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?

OP is having a larf.

Utter goady rubbish.

@IDSNeighbour

DishingOutDone - none of that is acceptable. The school is not fulfilling its duty of care or education.

I know, but that's a whole other thread - no one seems to be able to hold them to account, but I am hoping its the exception rather than the norm.

I was reading here about teachers having to help parents with tech and do calls/emails so thread has simply confirmed my suspicions that DD's school are even more crap than I thought

@rainbowstardrops

What a disgustingly goady post!

I don't usually swear too much on here but I've been in school today with every Tom, Dick and Harry, so you can fuck right off in my opinion!!!

Idiot.

Agreed.

The support staff (who are paid significantly less than teachers) are dealing with the day to day stresses with the constant fear of Covid

This for me is the worst part of all this online teaching thing. I've heard of it happening in so many schools and it is just so wrong that the lower paid section of the school work force has been left to face the higher risk.

Where I work, the TAs have been furloughed and the keyworker groups are being run by 'spare' staff (those without live online timetables) such as the Boarding staff, SLT without teaching responsibilities and excess Outdoor Ed and Games staff. Some of those are very low paid gap year students and I'm still not overly comfortable with that but at least they are 18-20 years old and living together on site so not at risk or taking home any risk.

I know not all schools have that kind of staff flexibility but it is very galling to see TAs who, I think, on average, are older than teachers and more likely to be vulnerable, being put on the line while those of us on double their salary sit in our empty classrooms and teach through a screen. I hate it and feel very strongly that we should be in the classrooms. There would be enough staff and children who didn't want to be in school to have an optional online programme.

But is it easier? Sure. Depending on the subject. Like a PP, much of my job is school productions and small group performances, most of which are off the table right now. I do what I can online but my workload is small compared to what it should be. Doesn't stop me hating every second though.

I don't think you'll find any teachers who are seeing much silver lining. Teaching is an incredibly social job, teaching kids virtually is joyless in the main.

Last week two of my kids showed me their favourite Christmas presents, I let them break the camera off rule to show me their lego and hair straighteners, honestly the highlight of my week.

It takes more time to resource, it's much less effective than teaching in person, I'm spending time between lessons supporting my own children, I've got so many parents to respond to and I've got no magic fixes to help their kids engage.

School when we were open was cold and stressful, but at least you saw people.

I'm so fed up with the whole thing. I've got two family members currently with covid, one is probably close to end of life.

This whole thing has become so divisive on so many levels, feels like everyone is upset with someone else.

Wish I lived in New Zealand.

@Greenmarmalade

I think you were polite and reasonable OP- not a covert teacher-hater!

Thanks @Greenmarmalade I'm far from a teacher-hater. I just wanted to know if some things were nicer, easier, more positive for teachers. Clearly my wording wasn't great but I daresay people would have attacked regardless.

I'm far from a teacher-hater. I just wanted to know if some things were nicer, easier, more positive for teachers. Clearly my wording wasn't great but I daresay people would have attacked regardles

No, they wouldn't.
People have responded to the way you posted.

@mineofuselessinformation

No, they wouldn't. People have responded to the way you posted.

This.

The first resort of the goady poster is to claim attacks on the person, not the views expressed.

I daresay people would have attacked regardless

I suspect if you’d asked people in general if there were any perks to WFH, you wouldn’t have been ‘attacked’ at all.

@MrsHamlet

We're cameras off by policy. I can hear them if they talk to me, or chat in the chat but if they're don't, then there's not much I can do. I can't see down the internet!

Please assume they are there and paying attention. My DS is really shy about Teams and our tech keeps letting us down. Can do without the PA comments from teachers about how they are 'onto' the kids who aren't doing the lessons. They are A level students! Very committed and engaged. It is very disheartening to be treated like a skiver when you are there doing your best but not hogging the mic (or some bully mutes you, god know how that happens, surely it shouldn't)

“People would have attacked.”

This one hasn’t been on Mumsnet much during the last 10 months then!

Yes, the teachers are the ones doing the “attacking”... sure, Jan.

Gah, anyway. I managed to get my hoovering done during my lunch break today, as I would normally have been running a fun extra-curricular and can’t from home. I suppose that’s my silver lining...

I'm far from a teacher-hater.
I just wanted to know if some things were nicer, easier, more positive for teachers. Clearly my wording wasn't great but I daresay people would have attacked regardless.

I am missing the teaching. You stay in teaching if you like the teaching. This is not teaching.

[quote Evvyjb]@lifeisabeach09

The phrase is "I'm really sorry, I was wrong" and you amend your OP.

Just FYI.

Still gutted by this, as I am sure so many other teachers are.[/quote]
I'm sorry for upsetting you (I don't like to hurt people at all) but I'm not sorry for posting.

Goodness, what kind of society do we live when we have to apologise for posting something on a forum which is used by people to state their views.

It seems some teachers have really personalised this when it wasn't an attack on them. Far from it.

Well if I am being honest (speaking as primary teacher remotely teaching), yes it is different and in the way you describe - easier. No playground duty, no in class behaviour management, no commuting and of course going to the toilet and making a drink whenever you want is a luxury. But boy am I clocking up the hours. My day looks like this: Up 6:15, setting up the day on google classroom, reading and answering endless emails (from school staff, not parents and kids). 7.45 get my own kid up dressed, breakfasted and to school by 8.45. Get my class registered. Then set up and deliver live lesson, then reporting back to school who ahs registered, turned up for live meet. Instructing TAs who to chase. Then we have to mark everything whenever it comes back along with setting work (which takes forever, finding video clips - no Oak Academy doesn't always have what you need - you wouldn't believe how long I spent trying to find a short video clip of the River Amazon from source to mouth). At least one afternoon a week is taken up with meetings - last week a maths mastery working party, tomorrow the LA autism lady to discuss how the autistic kids in the year group are getting. Two after school meetings a week. 3pm a quick trip to pick up mine from school, a quick snack, throw him in front of the TV and then carry on marking and planning late into the evening. I can't lie - I'm enjoying being at home but my working week is 10 - 15 hours longer.

