To be really angry on behalf of teachers

[Jessicabrassica]

I know mumsnet loves a bit of teacher bashing.
I'm really angry that once again the Department for Education has put out guidance for schools in a Friday night before a long weekend with some schools having already started and others back next week.
I cannot imagine how many iterations of risk assessments have already been completed to make schools as safe as possible given the constraints of staff numbers, building size and requirements to get every child back in school.
They are getting enough PPE to tick the box that it's been issued to all schools but not enough to be useful.
Teachers mostly haven't stopped working since the pandemic began. They have continued to teach, to support vulnerable learners, provided meals and good parcels out of school funds in lieu of FSM, they remained open through school holidays for key worker provision.
I really feel that they have been well and truly fucked over, left massively vulnerable and will be left to carry the can for community outbreaks.

I'm a parent and work for the NHS if it's if any consequence.

YANBU

You are aware that every single job will experience sudden, complete and difficult changes to implement at times?
That whole industries have continued through this pandemic, changing working practices rapidly? Like the NHS for example. Why on earth do you think teachers are being fucked over, specifically, over and above others?

Am sure many teachers have worked very hard. That said two thirds of dds primary staff vanished mid March never to be seen again. School secretary sent out work sheets prepared by another school. No work submitted or marked....we kept waiting for them to do something but they never did. So not blown away with admiration no.

YABU there is no alternative, children have to go back to school. Provisions have been made.
Carers, supermarket workers, police etc have all continued to work mixing with the super spreaders that are adults.

Am sure many teachers have worked very hard. That said two thirds of dds primary staff vanished mid March never to be seen again exactly!!! I Know if some amazing teachers and I know of ones that buggered off and never checked in on the children. Also the majority of children have not been in school!!!!!!

Really, I don't understand you. Some people just seem to want lockdown to last forever. It's time the schools went back.

I agree shocking timing and so unfair to teachers.

Yanbu.
The latest dept of education update was thrown out yesterday evening wasn't it.

I'm just releived both my dc's schools is allowing masks now. Might give eveyone a chance of making it to Oct half term.

YANBU. Government could give schools a few more days notice. I know new info is only gradually coming to light but I don't think it's really necessary to be this last minute. The exams fiasco was exactly the same.

I am just grateful that DD is back at school and being taught again.
Honestly, what do you think needs to be done?
I dont think masks are an answer, I dont think the government thinks that masks are an answer.. but they are our elected representatives, they can't ignore public pressure for ever!

I agree OP these people look after our children every day and yet we seem to have no care or respect for them at all!!

Many of us have still worked through the pandemic. Teacher must play their in our society.

Like most teachers you mean.

FWIW the guidance is more about keeping the children safe, not the adults, anyway.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

YABU there is no alternative, children have to go back to school. Provisions have been made. Carers, supermarket workers, police etc have all continued to work mixing with the super spreaders that are adults.

The alternative was government giving guidance more than 0 working hours before the start of term. 6pm on a Friday.

YANBU and to those saying boohoo etc YABVU. We are taking about children here. A sudden change in an office environment not great but ok we're all adults etc a change for children on this scale causes major disruption and takes lots of planning.
I'm sure you'll be the first ones complaining if you have to take time off work to look after them if/when the schools close

There are not major changes to the guidance, so whilst awful timing, most school leaders will just need to revisit their risk assessment and make slight tweaks. The previous updates to guidance were far worse as schools had a low preparation starting point

YANBU.

The alternative was government giving guidance more than 0 working hours before the start of term. 6pm on a Friday I meant there’s no alternative to just going back to school. Schools have put in procedures: single class use rooms, single year use corridors, staggered start and finish times, packed lunch only eating outside. At some point though a teacher has to stand in front a child and teach.

The guidance also changed over night too. First published mid evening; next update just before midnight. Hence BBC etc now have inaccurate articles as they wrote them ore the next update.

Bear in mind that these guidelines are supposed to be there to keep schools open and protect your children. Very little in any of them refer to the teaching staff / so don't worry school staff - not just the teachers - aren't getting any special treatment here (not have the asked for any.)

And this latest guidance has come so late that the next working day is the day schools open, after some schools have returned, after all schools have done their risk assessments and after all schools have informed parents of the new rules.

And before our schools even open we have to change it all.

How can ANYONE think that publishing new guidance at that time, so close to opening, can be deemed good practise or acceptable, or even vaguely try to justify it?

Even if you dislike teachers surely you have to admit that this has come far too late, and should have been published earlier this week at the very least.

The provision was massively uneven. Mine are primary aged, but of our town's three secondaries one was genuinely fantastic and another basically left the students to fend for themselves (have friends with DCs at both). Its really not that noteworthy that teachers "haven't stopped working" or have had to make big adjustments at short notice. We are all in the same boat. If you want unsung heroes, look at the army of workers in the care sector who showed up to their insecure minimum wage jobs in high risk environments full of frail people exceptionally susceptible to the virus & kept showing up while millions of us - including teachers - were sitting in our houses on rather more generous salaries

im sure you'll be the first ones complaining if you have to take time off work to look after them if/when the schools close every decent parent I know wants their child to go back to be educated!!!! For their mental well being!! This idea that parents just want childcare is unfair

The point of this thread is about the woeful incompetence of the government publishing updates ridiculously late.

Why do some people again choose it to have a bash at teachers?!?!

Children have to go back to school. Most teachers I know want this (or at least accept it). The point the OP makes is, when this decision was made months ago, why wait until there are 0 working hours before schools open to release the guidance? Boris announced in May we would go back in June (and there was a similar situation with guidance being published the Friday before half term then), and all through the summer term and summer holiday it’s been known we will be back, almost normally, in September (or the end of August in some school). So why wait until 28thaugust to release the guidance?

@Aragog Come on - the guidance has nothing to do with "protecting" my children. 99.99% of children don't need any protecting. I wish we could just let that one go and be honest about what we're trying to achieve, which is primarily to prevent transmission to a fairly specific demography of at risk adults.

@Aragog

The point of this thread is about the woeful incompetence of the government publishing updates ridiculously late.

Why do some people again choose it to have a bash at teachers?!?!

This.