This government don’t give a shit about schools or your kids

[noblegiraffe]

AIBU to think that the government have fucked up literally everything to do with schools and education this year?

Evidence:

Chaotic school closures and keyworker provision (couldn’t decide what a keyworker was until the very last minute)

Forgot that kids on free school meals would go hungry so heads had to go round delivering sandwiches while the DfE put together an utterly shambolic voucher system that crashed and was pretty unusable.

Issued no guidelines for minimum education requirements during lockdown leading to vastly different provision between schools. Even Ofsted said they couldn’t judge schools on lockdown provision as there were no standards to judge them against.

Had to be shamed into u-turning on their insistence that free school meal children should go hungry during the holidays by a celebrity footballer (well done Marcus Rashford you absolute star)

Fed stories to friendly newspapers about schools re-opening in May to judge public reaction, leading to anxiety and uncertainty among parents and school staff

Announced that primary schools would open to all pupils before the summer holidays, an announcement that had surely not been run past anyone who worked in schools given that under the government’s own guidelines for schools for bubbles of 15 and no rotas, this would require double the classrooms and double the teachers available. Then backtracked on this a few weeks later (getting the friendly press to blame the unions) again creating uncertainty, anxiety and disappointment for parents and pupils.

Ignored education select committee questions about Ofqual’s algorithm when they raised issues in July

Lied and said they didn’t have early access to the data from Ofqual’s algorithm

When Scotland u-turned on their use of an algorithm, instead of making a considered response, came out with the bizarre notion that kids could use their mock grades - a suggestion that had obviously never been put past anyone who worked in schools. Again.

Took 5 days to realise that their mock suggestion created more problems than it solved, then u-turned on awarding CAGs creating problems for Y12 next year.

Fed stories to the friendly press that the unions are blocking the re-opening of schools in September so if it goes tits-up, they can blame them again (unions are asking for a ‘plan B’ in the case of local lockdowns, and for working conditions comparable to those of all other workers, no strike action has been proposed or balloted for so they couldn’t block re-opening even if they wanted to)

Blamed Ofqual for the algorithm they were told to create (prioritising statistics over teacher assessment)

Branded a teacher payrise that was agreed back in January a ‘reward for work during lockdown’, knowing this was incorrect, and deliberately fuelling outrage that they themselves had caused by having no minimum requirements for education in lockdown leading to vastly different provision.

Not funding this payrise so teachers probably won’t get it as otherwise it will lead to redundancies for other staff members due to having to fund it from already dire staffing budgets.

Issued guidelines that said that schools should reopen with increased cleaning schedules, increased handwashing, hand sanitising but providing no extra funding for this.

Instructed heads not to take any measures that would improve safety but would require more space (e.g. use of village halls) or not have pupils in full time (rotas, staggered timetables).

Didn’t realise that kids wouldn’t be able to get to school on public transport under current social distancing requirements as there aren’t enough buses until three weeks before schools reopened, and decided to throw £40 million to LAs to sort this (what? buy more buses?) so that they could blame the LAs when it inevitably goes wrong and kids can’t get to school.

And these are the people currently running a campaign to convince parents that they are capable of re-opening schools safely.

YABU: I have full confidence in the government and am perfectly happy with how things have gone so far

YANBU: It is mind-boggling how incompetent they have been, and how little thought they have given to the education of the nation’s children.

In which case I don’t believe that your child’s private secondary school was doing live lessons via video to a handful of pupils before lockdown happened.

They did!

Meanwhile back in the ‘real world’ of state secondaries, Josh from Y8 has decided that he wants to be ‘famous’ and the only thing being live-streamed to the kids back home is his arse.

noble Ahhh! You teach Josh too!

Clav
With respect, if your kid/s go to indi schools, why do you spend so much time telling state sector teachers that they must be wrong?

Is Gavin Williamson FROM Scarborough?
(or perhaps the tool box, as in 'not the sharpest tool in the box'?)
I've been trying to work out his accent?

why do you spend so much time telling state sector teachers that they must be wrong?

Just giving you examples of best practice.

Yes he is from Scarborough.

