Schools should close for 2 weeks after the Christmas mixing

[OverTheRainbow88]

I think that schools should remain closed for face to face teaching 2-3 weeks after the end of the period in which Boris will allow families to all mix.

I don’t want to be in a classroom with 30 different kids 5 times a day who’ve mixed inside with all different family members and friends.

I say online learning until mid Jan, if Boris will allow us all to mix at Christmas

If all unis and colleges and high schools are online then maybe we don't need so many teachers? One set of lectures/lessons for student's to log into; a pool of teachers (who lets face it - could be based anywhere) covering the work that gets handed in. Could be easily streamlined and costs/overheads reduced - it sounds like Tory government wet dream.

Be careful what you wish for.

When do you go back? We are back on 4th so at least 7 days after 28th.

And suddenly these kids will have missed an entire year.
Er, what now? My pupils (leaving aside the fact that their education continued in lockdown) have been back in school since August. If they have time off in January, how does this add up to a year? (Any maths teachers around?)

I haven’t personally spoken to anyone who is that worried about Christmas, many don’t want to see relatives in case they infect them anyway. I do worry about businesses being shut because of the financial implications to individuals and the country as a whole. I actually couldn’t care less whether I get to go Christmas shopping or for a Christmas meal etc but feel I should make an effort to support all the small businesses. The risk of covid from popping in a shop with a mask on and good hygiene is pretty minimal. I care a lot about education, it doesn’t negate everything else. From a personal point of view I love having my kids home and could juggle work, I can’t suddenly make my broadband good enough for them to use if I’m on a call, I can’t supervise or help them as I’m working. There’s no facility for me to take time off. The provision wasn’t great last time. Their education and mental health does suffer from not being in school. I don’t think those of us who have had 0,1,2 cases of covid at school are going to be convinced that shutting is justified or the best course of action. If the plan is to vaccinate groups 1 and 2 at least by January surely we’re not going to be looking at the exact same situation in January anyway

If you read my full post, you'll have seen the first question i asked was "and what happens at the end of the two weeks if cases aren't at an acceptable level? Another two weeks? Then another two weeks..." etc etc.

So yes, ok maybe I was exaggerating by saying "a full year" but my point is that if you shut schools this time, I think itll be hard to justify opening them again if cases didn't go down to whatever is deemed an acceptable level. And suddenly we could easily be at easter hols and theyre still not open again....

I would hope the impact of the planned vaccinations would be felt long before spring (not children or teachers obviously, but less community transmission helps us too)

juststopswimming
What about marking and feedback? One pool of teachers couldn't respond to 100s individually? Students actually upload work online you know. We the spend time marking it and we respond online and can engage in a dialogue that is personalised.
Plus we know our kids so we can differentiate and personalise tasks.

Schools must not be shut for the sake of Christmas. It’s just not worth it. As a teacher, the difference that I see in the students now compared to after the six month lockdown is staggering. So many of the younger secondary pupils had lost so much of their confidence in themselves to concentrate, to apply themselves, to take some risks academically. They’ve come a long way since September and it’s not worth going down a slippery slope of school closures for the sake of a family get together. If both aren’t possible in the current situation then we must prioritise school, sad to say.

@Juststopswimming are you being satirical?

Likeafish where do you live that you had a six month lockdown?

Lots of sensible people on here, who will be following the rules.
However in wider society, there are many numpties who will not.
And let's be honest, it's for their benefit that the rules are there.
So I can see where you're coming from, even if what you propose is unfair to those who do the right thing.

Of course I'm being satirical!

But the way some people on here carry on about online learning being an acceptable alternative to in person teaching...well there are probably a lot of cost savings if that is truly the case. And if we know anything about this heap of a government, its that they don't give a shit. About anyone.

Move everything online and the job security that teachers have always enjoyed might not be as secure.

Whenever I see "online learning" I just see "twinkl worksheet x5"

Don't forget the Twinkl powerpoint.

Actually, if there is parental supervision from someone with a vague idea of what is going on (and it's not hard to find out at primary level) the kids will all be fine doing Twinkl, bitesize, oak academy etc - at primary level.

