Teachers and the current status quo

[Lifeisabeach09]

Maybe a teacher bashing thread or not, I can't decide.

My experience of this current lockdown is that my DD's teachers are streaming live or pre-recorded sessions from their homes. Support staff and teacher rotation are dealing with the kids in school. Learning is the same-school or home, it's streaming on Ipads, so the children are being treated fairly.

Surely, not have to deal with 30 unruly kids, not having to discipline, and being able to pre-record lessons or even livestream from home has made life easier (lovelier??) for some teachers. Obviously, each school is different and teachers situations are different (own kids, etc).

Any teachers enjoying the new status quo or AIBU?

@MamaTookMyEyebrows

My daughter is in P2. Her teacher uploads some shit in the morning then “likes” the incoming seesaw posts. She must be averaging about an hour a day.

So this ‘lovely’ thread isn’t aimed at you then - or do you have experience as a teacher about how lovely you are finding the job at the moment? If you aren’t happy with the work provided by your school, contact the school. Maybe consider that the teacher is providing online work and looking after children in school.

Complain to the people who can help instead of making snide comments here.

FAR more difficult.

As well as all the practical stuff mentioned it's the parental interference that would grate me most. They all seem to have become experts on what is too much, too little, too long, too short, too easy and too hard.
How much support should be given and the number of hours a day of certain inputs.

Despite the fact teachers are at risk over the general population (finally dfe released this yesterday to confirm) I'm sure they'd rather be back in the classroom where parents aren't judging their every breath.

I'm spending ages planning every lesson - tweaking things to make them accessible online.

It's much harder - I teach a full lesson like I would in school so not just a quick explanation and 'off you go'.

I could have both in school FT as we are both teachers but DS not in at all and so I am trying to deal with him. DD goes in 3 days while I live teach as she didn't manage last lockdown. But I do another admin role where I do admin from home Thursday and Friday & have to manage both children as well as work. I do have Teams meetings those days.

I would much rather be in school as normal.

I don't understand on here the drama about having children home - I do too & just accept it's how it is. Mine do just get on tho.

Off topic but I'm intrigued to see so many posters in schools with an actual policy on cameras off. We have the opposite and ask (not force) for cameras on. It is so much easier to make sure the children are present, engaging and completing work rather than logging on then just gaming or whatever. What's the reasoning for asking for cameras off and which would you prefer given the choice? I feel like my subjects (drama and dance) would be impossible without the cameras on. We have a few children who can't or won't put them on and they get a lesser experience than the others, imo.

She’s doing one day a week in school.

She posts a learning grid and some links to YouTube each morning. No prerecorded lessons let alone live ones.

This is a good school normally. I do appreciate it’s hard when they’re six and to be honest I’m not sorry about the lack of live lessons because I would need to sit on DD to pay attention and I’m working full time and it’s hard enough. But I don’t see why she can’t prerecord a five minute lesson. I’m not a teacher. I don’t know how to teach my daughter effectively. I’m happy to help her with her work but I don’t know how to teach her.

I may well raise it with the school. It’s not easy to do that. I generally like the teacher a lot and I like the school and I don’t want to be marked as a pain at this early stage. I feel like my daughter is young enough that I can keep it in perspective and not make it a huge big drama. But I’m not particularly impressed.

for all school staff in these shitty times.

P.S. has anyone noticed that OP has disappeared?

Cameras off for safeguarding reasons: us and the students.
I know many of my students are working in their bedrooms, maybe in their beds. I don't need to see that.

@MamaTookMyEyebrows

She’s doing one day a week in school.

She posts a learning grid and some links to YouTube each morning. No prerecorded lessons let alone live ones.

This is a good school normally. I do appreciate it’s hard when they’re six and to be honest I’m not sorry about the lack of live lessons because I would need to sit on DD to pay attention and I’m working full time and it’s hard enough. But I don’t see why she can’t prerecord a five minute lesson. I’m not a teacher. I don’t know how to teach my daughter effectively. I’m happy to help her with her work but I don’t know how to teach her.

I may well raise it with the school. It’s not easy to do that. I generally like the teacher a lot and I like the school and I don’t want to be marked as a pain at this early stage. I feel like my daughter is young enough that I can keep it in perspective and not make it a huge big drama. But I’m not particularly impressed.

Speak to your school.

Cameras off for students for safeguarding. (We don't need to see their bedrooma or for them to see each others).

Staff can have cameras on at their own discretion. No one is made to.

Cameras off for safeguarding reasons: us and the students.
I know many of my students are working in their bedrooms, maybe in their beds. I don't need to see that

Thanks. Funny how differently different schools interpret safeguarding. One of our reasons for encouraging cameras is safeguarding - so we can make sure that they aren't in/on their beds. Bedrooms we've been told is fine as long as they are at a desk in their bedrooms and dressed in day clothes.

I think you might be assuming that teachers don’t enjoy being in the classroom with their students very much. If you recognise that this is exactly what the vast majority of teachers in fact love (and it is the rest of the job that is less fun) then you might be able to understand why teachers are not enjoying missing out on the thing that makes the job worthwhile

Why does it matter if they're on or in their bed? It's not ideal but I'd rather teach Bob from his bed than not at all!