@Clavinova

why do you spend so much time telling state sector teachers that they must be wrong?

Just giving you examples of best practice.

Yes independent schools have great resources during lockdown. I know a number of kids who attend local Indies.

Average funding per pupil in secondary school - C 6k

Average payment per pupil independent schools - 12-25k

Hence wanting funding from government to provide a better service.

Did we neglect to notice the schools minister with responsibility for post 16 on holiday in France during all thus?

"Sources close to Ms Keegan [who is responsible for Apprenticeships and Skills] defended the trip, saying she was still working during the holiday and that Michelle Donelan [Minister of State for Universities] who shares the post-16 education strategy brief, was on duty while she was away."

Not good enough , sorry. Unless they job share, they have two different jobs.

And what was she doing somewhere on the FCO list, knowingly having to quarantine. Multiple posts on here have told teachers such a holiday would be irresponsible.

Just giving you examples of best practice.

No bread? Why don’t they just have a nice slice of Victoria Sponge?

Also, Josh’s arse is now trending on TikTok. Fab idea.

If Gavin Williamson went to Scarborough on the 3rd August, then this sub-heading is deliberately misleading;

"Gavin Williamson took a seaside break in Scarborough for a week and arrived just days before the A-levels fiasco which has rocked his position."

The Scottish results were published on the 4th August.

How is this misleading? It was 10 days before the A level results, so that sounds exactly right. He isn't responsible for the Scottish system.

The Scottish Tories made much of the Highers fiasco, but went a bit quiet when the English branch of the party made an equally bad or worse mess. What it is to be World Beating, hey!

To be fair, not all Tories - Halfon has expressed annoyance - it's good to see that not all Tories have completely sold out.

Now PHE are blaming staff for school outbreaks! Nothing to do with teens not socially distancing for months. They really have it in for school staff . Apologies if already covered. Only on page 9.
Also uplifts in exam results caused by algorithm and not CAGS. Small uplift caused by no student having a bad day as a CAG can't predict that.

More vigilant to exposure

What the actual feck does that even mean?

itsgettingweird

The same as the "Stay alert" BS that they came out with, its to transfer the blame on to others in a 'we told you to stay alert/be vigilant' way.

@Piggywaspushed

Yes he is from Scarborough.

thanks, @Piggywaspushed Seemed obvious, but you never know with this lot (eg darn sure BJ not from Fife) and I'm not familiar with that accent, as you can tell ;)

I have no invested interest in this having no school age children but am curious to know why schools, having the same info as the rest of us and having since March, are still waiting for the government to tell them what to do with a week to go.
I cannot believe schools do not have halls / gyms / dining areas that are big enough to accommodate teaching staff so they can safely distanceand hold meetings. I work in manufacturing and we held / hold meetings either on the shop floor or outside. It isn't comfy but we didn't close down in March and managed,without unions or government instruction, to keep going. Zoom or equivalent works perfectly well for every other industry but not an option?
Shops reopened as soon as they were able and managed to have sorted screens, one way systems etc by themselves.
Why can't highly qualified people manage, in the 6 months they have had to pepare for a return to school, sort what is best for their school without blaming everyone else for not giving complete instructions,
By the way, before all the 'teacher bashing responses' start. Let's not. I'm simply stating that every other industry has managed to sort things out (and have had to go through furlough / redundancy). You're intelligent people. Sort your own school as best you possibly can.

100% agree with on every point. They are a lot of useless tossers, especially GW.
How anybody can defend them in any way shape or form beggars bloody belief.

Jonah - why do we need meetings?
We've been told schools are not allowed to use extra facilities. Not allowed extra funding (not even for cleaning or for the payrise agreed in January), and not allowed to do rotas or blended learning. Also not allowed masks.
There are no spare classrooms or spare staff or timetable slack in your average comp.
Anything we do do is merely window dressing for the appearance of doing something. With hearty letters to the parents to reassure.

J0nah

Sort it out ourselves?

How would you suggest we avoid the many, many directives from the DfE?

An example:

BoJo said “Get year 10 and 12 back!”

Schools organised this.

