel like I am failing because you have an issues, unfounded in some cases I am sure, with your school?

They are your children take some responsibility, contact the school if you have concerns and accept that most teachers are fired for the children they each but we don't make many of the decisions. They are made at a much higher level.

I have not stopped trying to contact my foster children’s teachers and SLTs, thank you.
It took multiple emails and calls from both ya and the key worker to get anyone to even acknowledge their pupils had been taken into care and changed contact details.

@jacks11 that is an awful opinion of the unions who just want to protect children and staff.

Teachers were offered no Ppe, no protection and essentially told to piss off and get on it with. I’m tired of comparisons to others sectors, I’ve said it before it’s not a race to the bottom, everyone is determined teachers must be the worst off to be satisfied. The gov but the liability with the schools. Not them. Unions wanted clear guidance. The 5 tests were not met, the track and trace is a bag of shit. There is still limited data on spread amongst children and the gov pick and choose which data to follow. It’s clear the public just don’t give a stuff about anyone involved in education and just want schools open. Had the gov said staff could have Ppe maybe teachers would have felt less like shit. Unions are not precious. The papers make them out to be for the Tory agenda. If you actually took time to read union info you would see that.

Bitterness and jealousy on here is unreal.

As a chair of governors in a small school it frustrates me to see the head teacher getting constant barrage of complaining parents about stuff they have no control over.

There are 3 classrooms, one being used for keyworkers. 2 have year group in it.
The plan we wanted to do was for each year group to do week in 2 weeks off with home learning so all kids could have f2f and remote working taking place, only dfe categorically said no to that, also can't use the church or village hall and we must take the 3 year groups specifically ....physically no room to do that and since we can't plant bricks to grow classrooms we are physically stuck with what we have and the rules we have to abide by which has meant we could only open to one year group and not 3 as five announced.
Result - 3 formal complaints to cog, distraught head teacher who I'm worried will quit! And a cohort of parents who would moan if it was unsafe but are also moaning that we aren't open and will find fault in everything. Learning packs are sent home every fortnight and collected again. All teachers are doing week on in school (with no breaks as there isn't enough staff) and then sorting homelearning on the "week off" so that if someone is ill with Covid then there is other staff available.
And a parent passed away from Covid last week so teachers are also trying to support the family and children

So no, I'm not going to sign the petition to force the school to do the impossible - I will however happily sign anything that asks the dfe and govt to put the trust and authority in the academy/lea/schools to put into action a plan that fits their school and local area.

I've complained to my school Head 3 times now, my MP once - although that's going to be twice after the Head responds to my latest email because she pretty much takes on that teacher tone and has always had the view if you don't like what I do, there's the door - I have never felt very approving of her distaste for parent's views but it's not been a big problem till Covid hit the country.
She set a low minimum standard and allowed her teachers to do whatever they felt was right - instructed parents not to question what she'd done - comparing other school's provision we were told was inappropriate, teachers would be prioritising their own kids, families, health and whatever else they deemed was important. They would send one email a week - if they didn't one week we weren't to question this, we were just to find something else to do. Teachers would not be required to mark work or give feedback - not important she said. And they would not be chasing kids who hadn't completed work.
They have now removed this document from their website. This is a supposedly outstanding school who feel they have done a great job.

mistressiggi haha😂😂😉
I did get the memo...just setting wider context and RL in to MN. Complaints about schools are so low in the real world...only on MN.

For this complaining to you MP, I hope it is about the 1000+ DfE government guidance documents that have been issued to the education sector and are failing everyone.

I know there have been one or two complaints to MP's...do you really know what happens to them? They are passed from the MP to an assistant/admin person, who sends them to an education director (unless an academy) who passes them to his PA who asks an adviser (like me) to read it who then asks the PA to email a standard letter back to the assistant to the MP. That's it - not going to change the world!

