to feel beyond annoyed every time someone says 'schools have never been closed'

[thisisthebestoftimes]

Because to the vast majority of children they have been. I feel it completely dismisses how serious this is for most dc and their families. Schools may have been open to 15 or so keyworker dc throughout this, and now to a couple of years worth of dc in years which seem completely illogical (except for the few hours years 10 and 12s have been afforded which is essential).

Were you worried about the children who don't have vested and proactive parents before the long-standing and structural problems in the education system actually started to affect your family, do you mind me asking?

I have to disagree with a pp that said no other professions have been criticised on mn like teacher

That was me and it was not what I said. This is what I said:

Possibly teachers feel criticised because thread after thread after thread after thread after thread after thread after thread after thread after thread after thread on MN is about criticising teachers and teaching.Not the police.Not doctors. Not even politicians

It was about the sheer unrelenting numbers; the frequency. And no, whatever has been said about the police, they have not had the wall-to-wall vitriol and contempt that has been directed at teachers.

koalas thank you very much.
I’ll mention that to the key worker.
I don’t believe either child has SEN outside difficulties at home, but I’ll check for sure.

@averysuitablegirl

Quite LaurieMarlow,

I think you should home school as you're obviously so much better at teaching than your child's teachers.

Actually, that I needed to do his job was exactly what my child's specialist optometrist told me (in a nicer way obviously!) when his apt was cancelled due to CV19.

Opened last week btw, after 3 months closed. Haven't seen any threads saying that opticians could be doing better.

You compare two professionals who are in contact with our kids - a one off appt that not many kids see and a professional who has everyday contact with our kids have and think the two are comparable... and wonder why on a parenting site why parents are more concerned with the lack of the everyday contact - really?

There are going to be more threads on schools than police on a parenting site. But I stand by my view that out and out generalising and nastiness is much worse on the threads about policing. It wouldn't be tolerated about any other profession.

A lot of the schools threads are parents setting out their own experience - and any generalising at all is jumped on.

I’m aware that no system is perfect. I pay my taxes, I support my school’s fundraisers and the fundraisers for other schools in my area.

However, just because inequality exists shouldn’t mean carte blanch to hugely increase it because certain schools are delivering hugely below expectations.

As for standing up for my sons interests, I make no apologies for that. If I didn’t know already that they only people who give a fuck about my son’s education are his parents, I definitely do now.

I have been very disillusioned by my sons school and I am definitely considering our options after this.

GazeboParty nope, I wasn't comparing professions.

I was responding to Laurie's assertion that no other profession has asked other people to do their job for them during the pandemic to point out that this wasn't true.

Hope you're all enjoying your vents and whatnot - meanwhile, those that didn't take their scheduled GCSE and Btec Exams this year are rather left floundering.

All any student could do is do the set work presented, or not presented, or not do the work, was there any work to do, how is this untutored or tutored work submitted, what does it count towards, who is assessing it, what if I can't get IT and just questions ad infinitum.

No one knows how marks and qualifications will be given/distributed - for at least 2 months. So this cohort have not the slightest idea how they can proceed and neither do their families.

I blame no one for this situation - just a bit of recognition for the difficulties this cohort is currently going through would be a nice 'gesture', at the very least.