I don't know, it doesn't really matter to me, Mrs Hamlet (except that a lot of my teaching is very active so they need to be up and moving) but it seems to matter to the SLT at my school. They think that the children can't learn or focus as effectively from their beds. The 'not teaching Bob at all' problem is. I think, a far better reason to ask for cameras on. I have one Year 8 child who doesn't put his camera on. He speaks at the start of lessons but doesn't respond when called on in the middle. I gave the class the option of leaving the call early the other day because they needed some more space and they all left except him. He was logged on for another 20 minutes till I ended the call. I'm fairly sure he wasn't there at all and didn't hear me tell the others to go. With the other children, you can see that they are engaging and present. With him we have no idea but suspect he's napping or gaming most of the time. Can't prove it without the camera though. On balance, I think cameras help a lot. It's (slightly) more bearable for us too - less like teaching into a void of nothingness.

I expect most teachers prefer classroom teaching to online teaching.

I compare it to my job. I’m a GP, and pre Covid the vast majority of my consultations with patients were face to face. Now they’re mostly telephone calls.
On the surface of it, you’d think that would be easier. Less time pressure as patients aren’t sitting in the waiting room looking at their watches if I’m running late. Less having to examine people (which isn’t always pleasant - rectal exams etc). I can drink coffee and eat a cake while I’m doing telephone consultations. And so on.
But actually I hate it. I want my patients in front of me, so I can properly assess them, and talk to them while seeing their facial expressions.
I think most people who have chosen public facing jobs, actually enjoy seeing people face to face.

How on earth can schools stipulate that children must be sat at a desk?? Lots of my pupils don’t have desks in their bedrooms, they’re in all sorts of weird and wonderful locations. I’d rather there were there than I remove them because they’re not sat at a desk .

Oh and to answer the OP, I’d give my right arm to be back in the classroom. I wasn’t trained to teach like this, it doesn’t work for a lot of my kids, and it’s a long process to adapt my usual lessons for zoom. Differentiation is especially difficult .

@Holly60 totally nailed it! What is this weird assumption that parents make that we don’t actually enjoy being in the classroom? Why on earth would I teach if I didn’t get huge pleasure from BEING with my kids???

It’s only because they wouldn’t want to teach in a month of Sundays that they think we’re all secretly delighted to be stuck at home .

They don't have to be at a desk, Stix. If they're in their bedroom, they need to be at a desk (Or table, whatever). They could however, be downstairs in their house, they don't have to be in their bedrooms. Preferably not, in fact. 95% our children are from affluent homes. All the vulnerable children are in school. Petty rules about desks are easy for us.

The rule for dd is that she can’t be in bed. Sitting on the bed fully dressed against a cushion where it’s not obvious is fine. Dd didn’t have a desk in her bedroom during the first lockdown and we didn’t even have a dining table (we moved house just a few weeks before & our building work got locked down).

@manicinsomniac

They don't have to be at a desk, Stix. If they're in their bedroom, they need to be at a desk (Or table, whatever). They could however, be downstairs in their house, they don't have to be in their bedrooms. Preferably not, in fact. 95% our children are from affluent homes. All the vulnerable children are in school. Petty rules about desks are easy for us.

My son does not and never has had a desk in his bedroom. We are an affluent family but with our living room taken up by Ds teaching, the garage by dd taking dance classes at her college and the spare bedroom still not plastered there are few other options.

[quote Lifeisabeach09]@starrynight19,

I try not to bash teachers. I'm frontline HCP and wouldn't trade jobs with teachers for anything (that's how tough I feel teachers have it!)
I just wondered if there was a silver-lining to working from home for some (I recognise not all) teachers.[/quote]
A silver lining? Are you completely delusional? Our job is to teach but at the very core of it is human relationships, communication and support. How on earth would that be better remotely?

Perhaps I’m sounding a bit snippy but I don’t actually care. I’ve worked 32 hours over the last three days and I’m exhausted. Anyone who thinks we’re having a lovely teaching our wee lessons and then logging off for a cuppa and biscuit can kiss my arse.

[quote TheRuleofStix]@Holly60 totally nailed it! What is this weird assumption that parents make that we don’t actually enjoy being in the classroom? Why on earth would I teach if I didn’t get huge pleasure from BEING with my kids???

It’s only because they wouldn’t want to teach in a month of Sundays that they think we’re all secretly delighted to be stuck at home .[/quote]
EXACTLY!

My middle daughter was in a similar position in first lockdown Comefromaway (My kids are in the 5% poor relation camp! )
The school lent us a classroom table to go upstairs. And a laptop.
The inequality between schools is so big.

The car-driving analogy earlier was quite accurate.

Or, think of it as speaking your own language fluently, and another one in very basic terms. Suddenly, you're expected to do your job to the same standard as before, but ONLY speaking this second language. You are told that this should be no issue, as you were warned it might happen and supposedly given time to prepare to speak that language fluently just in case.

Half our furniture got left behind! We ordered new beds for the kids and they arrived at least but the removal company cancelled on us so we also had no sofa. So we sat on our old conservatory furniture that was about to be scrapped for 9 weeks!