School doesn't do anything very magical. It does all this stuff at a level that is too slow for the more advanced children and too fast for the struggling ones.

If you can't be there, that's a different issue but don't knock Twinkl!

And online learning is incredibly effective.

Online learning isn't effective when both parents are working 12 hour days and your children are primary aged....

This whole school closure Covid thing has highlighted the fact that school is as much about free childcare and safeguarding as education. Let's just admit that, rather than pretending there is no other alternative to school as a way of educating your child. Many, many children would do better or equally effective learning at home with adequate supervision and resources.

The thorny issue is...school is meant to be for educational purposes only. Parents have a legal obligation to educate their child and school offers to do it for them. Parents are allowed to then discharge their legal responsibility to school. That's it. That's all school is meant to be there for, all they are obliged to do. If they send a worksheet home and tell you to tell your child to do it, one could say they've done their bit in taking responsibility for educating their child - they've just delegated a bit of the donkey work back to you (which was always part of the deal anyway with homework and supportive home environment). They never offered to safeguard your child for you or look after your child so you could work - that is not technically part of the agreement.

So if twinkl plus oak plus a bit of parental support* is good enough for teaching young kids, why bother having Primary schools at all? Lovely way for bojo and chums to save quite a few pennies if we don't need actual teachers and actual schools.

*I won't start on the "parental input" thing because God forbid any parent would have a [gasp] job they need to do instead of guiding little Johnny on his fourth phonics worksheet of the week

PinkFondantFancy I teach 3-9 year olds online. Mum/Dad rarely present. I get excellent results.

Juststopswimming

Yeah, this is my point. You gasp at the idea of it being your responsiblity to help Jonny with his phonics. It was always your responsibility. School discharged it for you. Whether you work or not is irrelevant - the buck always stopped with you. The idea that the buck should stop with school rests on a misconception of your responsibilities and what school is obliged to do for us as parents.

If its the parents responsibility and online teaching (oak/twinkl) is sufficient and already available then we don't need teachers at all do we? Add them all to the ever increasing queue at the job centre.

(Can I also just reiterate i think that twinkl plus oak and online teaching are hugely substandard educational experiences v actual schools and I am yet to meet a single person who has a positive thing to say about online learning)

A good teacher does do something magical, they make it fun and interesting. They have the skills and knowledge to answer questions without having to google for half the day. They have patience and a knack of knowing how to explain in different ways for different people. Most of us think teachers do a far better job than us, even if we have a good standard of education. Which tbh a large section of society don’t have, the average reading age is 9. That’s before you consider that a large number of us have had to work.

School isn’t free🤣 I pay for it through taxation. I’d never choose home education as I have an extremely sociable child who benefits greatly from learning wand interacting with others. Should the hospital be able to discharge their responsibilities too- so just turn up and they’ll leave you to do your own kidney dialysis with no training or support??

BungleandGeorge

In some ways I agree but the magical thing teachers do is teaching more than a few children and they're not their own children. It really isn't the same thing at all, doing it at home with children with abilities you know inside out. The reality of school life is rarely magical - there's a lot of herding about the place and missing the point for many, many students. I would also have more sympathy with the idea that home ed is too tricky on a forum that wasn't MN where most posters are articulate and quick witted. Based on the calibre of MN post, they could do it if they wanted to badly enough or if they diverted the time spent on MN to supporting their children's learning.

That would be a laudable post-pandemic goal, actually. Teachers across Britain and Ireland would probably feel a magical difference in their classrooms if parents stopped posting on social media and supported their children's learning. If you have time to be on MN, you're clearly not working every minute and children don't require that much teaching time one-on-one.

Hilarious thread.

ITU consultants should feel bad going to work because putting their children in school puts teachers’ health at risk.

So right! Let’s all stay at home! Doctors, police, fire service. Just stay the fuck at home and ‘be kind.’

And nobody needs to go to school, kids can just sit in front of a screen, it’s literally the same thing.

😂