I think the problem comes from the inconsistency in provision - the fault of this lies firmly at the feet of the government who have been appalling in their handling of schools. Guidance has been either non- existent or late arriving with ridiculous inconsistencies or every changing goalposts. Couple this with chronic underfunding and huge issues with teacher workload and the infrastructure to support the levels of home learning some parents would want simply aren't there. Many schools do not have the capacity to run live lessons etc and many teachers feel uncomfortable doing so from their own homes with children around etc. Also staff cannot do that and be in school supervising key worker children. Whilst some schools have clearly offered very little- there may be reasons for this which could have been explained if parents queried it. Perhaps the individual circumstances of staff for instance in that school meant there wasn't the capacity to do so. Or the circumstances of the children in their care with resources etc. The problem is, instead of querying this with the schools many have complained on social media instead. If a school was wrongly doing nothing but no parents queried it then why would they change it? They would assume parents were happy with the state of play. Also some schools were busy with things that parents don't realise are a huge part of the job- monitoring vulnerable families, providing food parcels, competing admin and all the additional paperwork and tasks that are part and parcel of the job. Yes there will have been cases where the schools were just a bit shit- but with others there will have been circumstances that prevented the offer that some parents would want. But there seems to be a tendency to complain publicly and, as a result, get the backs up of other teachers who have worked their guts out throughout, instead of just directly addressing the school through the numerous channels available - including formal routes.
The reason why people complain about the "schools never closed" line is because huge swathes of the population have taken the "schools are closed" statement literally and then used it as a reason to call teachers lazy and maintain they have sat on their arse doing nothing for months. That is why people correct it. Because yes schools are not open to all, but the vast majority are not closed. That's a fact. The majority of teachers have worked damn hard throughout this - whether it has been at home or going in to look after key worker and vulnerable children and so it is extremely upsetting to feel constantly attacked and vilified. Some of our staff have not had a day off since February half term. The job is so much more than 9-3 in front of kids - hence why there is such a retention crisis because there are some many other jobs which need doing - and many of these have continued. I'm really sorry that some parents have had a shit time with their schools- but it needs to be addressed with them because it often comes across as generalisation which then is upsetting to read. I've worked damn hard and tried to resign last week as I cannot continue to work at this level. Things were bad enough before the pandemic but we had a hope at the start that things might change and the lack of respect might finally end but things have gotten so much worse. The biggest problem is that the job is such hard work and no teacher is afraid of that but you are constantly questioned and basically made out to feel like you just want to do the bare minimum. When other professionals say their jobs are hard - it is just accepted, but when teachers say it, it is interpreted as them saying they have the hardest job in the world and then all the reason why it isn't and they are a bunch of liars. That is how you are made to feel constantly. It doesn't matter what people's intentions are- that is the perception and all the teachers taking it that way cannot all be wrong and imagining it. If that is the way it is seen, then this culture of generic criticism needs to stop. These are the people you entrust your most precious possessions to. People who care about them and look after them like they would their own kids. Why is that not deemed worthy of some respect and compassion? Criticise your own experience and a single teacher and be prepared to actually take it up with the school because in my experience, the vast majority of the time it is easily resolved. Teachers want to do a good job and want parents to be happy. They cannot fix issues they don't know about. But please stop making it about all teachers. That's the problem. Because if we are all saying if is having a negative effect on our mental health and willingness to do the job. If we are all "taking it too personally". Then we can't all be wrong, can we? It means the narrative needs to change.

LaurieMarlow teachers spend their working lives trying to reduce inequality. It's an uphill battle, as they can do so little about child poverty, homelessness, toxic parental relationships, DV, child abuse etc, but that is a large part of their job.

Teachers are the last professional that want to increase inequality. For children who don't have supportive parents, teachers are the ONLY people that give a fuck about their education.

And it does sound as though your relationship with your child's school has broken down, and moving him would be a good idea.

@averysuitablegirl

GazeboParty nope, I wasn't comparing professions.

I was responding to Laurie's assertion that no other profession has asked other people to do their job for them during the pandemic to point out that this wasn't true.

Teachers were expected to teach, they were supposed to be doing their job - some did some didn't. Obviously all MN teachers taught but back in the real world many took the minimalist approach. I haven't encountered many other professions, the dermatology appt was a bit shit but it won't make a big dent on my life. My dc's teachers taking a nice break during this crisis will - they are Year 12 - catch up time is limited.

For children who don't have supportive parents, teachers are the ONLY people that give a fuck about their education

And in my son’s school, that has been reduced to an email message a week.

Which you seem to be defending (correct me if I’m wrong) as a fulfilment of their duties.

HelloMissus If you contact the LEA SEND I would imagine they would help or pass it onto someone else would could help. Emotional difficulties come under SEND so they probably would come under it. Our team are lovely. My son is very bright but has SN and at first the school just sent him home, said no money to support him and would we find him another school. I called LEA out of desperation thinking they wouldn't be able to help as an academy but they got in an Ed Psych multiple times, put it in writing to school it was illegal to send him home, got the school to give him a TA a few hours a week and got the school to make a plan. We still had issues so I had to go via complaints process as well and it went to Dept of Education who I suspect called in Ofsted (at least timing matched and they asked me for loads of documents) and school went down from outstanding to requires improvements and it said school was failing SN boys. It took about a day a week for a year to get him support but if you keep on and on eventually help comes. It really shouldn't be that hard but schools budgets have been cut and SN funding isn't ringfenced and most parents do withdraw kids when made to feel not wanted. But I wasn't giving up on him or the other SN kids who may not have parents who can fight for them for that length of time.