Responding to something @Sceptre86 said

"Another issue is saying that it is difficult to work with your own children in tow. Join the club. At the moment anyone who works from home is struggling with this, this should make people empathise but instead a lot feel well if I can manage it why can't teachers? "

It's the constant "but what about working parents.." that we are reading everywhere that gets our backs up. I studied for 4 years to be an educator, not a childminder. It's a insult when you read it x100 every damn day. I've nothing against childminders. At this rate I'll be jacking in my 3 decade long career to become one, as that seems to be what my role apparently is. As I continue to say, on here and elsewhere, about 90% of my school colleagues and a high percentage of all other schools I have knowledge of have "working parents" as staff. I get that people are fed up and fraying at the seams, but "schools" and "teachers" aren't staffed by childfree robots who are just there to take your kids off your hands. I support parents/carers as much as I do pupils, particularly single parents and foster parents. The potential issues with childcare/blended learning, the stress of trying to find time to do what you HAVE to get done each day whilst you have one dc hanging off each arm and another yelling at you across the table, the no "me" time, hell, having no time to even think in a straight line for more than a minute for 14 hours a day - yup, school staff feel all that too. However, no one seems to take that into consideration when they are frothing at the mouth about "schools need to open - what about working parents?"

Anyway, my Teams meeting is finally working so I better move...it's after 9. I have been here since 6am however, when the dcs were still asleep, but that doesn't fit a lot of peoples narrative so no doubt I'm either being a martyr or "everyone else is working hard too". We can't win.

but "schools" and "teachers" aren't staffed by childfree robots who are just there to take your kids off your hands.

No ones saying that.

However, because children are normally in school 9-3, there has never been any need for childcare at this time.

No childcare exists (then or now) to fill this gap.

The absence of it creates huge issues for parents trying to work, because there’s been little leeway given in reality, by employers.

I’m now expected back in work 2 days a week. There’s no school / childcare / anything. My employer will be making redundancies soon. It doesn’t take a genius to see what’s going to happen.

So there are working parents out there who will be made redundant as a result of no provision. I don’t think that will happen to teachers.

People don't seem to understand (well, I think they do which I why they are accusing us of basically being immoral) the he responsibility that comes with teaching to be seen to be guardians of society, propriety and The Right Thing. It is a pressure that is huge and not existent in most jobs. This is why we can't just wander back into school s and say' sod social distancing, sod all the rules, let's just muddle though'. we have a responsibility to the children to show that we are protecting them , and the community so we HAVE to put H and S measures in place.

However, unlike in Germany, and unlike ins hops we don't have to have certificates or be declared Covid secure. In Germany and Denmark, schools were inspected to see they had adhered to rules and safety measures.

Most teacher complaints to unions are focused on things like lack of anti bac, lack of soap , crowded corridors and bubble mixing, so genuine H and S concerns.

It is an increasingly transparent government nudge to get the public to blame schools via our unions (cf the non entity at briefing yesterday), rather than their chaotic delegation of all responsibility.

If anyone is obstructive to progress, it is Gavin Williamson, who is, frankly, incompetent.

I can access key worker school places, but that's only because my partner is also a teacher. If he wasn't, then we'd be in the same situation. Either he would be at risk of being unable to work, or I would have to reconsider my job. The only people currently with guaranteed childcare in school hours are two-keyworker families. Everyone else is in a very difficult position with regard to work. (And the keyworkers are in a difficult position too, but in other ways)

@JesmondDene

mistressiggi haha😂😂😉 I did get the memo...just setting wider context and RL in to MN. Complaints about schools are so low in the real world...only on MN.

For this complaining to you MP, I hope it is about the 1000+ DfE government guidance documents that have been issued to the education sector and are failing everyone.

I know there have been one or two complaints to MP's...do you really know what happens to them? They are passed from the MP to an assistant/admin person, who sends them to an education director (unless an academy) who passes them to his PA who asks an adviser (like me) to read it who then asks the PA to email a standard letter back to the assistant to the MP. That's it - not going to change the world!

I know my MP will make very little difference but when people have spoken to him - his reaction is my kids are fine and my friend's kids are fine - so everything's fine. A week later I emailed him - the reaction this time was that he would speak to the Education Secretary - clearly more people had communicated the lack of every's fine to him! Now the Education Secretary is not covered in glory at the moment, so I don't think he'll do anything either - but at least they can't hide behind no one told us, no one wrote to us - we didn't know - they'll just hide behind some other excuse.

Recruitment is a big problem. I work in ITT and trainees on the School Direct pathway are now down a third from last year. We have had record number of withdrawals since the lock down and a very low number of late applications compared to previous years. I am also choosing to not go back to my part time teaching role in Sept. The direction, or lack of from government has been shameful and it has put head teachers and SLT in a very difficult situation. I feel so sorry for my colleagues having to make these decisions in the face of inadequate guidance. My children have had OK provision but working full time with them at home has been horrific and they have spent far too much time being babysat by the x box whilst I zoom with my PGCE students to help them achieve QTS in lock down - ensuring they will be able to take up their posts for September. For the first time all my trainees have a job to start in September another indication of the rate of resignations.

