To think the only way forward now for school staff is to strike in Jan

[OverTheRainbow88]

Sadly, I believe, the only way forward now for school staff in to strike in Jan.

Schools are unsafe, understaffed and not ‘covid secure’. This will get much worse in Jan when people are allowed to meet inside in a 3 household bubble and travel freely around ( in England at least).

@shesingsshangrila

Even the parts which are factually incorrect? Read the many posts correcting this person on their understanding of "mass testing in schools."

As for the opinions, have whatever opinion you like.

What would teachers striking achieve other than children not being able to go to school, parents (Doctors, nurses, careers, shop workers, cleaners, and on and on....) not being able to work, children not being fed or having people who know them monitor their well being, children being left to their own devices.

My position from the beginning is that school should not be compulsory but that parents who are able to work from home and home school should be allowed to, this will reduce the number of children in schools. There would have to be a guaranteed level of acceptable school work done though.

The only down side to this is the risk of at risk children being kept home. But schools would know who these children are and be able to flag to the right authorities if parents choose to keep these children home.

I could not see any teacher in my DCs school ever wanting to strike, they have all gone above and beyond for the school and our DCs.

'It’s a pity they’re closing schools'

PHASED RETURN 🙄

'They threatened court action against schools who moved to online learning'

Yes quite right too. I believe the DfE decides these things along with PHE etc. Not Barry down the council.

I am not saying ALL teachers ran out the door at the end of March and then proceeded to blame everyone else for why they couldnt do their jobs. However these stories from others and my own experiences cannot be ignored.

I dont have an issue re online schooling at the beginning of Jan if we could trust the unions and the teachers to undertake the lessons, have proper technology training, not make up silly excuses like they dont want their heads appearing on Porn Hub (I joke not!), not wanting to use their broadband because they need it for other reasons or just plain refusing to do lessons because THEIR children are now needing to be looked after.

The private sector (and I have worked in both) has moved onto Zoom/Teams etc very quickly, they had to. They couldnt hid behind the head, the schools, the government as to why they werent available. Surely the Head knows their school better than anyone. What about coming up with some solutions and some Can Do as opposed to Cannot Do every single time they are asked to do something.

My DS worked in a big supermarket March/April. They ran out of gloves for him to use as he was a cashier and whilst it was annoying and potentially dangerous he brought some for himself. I am not sure teachers have that attitude now, if its not handed to them on a plate, if their union says they dont like it - well they wont jolly well do it and will threaten to go on strike (again....)

As a teacher I do not support Strike Action.
However, can people please turn their vitriol and hatred towards the DFE/govt!

None of this is 'teachers' fault. If your school let your child down previously, move schools and find somewhere more suitable! Most didn't. A lot of us were setting work from scratch and marking and feeding back as normal, then doing scheduled time with keworkers.
We would like to have a clue what the plan is for January as much as the next person.

Apparently we are getting a testing machine and tests delivered and setting up our own Field testing sites!? I'm fine to oversee this if we get PPE and the time to actually do this?

I heard the Head of Ofsted saying last week that the reason teachers werent available were because they were delivering food parcels to disadvantaged children. Really? Maybe 1-2 were but all of them??

@GetOffYourHighHorse

'It’s a pity they’re closing schools'

PHASED RETURN 🙄

'They threatened court action against schools who moved to online learning'

Yes quite right too. I believe the DfE decides these things along with PHE etc. Not Barry down the council.

Phased return is a way of saying schools will be closed to most year groups when they should be open.

It's a way of trying to dodge that they are moving to online learning which they said was just too terrible to contemplate as kids need to be in school just a few days ago. They said it was vital.

And now it's not.

Individual teachers have to make the best decision for themselves. If they feel strongly enough that schools are unsafe then they can quit (like I did).

I don’t want to strike - I never have - but I am an older and “vulnerable” teacher, in a school where the number of infections has rocketed, and I am working with no Covid mitigations apart from a bottle of hand sanitiser and the odd open window (sometimes, where possible).

And now we are told that from January we will not even be sending home close contacts of confirmed cases.

I don’t want to leave - I can’t until Easter, anyway - but I am increasingly anxious. To those who are effectively saying “suck it up”, is there any limit to this?

I teach in a 'covid secure' university. In practice this means that if a student tests positive we don't get notified because it is assumed it's a secure environment and the virus won't spread, which is clearly ridiculous when none of the students use any of the one way systems, hand sanitizer or ever clean down their desks like they're asked.

Bathroom
I heard similar excuses from 'parents'. Their DC couldn't possibly do any of the remote learning set because, they didnt know about it, they'd forgotten their passwords to access remote learning platforms, they didn't 'get it's and (I kid you not) I can't, motivate them and it's not worth the battle!
Not 'all parents' btw, but enough to be a kick in the teeth when staff are creating, sourcing and developing resources from scratch with no access to the school facilities !

I'm in Scotland and I certainly won't be responsible for swabbing kids

'Phased return is a way of saying schools will be closed to most year groups when they should be open.'

Or, rather than a 'way of saying' anything it is actually just identifying a safe way of returning gradually. Why aren't you pleased?! I thought you'd have your knickers in a knot over the risk to teachers after multi households mixing, this is surely safer for teachers. The thing some of you have been rightly demanding, no?

