"F**k off, Gav. Nobody trusts you"

[noelgiraffe]

Gavin Williamson appears to be now more hated than Gove by the education profession, including school leaders and head teachers, which is probably his only achievement since starting the job.

He actually managed to unite all education unions, including heads, governors and the Church of England to write a joint letter refusing to co-operate with his bonkers mass-testing plan. This never happens.

neu.org.uk/media/13741/view

"F**k off Gav. Nobody trusts you. There is no ‘we’. The good will reserves are empty. Some schools are working today on track and trace from last week because you didn’t let them close; your cut ‘n’ paste guidance is unresourced crap. You’re a bad joke."

The above quote from a prominent member of the education community is in response to an article where he gears up to pre-blame teachers and schools for the imminent failure of the mass testing programme that he wants quickly knocked up on a shoestring budget over the Christmas holidays. (Do Serco not have any of their billions of pounds budget left for this?)

twitter.com/educationgovuk/status/1341023021788770307?s=21

Given the complete breakdown in the relationship between Gavin Williamson and the people he is supposed to lead, is it indeed time for Gav to f**k off?

YABU: No, Gav is doing just fine
YANBU: Fuck off, Gav

I’m assuming if a person doesn’t have a DBS they will need to be escorted to the toilet

There’s no slack in the system to allow anyone running the testing to go to the toilet. 3.4 million children to get through!

Still at least it will be a good taste of life as a teacher if anyone is considering a PGCE.

Tbf we don't need people to escort secondary age children to the toilet.

We do when pupils are sitting Exams so those invigilating need to have DBS I suppose.

How it started versus how it’s going.

Many DfE staff are incredulous too.

Gove’s massive removal of most things coursework has contributed a large part to the issues faced in secondary schools and colleges. A pretty shit legacy.

And modules and AS levels, Chloe.

A lot of the summer’s exams fiasco would have been avoided if the kids already had marks in the bag.

I am really worried about the lateral flow tests. Putting aside the logistics of testing... in Liverpool the tests were shown to miss about 50% of cases. That's ok if the aim is to identify cases that would otherwise be missed - but frightening when they are being touted as an alternative to isolation! Even the cases they pick up... if that child has travelled on school / public transport to get to school to be tested, that could be fair few contacts.

Lateral flow tests in addition to current measures to mop up any missed cases are a good idea.

Lateral flow tests used in they way they are being suggested to cut self isolation is a monumental and entirely predictable fuck up. It would only be done by somebody with no understanding or who didn’t give a shit about the number of people that will die as a result of it.

Gavin W is screwing up safeguarding for kids in care too, their services are also in his remit. Here is an example, summed up by Private Eye

Gav breeding a super-strain of covid in secondary schools is probably the most productive thing he has done all year.

Gav is so incompetent but also so conniving I genuinely don’t know what his motives are:

A) He genuinely thinks this testing regime will work and therefore keep schools open (swaying to incompetent)

B) He knows it won’t be safe to open schools in Jan but announced this plan in December so he can blame the failure on schools for not “working together” enough

A seems unlikely because SURELY scientific advisors would be clamouring to tell him that a test with only 50% accuracy (if used by someone not trained properly) cannot, either in good conscience OR seeking to avoid accusations of corporate manslaughter be used in place of self-isolation

Indeed StripyHorse.

Tossing a coin for each child would give exactly the same level of accuracy and the lateral flow tests.

True story.

Can I just say @noelgiraffe thank you for all these threads. Working in education is shit at the moment and your threads show that I'm not being unreasonable to be shit scared!

@Scout2016

Gavin W is screwing up safeguarding for kids in care too, their services are also in his remit. Here is an example, summed up by Private Eye

I think outcomes from Birmingham Uni show 50% to be optimistic...

@noelgiraffe

How it started versus how it’s going.

Who are the 2%? Indeed who even were the 8% in May? People with a poor sense of humour?

It's like a constant episode of The Apprentice with all the really shit candidates

I know it's no laughing matter, but this made me lol.

@ineedaholidaynow

I’m assuming if a person doesn’t have a DBS they will need to be escorted to the toilet

Yep. Add that to the list of things school staff will be doing alongside our actual jobs 🤦🏼‍♀️

It’s rushed, undermanned and unfair on the schools but if we don’t give consent then our children don’t have it. What’s Gav going to do then?

Oh and most importantly not very accurate - you must pick your child up immediately if a positive test result, isolate get another test and if that’s negative back to school - just wonderful.

@christinarossetti19

Indeed StripyHorse.

Tossing a coin for each child would give exactly the same level of accuracy and the lateral flow tests.

True story.

This Government probably thinks that tossing a coin is a pretty good way to make a decision, and 50% is reasonable accuracy. Didn’t our esteemed PM make his mind up about whether or not to support Brexit in a similar whimsical way?

It’s like Boris and his gang are sitting around writing joke policies on lolly sticks, then whoever finishes their pint last has to implement one.

Gav’s obviously a slow drinker and Shapps pulled out “force the French to close their their borders prior to Brexit, bringing forward Project Gridlock or whatever’s the fuck it’s called”

B) He knows it won’t be safe to open schools in Jan but announced this plan in December so he can blame the failure on schools for not “working together” enough

Well if @Chloemol's searing diatribe is an indication, this conniving strategy could work.

What could Gav have done that would have actually made schools less safe than they currently are?