HatelsNotGood I completely agree with you. There have been a few threads about this, and I expect more will be posted over the next couple of months.

I really feel for those children who had been told for years how important GCSEs were, only for the exams to be cancelled over night. And it is going to be extremely hard to get many of those children re-engaged with education come September.

Once again, inequality will out. Children who go to schools that the govt will rank highly, did well enough in their mocks and have an enriching, stimulating home life will be, with a few ups and down, okay.

Children without these advantages will have even more dice loaded against them. It must be so hard to live through this uncertainty with your child.

LaurieMarlow you have no idea what input teachers have been having with other children at your child's school.

I'm saying that teachers spend their working life trying to reduce inequalities. Their actual job is to care about children's education.

It may be that the teachers in your child's school have decided that they don't anymore, or couldn't really be bothered in the first place of course, which would make it a most unusual educational establishment and one that you'd probably be wise to withdraw your child from.

In fact, why not just do that?

De-register him tomorrow, call the LA and put him on the waiting list for the other school near you (or there could even be a place available) then you never have to give his current school another thought.

Their actual job is to care about children's education.

And I’m saying I’m not seeing much sign of that from some schools. Certainly from my child’s. And there are plenty of posters on here posting similar stories so it’s by no means some huge outlier.

Equally there are many reporting very good provision, which shows it can be done and I know there are many dedicated teachers out there.

But with the two worksheets a week provision we’re getting and the assertion on here that I shouldn’t be complaining about that, I don’t think we will stay much longer in the state system.

That's probably for the best.

I'm not sure that there are plenty of posters posting similar stories tbh. These threads seem to be full of the same posters, saying the same things and refusing any perspective than 'it's disgraceful'.

With a new-found interest in the welfare of vulnerable children.

Honestly, if these two worksheets a week are preoccupying you as much as they seem to, you know that it's not going to change before the summer, so why not just de-register your son tomorrow?

Then the school's provision, which you find woefully inadequate, won't bother you so much.

I would imagine most parents have raised concerns with their schools directly - I certainly have as well as pointing out what is working well. Ours said they couldn't do live lessons for safeguarding though have just started them via Teams with a couple of lessons a week with video and mics off. Those work quite well and allow peer interaction though they seem a lot more work for the teacher and a lot of the class chat is irrelevant (but nice for peer interaction) so the hour gives as much learning as doing the presentation for 20 mins 1 to 1 with DS. The issue is there's only 3 lessons a day, the reason has been given they don't want children to be stressed but it takes mine 1 hour to do all 3 lessons - its probably equivalent of 3 hours in school but there's 2 hours plus homework given. The other reason given is a lot of teachers have children who aren't in school which I can see must be very challenging. There's some who are clearly working flat out, usually the younger teacher who don't have kids who are paid the least though it's hard to know exactly as we only see a fraction of what teachers do. Whether teachers are working though is really a matter for the Head and my concern is that my children can access a full-time (or full-time minus practical subjects) curriculum from September. I also think all children should be provided with a laptop by a government scheme if they haven't got one and this should have been done right at the start.

LaurieMarlow

I'm fairly certain that the response to you from teachers on previous was to contact the school.

I'm even more certain that teachers saying that has been one of your complaints.

KoalasandRabbit

The original complaint (on here) about live lessons was the zoom platform.

Zoom has now (allegedly) addressed the security issues.
Teams has also improved its security.

There also other platforms that have been further developed, although this has sorted some of the issues it has not solved all of them and never will.

It also helps that schools have asked for volunteers and are not forcing teachers to do live lessons.

averysuitablegirl - I have just read through the thread and I can assure you that there are plenty of other parents reporting stories to Laurie Marlowe’s. Perhaps you should re-read since you seem to have missed them.

I wasn't talking about just this thread.

There have been scores over the last few weeks and the same names, saying the same thing come up over and over again.

I don’t have any children, nor any connections to the teaching profession so I have no axe to grind either way.

I have to say though the aggressive and defensive stance taken by some teachers on this thread is really appalling. As for the teacher above defending a provision of 2 unmarked worksheets per week - words fail me.