Or, rather than a 'way of saying' anything it is actually just identifying a safe way of returning gradually

And yet a safe way of finishing the school term was deemed a matter for the high courts by the DfE. Because of their actions, more people will die over Christmas.

Well done on really trying to polish a turd on their behalf though.

Can’t get bothered to read yet another Rudy loud argument on this subject.

OP, the only ‘sadly’ is that sadly, your opinion is bollocks

I guess by this thread I just wanted people to see how desperate the school situation is.

I know deep down school strikes isn’t the answer, that is will fuck over our already vulnerable children and families. I know this. But, what else is left to do? No one is listening. The government is doing nothing.

I can’t describe the joy my job gives me. I love the children I teach, I see them as an extended part of my family. Some children I teach are the 5th in their family, so I’ve known their parents for 11 years. I have breakfast with them more often than I do with my own children. Some of their parents come to see my on a weekend to ask if I’ve really not given them homework this weekend, to tell me their family news, sometimes to tell me how naughty they’ve been this weekend. Before I had my own I had an open garden, those living in high rise flats near me would pop over to help me garden.

I would swab every single one of them daily if I could, but it’s too much. This situation is desperate, and in Jan it will be worse.

I also owe a public apology to @noelgiraffe who saw this coming and predicted it all, I was too positively optimistic and unkind. Sorry, you were right.

Chosen, I take your point. Some parents couldnt care, some dont want to 'upset' their children but I just hear too many times that teachers seem to have used this pandemic to make any excuse to not do something and that there is a Cannot Do attitude

The world isnt safe at present. We are in the middle of a pandemic. I am wondering whether to call my 88 year DM and tell her she cannot come to stay for a few days. She lives on her own and I havent seen her since April. At 88 there might not be another Xmas and everything is a bit of a risk at this age. So we are going to have a family meeting and think about using masks in the car, at home, no hugs, social distancing, washing hands very regularly, I even thought about having some meals outside with the appropriate clothing on.

So what I am saying in a round about way is that the world is a load of risks. We cannot be completely safe at this horrible horrible time unless we literally lock our front door and wait until mid next year until Spring arrives. Nowhere is CV19 100% safe.

@KarlKennedysDurianFruit

I live right near a large hospital which is the designated Covid hospital, how will all of those doctors and nurses go to work when their children aren't at school?

Have to leave them with elderly relatives which in ‘normal times’ wouldn’t be an issue, or face disciplinaries at work!! This is what people don’t think about when they make stupid suggestions.

Have to leave them with elderly relatives

A lot of teachers are of grandparent age

I couldn’t leave mine with my parents as they work full time... one as a nurse and one as a teacher!

@AliceMcK

What would teachers striking achieve other than children not being able to go to school, parents (Doctors, nurses, careers, shop workers, cleaners, and on and on....) not being able to work, children not being fed or having people who know them monitor their well being, children being left to their own devices.

My position from the beginning is that school should not be compulsory but that parents who are able to work from home and home school should be allowed to, this will reduce the number of children in schools. There would have to be a guaranteed level of acceptable school work done though.

The only down side to this is the risk of at risk children being kept home. But schools would know who these children are and be able to flag to the right authorities if parents choose to keep these children home.

I could not see any teacher in my DCs school ever wanting to strike, they have all gone above and beyond for the school and our DCs.

I would like parent to keep children that can stay at home to do so if they choose too. It would definitely half the number of students in a lot of schools. So make them safer.

The problems with juggling of online work and in school classes I think could be sorted with some imagination.

However you are very wrong in thinking schools know all the vulnerable kids. Plus on my experience the more vulnerable from abuse or neglect are going to be less likely to get sent to school.

The thing is do we risk sacrificing them to save the NHS and all that. Some parents have been basically saying over the weeks actually the safety of my own child is more important. So maybe we do. I don't know.

@GetOffYourHighHorse

'It’s a pity they’re closing schools'

PHASED RETURN 🙄

'They threatened court action against schools who moved to online learning'

Yes quite right too. I believe the DfE decides these things along with PHE etc. Not Barry down the council.

Definitely not Barry down the council is a Labour MP.

The government discuss these things with Hector the Tory MP whilst playing golf.

'And yet a safe way of finishing the school term was deemed a matter for the high courts by the DfE. Because of their actions, more people will die over Christmas.'

🙄

More people will die after Christmas because some people are completely unable to follow the guidance. We've seen all over mn the flouters who will carry on regardless having a houseful because they are selfish arseholes < disclaimer barring those who are terminally ill, have significant mh problems or live alone>. It would not have made any difference if they'd have finished earlier.

Perhaps care assistants should strike to. We have been treated appaling by the government.

'I know deep down school strikes isn’t the answer, that is will fuck over our already vulnerable children and families. I know this. But, what else is left to do? No one is listening. The government is doing nothing.'

The government have announced a phased return in jan (sorry I know I'm repeating myself this just seems to be getting frantically swept under the carpet as it doesn't suite the waaah'ing narrative). So they are doing something.

A strike. Fgs .