I’m not a teacher but......

[Comefromaway]

I think it’s time you went on strike.

The government clearly don’t give a toss about you, our kids & subsequently our families.

My daughter is so stressed about the school/college environment. Everywhere she’s being told that she can’t do this that and the other because people are dying. But she’s expected to go into college and have her normal classes with overcrowding and no effective mitigation.

Medical officer woman has clearly not been into a school. The teachers & students are dropping like flies.

@GleamingBaubles

Section 44 walkout led by all the unions until we get better safety mitigations AND release of the latest figures showing education workforce infection and death rates, broken down by sector and area.

We partially have this in Wales, by local health board rather than area, and infection rate, but not death rate.

I really appreciate your sentiments and your support, OP, but I can't support a strike right now.

The past year has been an eye-opener in understanding what a very vocal proportion of the great British public thinks of my profession, including on MN. A strike would be a gift to this government, who would immediately (and successfully) whip up the right-wing press against us. I will not do anything which would allow this incompetent, morally bankrupt government to shift any blame away from their own failings.

If you are a parent who shares OP's concerns then please consider writing to your MP.

As things are I think the benefits of school far outweigh the risks to our family.

If all of your child's subject teachers become ill, and are replaced by supply or cover supervisors long term, does that affect the balance?

Posted too early, includes pupils too, so general school surveillance.

@Piggyinblankets

Or transmit the attitude that learning only matters if there is a certificate attached.

I want a like button, just for this post.

Do we??

I will not do anything which would allow this incompetent, morally bankrupt government to shift any blame away from their own failings

EXACTLY this.

@MrFish323

I am a teacher in a FE college. Online learning is great for me, as I can take my son to school and save on the child minding fees and transport costs. HOWEVER, it is shit for student's learning. We had to demand our students came in an be taught face to face. For diligent, intelligent students, it is ok, but for the rest it is a disaster. Other than engagement, I can’t hand out worksheets for the students to complete and give them immediate feedback. It seriously hampers the interactive process between me and my students. I can look at a student and assess their understanding without speaking to them and get it right almost every time. My union is completely opposed to face to face teaching. I wrote and told them to jack in teaching, as they are clearly not interested and leave it to those who are. This bullshit about teachers giving grades based on their inherent prejudices is fucking disgraceful. When I passed all my ‘O’ levels my head teacher, in a state of shock, asked me how I managed to do it despite failing all my mocks. I told him that he wasn’t handing certificates for mock exams, so I didn’t see the point. The number one determiner of social mobility worldwide is education and because of the Kung Flu we are disenfranchising millions of students. The ones who are suffering the most are the underprivileged. My demographic is almost exclusively made up of working-class white boys who have the lowest educational attainment of any grouping. I am their last chance to better themselves through education. Get the students in school and educate them. If you don’t want to teach them, fuck off now and leave it to people who do. Dropping like flies, FFS this is not Ebola.

Which union is this? I'm looking for one to join that actually cares about the interests of their members.

house , I can't make your graph big enough and am colour blind! can you summarise?

@piggyinblankets was that at me?

@piggyinblankets Xpost. I can. Which healthboard?

@ThanksItHasPockets

I really appreciate your sentiments and your support, OP, but I can't support a strike right now.

The past year has been an eye-opener in understanding what a very vocal proportion of the great British public thinks of my profession, including on MN. A strike would be a gift to this government, who would immediately (and successfully) whip up the right-wing press against us. I will not do anything which would allow this incompetent, morally bankrupt government to shift any blame away from their own failings.

If you are a parent who shares OP's concerns then please consider writing to your MP.

Why does it matter what people think of us?

Is public opinion more important than lives?

I agree with you, but I don't think it's the governments fault. At the first hint of schools possibly having to close, people start moaning like hell and then they are blamed for job losses and a failing economy as people have to stay off work as their children are at home. It's a no win situation. The anger should be directed at the Chinese government and the WHO who should have acted sooner and closed their borders so it wasn't spread around the world.

^*
If all of your child's subject teachers become ill, and are replaced by supply or cover supervisors long term, does that affect the balance?*^

This. A million times over. This is what was happening before Xmas. It will get worse after. I was covering English and I'm dyslexic. Just because the doors are open does not mean school is working.

