Work set for strike but kids told by teachers not to bother

[WellyBoot12345]

My children’s secondary school is closed tomorrow and some very generic work has been set by, I guess, someone in the senior leadership team. I quite get it that it’s generic stuff and won’t be marked, but children have both said that their teachers have told them they’d rather they didn’t do the work. I’m not happy about this - I don’t have a problem with the strike but school is closed, that’s causing the disruption that the unions need for things to get better … but suggesting to the children not to bother with the work impacts on my children’s learning and attitude to homework. Also seems pretty disrespectful to the person who has gone to the effort of setting it. I’m out at work tomorrow and there was only a slim chance that they would do anything anyway … but now they feel they have permission to do absolutely nothing at all tomorrow and future strike days and I’m the evil mum for saying that they should. AIBU for being peeved about this, and would you say anything to the school? (Or AIBU to believe my pesky kids that the teachers said this??!!)

**Shouldn't!!

I did the PGCE, but as a second career and qualified at 54 by which time I was deemed 'over the hill'. It always struck me as daft that there were so few workbooks in use @saraclara and @Postapocalypticcowgirl if they are widely used in other countries, some of which have better outcomes. I'm thinking of Finland but I assume there are many more.

I don't have an opinion on the strikes, as I no longer have a child in school. The PGCE year was the hardest work I ever did, but lesson planning was the best bit. SLT were unhelpful; the bureaucracy absurd, and too many pupils were unruly.

Workbooks are awful, I hate them. I hate textbooks too. They are so expensive and look like shit after a year, and are no longer valid every time the curriculum changes.

That’s disgusting. If teachers are striking therefore work shouldn’t be set. I would have a word about this.

I've looked this morning and all DS work is set by actual subject tutors and follows what they have been learning.
However I don't know if these teachers are on strike or covering Year 10 and 11 classes for those who are.

I don't mind DS doing it at all. Keeps him occupied whilst I'm at work all day.
He has also offered to run the hoover round when he's done so I'm not complaining 😂 once done he will no doubt be watching Sky Sports and on his PlayStation call to friends who are also off.

We've had a really confusing message from our school about following your timetable but also about extra work that seems to have been set on top! I've emailed to clarify.

I know there is going to be a picket line outside school so I'll be popping down later with snacks.

But isn't it ridiculous in 2023 that publishers/exam boards don't use electronic/digital publishing delivery to white boards to substitute for text/workbooks? It seems a no-brainer to me. It's not rocket science to keep them updated and refreshed regularly and all the differentiation levels can be built in, along with a mark scheme for assessments, and exemplars.

Wouldn’t give them as much money probs.

If it’s set by SLT they shouldn’t have done as it’s undermining the strike. You can bet your boots they won’t be marking it and neither (quite rightly) will the teacher. x

My kids' school isn't on strike but if they were I would absolutely not be making them do work at home. If teachers get a day off so do my children.

But isn't it ridiculous in 2023 that publishers/exam boards don't use electronic/digital publishing delivery to white boards to substitute for text/workbooks?

Projecting a textbook onto the board is fairly useless.

There would be a cost involved, and schools wouldn’t have the money/be willing to pay.

Not only that, it’s completely unengaging to just have information and questions.

You fit your lesson to the makeup of a class, even when teaching the exact same thing.

For example, I could be teaching population pyramids to two different classes. Both classes need to get the same information, but one class might draw them out and then evaluate them, the other class might work in groups to build them out of Lego and then answer questions about them.

My DC has a bit of work set by what I assume are non striking teachers, as we were told no work would be set for classes that had striking teachers. That work is being done, it's a handful of classes I think maybe half the timetable. If anything had been set by SLT or a covering teacher I'd be ignoring it.

Here we go @EffortlessDesmond . Here are the stats for teacher worked hours, rather than minimum 'on the premises' hours.
Oddly enough the Telegraph didn't publish these.

I think the point is that NO ONE should be setting work on behalf of the teachers. SLT shouldn’t have sent the work and I imagine the teachers are a bit annoyed they’re being undermined by their SLT.

@GinClassHeroes having an e-textbook doesn't prevent you from teaching the same stuff in different ways to different groups though. It only provides a content framework for you to adapt.

That would be of zero benefit though. Do you really think the part of planning that takes time is putting information on slides? That already exists in every school, they don’t miraculously delete after each use. That’s not what planning is.

We have workbooks in England now, we call them "booklets" and each school shares their own rather than sharing national best practice. I think they are very good especially for some lower ability students, but it's a lot of work to produce them, when actually a good, nationally produced workbook would probably do the job better.

I really think we need people with life experience in our classrooms so it's such a shame you were deemed "over the hill".

sorry that should say "produces their own".

Tbf, e.g. Kerboodle do this for science- they have a good digital platform and access to digital textbooks. It does cost schools quite a lot of money though.

I think it's great for kids to have access to a textbook at home without having to lug one too but they don't seem to like it? I have Y13s who tell me they've never accessed it.

It's also much easier to then transfer visuals from the textbook to a powerpoint, so I like it! And they have some great resources and online quizzes for homework.

I promise I don't work for them!

Im not bothered if a childs whole education falls apart over one day then something wasn't right to begin with. However I do find it odd that it goes against the huge push we had on how we must now take the children out for one single day hokdiays etc

@Postapocalypticcowgirl I'm not a scientist but did write a pitch for an e-subscription package for my subject for a publisher for my subject (Citizenship/P&G/PHSE) which made a point of being cross-curricular and contemporary with video clips etc, but they didn't respond. At all. TBF the whole e-book/sub model was in its infancy so they probably feared the cost of marketing and distribution.

So, I think the teachers who are on strike today are not the ones who came up with those policies or the ones who insist you must be hounded about it. Personally, I get why the odd family day in term time can be important.

However I will say missing e.g. 2 weeks of school when the rest of the class is in school and learning can set children back massively. Sometimes not so much in terms of content missed, but they feel "behind" and it can cause them to feel anxious?

It's like the bank holidays for the coronation etc, right? It's not ideally for education but has less of an impact because nobody is learning that day, so the child doesn't come back behind.

Ours had work set, but it was basically checking that they were up to date with homework set so far this term, plus reviewing some maths topics as they have a test next week.

I was pleased DS was given some guidance - he got some useful work done, it only took the morning, doesn't create any more work for the teachers and meant he didn't spend the entire day on the Switch.