Wow just wow. AIBU to think MH is a complete tw*t

[Moonshine86]

Words fail me

One of the teachers at our school not a particularly nice woman had a husband who was shielding. She actually went off her head over covid. Didn't see her even between lockdowns.

As an anxiety sufferer - school induced, pre-Covid - I can well imagine that the anxiety of living with a shielding husband during Covid, while having a job in a crowded environment of any type, could easily induce a level of mental ill-health incompatible with returning to work.

To describe this as ‘going off her head’, and making any comment about whether a teacher is ‘nice’ or not, is somewhat distasteful, as well as having a whiff of discrimination against those suffering from poor mental health.

@cantkeepawayforever no evidence beyond my own purely anecdotal experiences. Usual profile is someone who leans left, works in a job that pays sick pay, generally has two or three other diagnosis of exclusion type conditions that no one can quite disprove. Bad back, IBS, fatigue, maybe anxiety.

Again purely anecdotal, I don't have the source, but in September/Oct time there was an antibody test survey carried out that found a surprisingly high number of those claiming to suffer from long covid had not actually had the disease.

Mark Drakeford famously lived separately from vulnerable family members for an extended period during Covid, to allow himself to continue his job as Welsh First Minister.

Choosing, instead, to live with your shielding husband but not enter the high transmission environment of a school, seems an entirely rational option?

no evidence beyond my own purely anecdotal experiences

Right. Thought so.

I'm constantly cringing inside for him. He really seems to be painfully unaware, naive and a bit thick

From a recent article in Nature on Long Covid:

Socio-economic risk factors include lower income and an inability to adequately rest in the early weeks after developing COVID-19

www.nature.com/articles/s41579-022-00846-2

No indication of political leanings etc. There is a correlation internationally with Hispanic / Latino heritage.

Yes there were some very conscientious teachers and there ones who fulfilled their obligations (which is fine - I am not saying they needed to go beyond.) However there were many in my experience (ie my children), and friends/relatives children who had teachers who were absolutely appalling.

What were teachers’ obligations?

In the first lockdown, there were none. The Government explicitly told us to suspend the National Curriculum (ie teaching) and provide childcare for key workers. In the partial return in June, there was an obligation to teach certain year groups (still no National Curriculum, which remained suspended) and continue to provide keyworker childcare.

Any teacher doing more than this was exceeding the obligation placed on them.

In the second lockdown, there were more explicit requirements to provide education, but even this was much more limited in time and extent than the ‘normal’ curriculum.

It is frustrating. I worked my backside off learning how to do live and pre-recorded lessons for all my students. I started with just the 2 exam years and then rolled them out but doing those, love teaching in school, spending a morning out driving free meals to pupils premium kids and checking welfare or being home trying to teach, make a load of resources and home school was hard ruddy work.

I was regularly pulling midnight finishes to get it all done.

Feedback was a nightmare to contend with online. Some kids couldn't scan/photograph it in enough detail, once we had One note going it was better but no stick (detention) so some of them just didn't do the work. It was hard graft trying to do it all.

That's why the sweeping generalisations hurt.

This one's, for you, Gavin.

You contemptible toad

However there were many in my experience (ie my children), and friends/relatives children who had teachers who were absolutely appalling.

Given the severe underinvestment in education of the decade leading up to covid, what exactly did you expect?

Oh, and the situation in schools regarding staffing is worse now than it was before covid.

You know what is quite funny? I can find that the Government required ‘a set amount of remote education per day’ in the Jan 2021 lockdown. It threatened Ofsted if what schools provided was inadequate. However, what I can’t find is any indication of what that ‘set amount’ was meant to be, and where the Government defined it? If the Government didn’t define it, how can schools / teachers not have ‘fulfilled their obligations’??

Really? You know this how exactly?

Why the fuck was Gavin Williamson knighted? What did he ever do to warrant it? Did Boris put him on the new years honour list to keep him quiet about something?

I think Gavin W knows where all the bodies are buried. Remember that photoshoot with his little black book and whip. Best elevate him to keep him quiet.

I always assumed it was that.

Yes probably right. Williamson is incompetent and horrible.

Teaching is not a wealth generating profession? What? How is any wealth generated if nobody can read or add up? Or has any knowledge about anything?
Unions didn’t mandate lockdowns, and even if they had - do you th8nk things would have been better with even more people I’ll from covid/dead/suffering from long covid?

No. Part of the strike is to have the pot increased. To fund the pay rises.

However there were many in my experience (ie my children), and friends/relatives children who had teachers who were absolutely appalling.

Given the severe underinvestment in education of the decade leading up to covid, what exactly did you expect?

I expect a teacher to try their best and work the time they are paid for - there were teachers finishing lessons after five minutes - setting students work, not marking it. Not making any attempt to engage and some schools/colleges had not checks on this even when asked - these were for exam years. They were lucky they had teacher assessed grades. It means that those students knowledge and understanding is poorer - but the grades don't show that, fine on the surface but long term and for the next stage its not a good foundation.

One of my friends has Long Covid. She’s a self-employed cleaner with strong anti-vax beliefs.

Which lockdown?

First lockdown, there was no expectation of online teaching.

Second lockdown, what else were the staff doing? Teaching live and online simultaneously? Homeschooling their own children? Delivering food? Being social services by investigating neglect? Ill, or nursing others who were? Covering for all different year groups? Did all students have access to devices and broadband, or did digital poverty make it better to deliver work in other ways?

Yes, some teachers / schools were poor - it was enraging to be delivering our online learning at great effort while dd’s sixth form teachers remained almost inaccessible - but there were equally many factors to consider and balance across the whole cohort.

@cantkeepawayforever

Yes some teachers were fantastic and went beyond, some met expectations which was great but there were some who were absolutely appalling. I have heard that sixth form teachers were poor, and my experience was that the teaching of exam years 11 was very poor as was year 7. I am referring to post May in the first lockdown and then from the Sept onwards including the lockdown and during the restrictions time.