OK, things I am horrified by;

you attitude towards the point of education
Your trust in fellow professionals' judgement
Your use of the phrase 'white working class boys' which, if you don't know is coming under scrutiny. I recommend you just say 'working class' if you must
your 'fuck everyone else' attitude
your remaining smugness towards a headteacher from - what- 35 years ago
Your use of the phrase kung flu
your misapprehension about the transmission of Ebola which means Covid most certainly is not Ebola : it is far more transmissible.

Stop paying your union subs. Hope you never need them.

Why does it matter what people think of us?

Is public opinion more important than lives?

Striking is a political statement. The political context is relevant if the strike is to achieve its aims.

Please don't pretend that a teachers' strike wouldn't be a lovely Christmas present to this government.

And I couldn't care less what the great British public think of me anymore. I just want to stay alive and well to see my kids.

house doesn't really matter. Bevan I guess.

@Comefromaway

I think it’s time you went on strike.

The government clearly don’t give a toss about you, our kids & subsequently our families.

My daughter is so stressed about the school/college environment. Everywhere she’s being told that she can’t do this that and the other because people are dying. But she’s expected to go into college and have her normal classes with overcrowding and no effective mitigation.

Medical officer woman has clearly not been into a school. The teachers & students are dropping like flies.

This isn’t going to go away anytime soon - it will be with us well into next year and by that I mean 2022 according to what they were saying this afternoon. I work full time because I have to - so my son can basically say goodby to his education because my job is demanding and I simply don’t have the time to homeschool or supervise him doing home learning let alone take a lunch break. I have sympathy for teachers and other professions who have to face this risk of catching this awful disease. However teachers aren’t the only ones who have to go into work and if kids can’t continue going into school it will affect their futures. Kids who live in abusive homes will suffer un noticed. I’m facing possible redundancy because of this as are many many other people. I care more about that than catching COVID at the moment because it means my kids won’t have a home.

I really struggled teaching during the first lockdown, it was such hard work making videos, teaching live remote lessons and all the online marking (on top of juggling my own children's remote learning). It was so good to get back in the classroom in September. But watching the numbers of cases rise in students and teachers (our local hospital currently has a number of teachers in its ICU) I think we need something to change. The government have wilfully tried to obscure and deny any greater risk to teaching staff and teachers are being treated as cannon fodder.

I don't understand why we can't look into using some of the systems schools in other countries are using such as split times/days to allow proper social distancing or insisting secondary school pupils wear masks in the classroom. At my school teachers are supposed to be 2 metres away from kids but there is insufficient space to do this and despite zoning, corridors are crowded because there are so many kids.

This is an absolutely lie. This is also the reason why it’s teachers VS nurses.

As lovely as LaurieFairyCake is, I don’t think she is a teacher (based on past threads from ages ago that I think I remember but sorry if wrong Laurie!) and therefore, still no teacher vs nurses that you have turned this thread into.
You make some valid points but you seem to be trying to turn this into an argument rather than a discussion.

It's a completely impossible situation if it so detrimental to you DD remove her from collage .

Absolutely best of look with getting kid to social distance and wear masks.

So the alternative is we shut schools and collages .

@ThanksItHasPockets

Why does it matter what people think of us?

Is public opinion more important than lives?

Striking is a political statement. The political context is relevant if the strike is to achieve its aims.

Please don't pretend that a teachers' strike wouldn't be a lovely Christmas present to this government.

I'm sure the government would love to have teachers to blame school closures on- but actually, I reckon there are members of the government who have the sense to see things change in schools.

I think a strike would give them the opportunity to climb down over schools and make them safer.

And if I'm wrong, at least we tried. I hate going into work, knowing I'm complicit in a system that is ultimately leading to more deaths.

We are not allowed masks in the classroom in my school and if pupils want to wear them in the classroom they have to have a medical reason.
My head is following DfE guidance to the letter...

Covid * little Johnny getting cold with windows open..

Yes wear more layers but also, schools need to totally relax uniform restrictions!
Who cares what colour the scarf is!

Parents didn't seem to get behind or educate many dc (older) before.

As I've mentioned before there is no understanding that any of us may have it at any moment...

That it lives in the throat and comes from the throat, they laugh sing, etc ect.

Hug, share things... I want jenny harries in that scrum, all day.. Talking and interacting with these said teens, maskless whilst they challenge her on various covid points.. '' I'm cold please shut the window, shut the door, I don't have it... Cough cough cough...

Then.. When she comes up with real life working proposals of how to keep safe in a normal classroom.. I'll listen.

But I know, only getting the army in to Marshall the children and parents would work to make it safe!