What was it then?

During the fist lockdown all of my lessons were pre-recorded and my working day lasted from 8.00am - 11.00pm or later. When I returned in September my GCSE group said they were always amazed at the time I was recording my lessons as this was displayed on the videos. I had no commute but with completing all of my normal school duties and homeschooling a 6 year old life was horrendous.

Now I am doing live lessons DD goes into school and so do I to deliver my live lessons (it’s a R-18 school). Live lessons are preferable to me as I get student interaction but each lesson takes a long time to plan - mainly because I am having to ensure pupils can access the work and resources.

I teach in a school where I don’t have behaviour management issues so that hasn’t been removed from my live lessons. Other than one lunchtime club (as I am PT) I have not lost any aspects of my job but have basically lost all the joyous parts which help me go into work every day.

I imagine that for some teachers teaching under lockdown (in whatever form) is preferable but for my and many colleagues it’s harder.

I'm sorry for upsetting you (I don't like to hurt people at all) but I'm not sorry for posting. Goodness, what kind of society do we live when we have to apologise for posting something on a forum which is used by people to state their views.It seems some teachers have really personalised this when it wasn't an attack on them. Far from it

thecustomerisalwaysright - if pupils are able to mute other pupils, this is very easy to fix (assuming this is Teams):
As the pupils enter the meeting, the teacher needs to switch them from presenters to attendees.
To do so s/he just hovers over the 3 dots to the right of their names and clicks 'change to attendee'. That doesn't prevent them muting themselves but they can't interfere with other students.

Since Teams has become more widely used there is also now an option to mute the whole class and NOT allow them to unmute. I haven't found it yet but I've been told it's there. I don't think it would be useful to me because it's easier if they can unmute to ask a question but I only have 15 in a class, not 35!

Might be worth letting your child's teacher know that if it is a persistent problem. I didn't know to do it back in March because we didn't have time to train properly and it was a bit of a learning curve - one delightful child kicked me out of my own lesson which made me up my tech skills smartish!

@SachaStark

“People would have attacked.”

This one hasn’t been on Mumsnet much during the last 10 months then!

Yes, the teachers are the ones doing the “attacking”... sure, Jan.

Gah, anyway. I managed to get my hoovering done during my lunch break today, as I would normally have been running a fun extra-curricular and can’t from home. I suppose that’s my silver lining...

People jump on what people say regardless of subject matter.

@DishingOutDone

It seems this is something no one is allowed to talk about so I am glad the OP put her head over the parapet and mentioned the war. Its helpful to me to see everything all the teachers are doing, because I too was confused and now I know why. Hardly any of this is available through DD's school.

Parents aren't allowed to ask teachers for technical help - they have one person they can email. Phone calls are not allowed. If there is a technical problem its just tough. No work is marked, no feedback given. You can email head of year or a teacher if you want, but they chose whether or not to reply. All lessons are slides - you can hear the teacher's voice - here's the slide, this is what it says, write your notes, here's the next slide. There is a chat box where students can ask questions, mostly ignored.

There is no register, no one knows who is online or not. No complaints are accepted or responded to. My DD has SEN, this is now being disregarded completely. She can't cope with online learning (in common with other children with similar SE needs) and they just say well, that is what we are offering, so we cant be expected to offer SEN support if she can't cope with what we are offering, that's just parents being unreasonable.

I have to say this isn't a million miles away from what happens when the school is open. But I am glad that it seems that a lot of very conscientious and caring teachers are out there trying their best. Just a shame my DD never got to be in front of one of them. This is her final year so too late now.

Your child's school doesn't sound very good.

The opposite to everything you mention is happening at my place.

All SEN children are allowed a place at school if they wish.
We are doing a mix of live and pre-recorded lessons.
Teachers are marking every single piece of work submitted (I've just finished marking 67 pieces of work since I got in from KW supervision today).
Subject teachers are expected to deal by telephone or email with any and all technical queries students or parents have. IT staff won't speak to parents.
Subject teachers are expected to deal by telephone or email with any and all lesson/curriculum enquiries - obviously, as we should; that's our job. It's also much quicker in real life, face to face with students rather than via email or telephone.
Every single lesson has an attendance register downloaded, copied over to a spreadsheet and every absence chase up (by subject teacher, or passed over to pastoral team if persistent).
Every single live lesson has a second member of staff logged in, partly to monitor behaviour/the lobby/the chat function (ie support the teacher) but also to answer every single student query in the chat (ie support the student).

So literally doing everything different to your dd's school.

(And all on a screen, btw, so eyes, heads and wrists all absolutely screwed.)

Plus, teaching staff are also in school and providing supervision of KW children at around 30% of our contracted hours, so all the live teaching, planning, non-live teaching, marking, admin, safeguarding referrals, differentiation, attendance registers, meetings etc are on top of that. So we are in school and facing almost as much risk of catching Covid as before.

The plus side: on the days at home, I can wee more closely to when I want and drink better coffee. That's it.

@Letseatgrandma

I daresay people would have attacked regardless

I suspect if you’d asked people in general if there were any perks to WFH, you wouldn’t have been ‘attacked’ at all.

Nah, that would have started a debate between those WFH and those going out to work, which really would have got down and dirty.