Buttercup77 I am interested what ITT pathway you work with as we are experiencing a real lack of applications and I work for a very well established outstanding provider in the se. Wondering if different areas in the UK are seeing different patterns of recruitment ?

@HelloMissus

I have not stopped trying to contact my foster children’s teachers and SLTs, thank you. It took multiple emails and calls from both ya and the key worker to get anyone to even acknowledge their pupils had been taken into care and changed contact details.

God, that's awful @HelloMissus. Part of my remit is vulnerable/looked after children. One of our pupils gets a phone call from his support worker x2 weekly and myself, the DHT and HT have all spoken to them too. We an email group where we keep up to date with their progress pretty much daily. I've just sent them a wee present via Amazon, the HT has dropped off additional resources and IT for them to use. This is standard here not an exception to the rules. We have all had sleepless nights thinking about some of our pupils. If I ignored your attempts to give me vital safeguarding and also legal information I'd lose my job. Has the school always been like this?! No wonder you're fizzing.

LairieMarlow yes, that's right. The global pandemic is going to lead into a huge recession. Nothing has been or will be 'normal' for a very long time; the future 'normal' will likely look very different.

This is the reason why children haven't been at school and the return of schools is being phased. In line with the rest of the world, if you'd care to look around you. It's the current thinking around reducing community transmission given that, you know, a global pandemic is a public health issue.

Sadly, there will be redundancies and job losses and women will bear the brunt of them.

Btw, many school staff have been made redundant in recent years - budget cuts have led to considerable 'restructuring'. It's not too difficult to find a job as a teacher though, due to the recruitment and retention crisis.

And I believe that it's now possible to use a childminder or have a nanny come to your home.

Although I suppose if there's a shortage in your area or it's something that you can't afford, or don't want to do, that will be teachers fault too.

LaurieMarlow

Anyone with a lick of sense could see that working parents and childcare was going to be a problem.

The government has had 13 weeks to sort something out.

Yet here we are still waiting for them to realise that there is an issue.

Sadly, there will be redundancies and job losses and women will bear the brunt of them.

Forgive me for raging against this then, rather than simply dismissing it as ‘sad’. I think it’s deeply unfair that parents will bear the brunt (and for single parents, it’s catastrophic)

Families and children will suffer disproportionately from the job losses that are coming. Child poverty will rocket. That’s appalling.

Given that it is not obvious that children are any great danger in terms of spreading and all kinds of other sectors have opened up, I continue to be angry that getting schools back hasn’t been prioritised and solutions found. Children deserve a lot better.

Although I suppose if there's a shortage in your area or it's something that you can't afford, or don't want to do, that will be teachers fault too.

We’ve been trying desperately to get someone, yes. There’s no supply, because why would there be. Nanny’s only ever covered a tiny portion of the population.

I never said that was teachers faults.

The government has been an absolute shitshow, yes, totally agree.

@LaurieMarlow

The government has been an absolute shitshow, yes, totally agree.

Even my Tory friends agree with this!

Yes the apologists, even now (on here no less) would blow your mind.

LaurieMarlow you've continually blamed teachers and schools and are continuing to do so.

Child poverty and inequalities have been multiplying in the UK for a decade. Have you been raging all that time or is it only now that government policy threatens to affect your family?

Schooling has been prioritised in other countries eg Germany and even with a dramatically more competent government their 'solution' has been gradual, part-time reintroduction of children.

Yes, rage all you like about the government and the virus, but don't pretend that your children's school suddenly being open 9-3 for a few weeks (before they close for the summer) would mitigate the economic effects of the virus or the decision that your organisation is making.

Sorry 'decision' not decision.

I completely agree with you that women and families will continue to be the most adversely affected by the pandemic and subsequent economic downturn.

And this demographic is the main composition of the teachers that you're so convinced are sailing through this not worrying about redundancy.

'decisions' not decision!

but don't pretend that your children's school suddenly being open 9-3 for a few weeks (before they close for the summer) would mitigate the economic effects of the virus or the decision that your organisation is making

You say that, but me being able to comply with what they want, for a few weeks, probably would make a difference, as this is crunch time for them. How much of one, I don’t know.

The bottom line is working parents are trapped between no childcare provision and no (real) adjustments from employers. That’s a shit position to be in.