A fortnight later BoJo said “only 25% in at a time mind!”

So we reorganised everything.

We aren’t allowed to just make things up as we go along, because we’re a publicly funded, massive beast of an organisation.

@J0nah
am curious to know why schools, having the same info as the rest of us and having since March, are still waiting for the government to tell them what to do with a week to go.

The Government, through the Department for Education, is directly in charge of what schools can and cannot do. Most schools have plans in place for September and remote learning but will need to change them with every single revision made to Government guidance. This is why they are asking for the update to the guidance that was supposed to come during the summer but hasn't shown up yet. No-one wants to have to rewrite all documentation, risk assessments, year group plans, etc. again and again and again so we'd like the promised summer update before we finalise things.

I cannot believe schools do not have halls / gyms / dining areas that are big enough to accommodate teaching staff so they can safely distanceand hold meetings.

Schools do and would be able to hold a single meeting in there for staff at a rough social distance depending on the size of the school. When posters are talking about the lack of distancing in schools, they are referring to being unable to distance from the students. The idea that students cannot pass the virus on to staff is a myth as shown by recent infections of staff by students.

Shops reopened as soon as they were able and managed to have sorted screens, one way systems etc by themselves.

Schools have opened to more students as soon as they were directed to by their boss: the Department for Education. Shops did manage to sort screens, etc. as their parent companies did fund these to be brought in on a national level. In the case of smaller shops, they decided to pay for it themselves. Schools do not have that level of autonomy.

Why can't highly qualified people manage, in the 6 months they have had to pepare for a return to school, sort what is best for their school without blaming everyone else for not giving complete instructions

Schools have. We've had plans in place for the moment this started. We've also revised it extensively as a direct result of changed guidance from a range of bodies but most noteably from the DfE. Again, this is why schools want some updated word from the Government so they can know that their current plans aren't going to have to be torn up and restarted several times before the first day the children are in.

Hope that helps.

Your suggestions about meetings are also naive. We had staff meetings on Teams.

Staff meetings aren’t the issue.

The issue is 1500 young people, their families and our wider community. We are trying to keep everyone safe - whilst also providing top quality education.

Jonah I would not dream of explaining your industry to you - it fascinates me that people feel they understand how schools work with zero knowledge.

I cannot believe schools do not have halls/gyms/dining areas that are big enough to accommodate teaching staff so they can safely distanceand hold meetings.

We do have a hall (which is our gym and dining hall) that staff can hold meetings in, yes.

How would that help us to open schools safely?

We need government funding for additional cleaning/hand washing and staffing to cover absences and avoid school closures.

We need the government guidance to say that parents must provide proof of a negative test before returning their child to school.

We need the masks to be recommended in school settings, as per WHO advice.

Schools can’t do any of these things without government guidance changing, no matter how much they want to.

@J0nah

Schools know what they are doing because they have put there own plans in place.
These have be in line with government guidance, which keeps changing.
That is what we are currently waiting for as the current guidelines are crap.

I cannot believe schools do not have halls / gyms / dining areas that are big enough to accommodate teaching staff so they can safely distance and hold meetings.

Yes these are being used for meetings they are also already being used for lessons.

Zoom or equivalent works perfectly well for every other industry but not an option?

Already been covered in so many threads, but safeguarding, not secure etc. etc. schools have found other platforms.

Shops reopened as soon as they were able and managed to have sorted screens, one way systems etc by themselves.

The government/guidance says no. (except for one way systems)

Why can't highly qualified people manage, in the 6 months they have had to pepare for a return to school, sort what is best for their school without blaming everyone else for not giving complete instructions,

Who do you think has sorted out the mess, its not the government, thanks for being condescending.

I'm simply stating that every other industry has managed to sort things out (and have had to go through furlough / redundancy).

We have had to sort out online lessons, safeguarding, free lunches etc. etc.

You're intelligent people. Sort your own school as best you possibly can.

Once again thanks for being condescending, that is what we are doing.

@Clavinova - its ok we know how to get stuff from DfE etc

Really patronising giving us examples of best practice. We all know what they are but state schools do not have the funding