Just for info about teaching in the pandemic

[stayingaliveisawayoflife]

Hello

I am not writing this for sympathy at all or expecting people to ignore their own experiences but just for information.

In the first lockdown we were in teams either in school with key worker children or at home prepping work for online. We were told the national curriculum was suspended and children in school and at home should receive the same level of work. At this time we did not do any live work as we had children without access so there would be inequality. Our focus was well-being and providing learning activities for a small group of children from Reception to Year4. This meant writing complete new plans and trying to keep all the children safe by doing a lot of cleaning. We were with the children all day from 8 till 3.30 with no breaks. We stayed in our bubbles throughout just leaving to go to our designated toilet. We cleaned the classrooms first thing in the morning, before lunch, after lunch and at the end of the day.

If we were at home we put work on line. We had never done this before and we're starting from scratch trying to find activities with some learning but trying not to overwhelm parents who were also in a whole new world. This meant adding explanations to every activity and answering lots of emails.

I will carry on in the next post.

Second lock down we had many more children in. We were split into pairs in our years. One teacher was in teaching the children in and doing live meetings with their class at home and setting work. The person working from home was marking all the online work and leaving comments as well as live meetings with their class. We also did video introductions to all learning activities now the curriculum was back. These could take 20-30 minutes each to do and again was a step into the unknown. I hate seeing myself on video but it had to be done. Again we were with the children in school in our bubbles from 8.30 till 3.30 and cleaning like mad especially during lunch. The staff room was out of action so we lived in our classrooms.

The time when we had selected years in I had 15 children in but was still keeping live contact with my class at home and marking their work, setting work etc. My children's parents were stressed and struggling and I tried to help in any way I could but the guidance was minimal and I had no more time in the day.

I found it very hard going. When in school in the first lockdown we were doing much longer days (8am to 5.30pm face to face) with zero provision put in place to be able to have any breaks in the day due to the way rotas were structured. It broke employment rules too but noone was drafted in to cover breaks and to limit the number of people working together they only put the number of people needed and no more on shift.
If you were working from home you would be prepping the next days videos or content and fielding questions from parents and pupils through the day but unable to really provide feedback until the evening because pupils were doing work at all hours to fit in with their family needs. So again you were working much longer days.

In lockdown 2 my colleague broke her leg so I did all the vulnerable pupil face to face work. This time we were allowed 20 mins lunch that was covered but not allowed to go in a room where other adults were so it was very lonely.

So to come on here and read then (and still today) what so many people thought we were (or were not) doing with our time was distressing.

Now we have children who are still suffering the effects of the pandemic and showing it through emotions and behaviour. We used our catch up money to bridge gaps in learning but this is long gone. We need proper funding so schools are not falling down, are a safe place for all children and there is access to specialists who can support children so that they can be the happy learners we want them to be.

Honestly I know you hear a lot about teachers buying resources but that is reality now. There just is not enough money for educational basics not luxuries. I don't want more money for myself, I want money for my school so I don't have to spend my money and the children have what they need.

I know there will be responses about other people's experiences and the feeling that teachers were at home doing nothing. I accept that there may cases where this was happening but I just wanted to put this out there. We were all living in unique times and trying to keep up with huge changes in our jobs and expectations and what we needed to do to achieve a 'pandemic curriculum' to meet the needs of our children, parents and support each other.

Sorry for such long posts, being on strike and hearing comment on social media made me want to just put facts out there. No sympathy needed just maybe more of an understanding of what the pandemic was like for teachers in my experience. I fully accept others may be very different.

This is a bit boring now. It’s in the past, it was hard for everyone. Can’t we just move on?

Hi Gavin

I appreciate some teachers tried and worked really hard. That it was an awful time for them too.

Unfortunately that was not the case for all and the attitudes of teaching unions and comments online about kids and parents from some teachers did not help.

Lots of people had a very difficult time at work during covid whilst also having to try to home school with little to no support from their school.

Most of the blame for all of that lies with the govt.

But not all and I think now the strikes (which I support) are wearing patience.

Problem is people haven't moved on.

They are still using vivid as an excuse to bash teachers rather than any of the other reasons they've done.

I'm not a teacher and tbh wouldn't be one the way they are treated.

The OPs post is specifically relevant today in light of the leaked WhatsApp messages from the then health and education secretaries stating that teachers just wanted ‘time off’ during the pandemic. It’s important to acknowledge the reality of the situation considering the amount of press coverage this is getting.

It was bloody awful and I had some kind of breakdown as a result. Relentless, relentless stress. I work in an independent and we were required to do all lessons face to face on Zoom. One of our deputies became suicidal with the pressure and anxiety. I feel ill just thinking back to it.

The moment we went into the first lockdown, I was required to deliver all my lessons live via Teams - same timetable, same course content as if we were in the classroom. Work set and marked via Teams, etc.

It seems like a bad dream now I look back at it, but my job went on as normal, albeit remotely. Lessons, marking, reports, parents’ meetings - all of it.

Who cares about what happened during the pandemic? It was years ago and hardly relevant now.

It's very relevant right now, between Gavin's whatsapp messages that are scathing about teachers and unions being leaked this week, and the current strikes over poor pay and conditions and the lack of proper funding for schools.

Our school is on its knees and two more hard workers have handed in their notice this week, going at Easter break. It's devastating.

I worked in 2 schools in 2020, one primary and one secondary. For the secondary, we put work on Teams. I teach a practical subject so it was a nightmare re-planning the curriculum but needs must. I gave written feedback when possible. I did a couple of live lessons but I live rurally and my broadband was awful, plus I had 2 uni student daughters also trying to use the same connection. Every Friday I did an online quiz with my y8 tutor group which we all enjoyed. It gave the kids chance to see one another and chat. I then had to follow up anyone not engaging with phonically to ensure they were ok. I was also on a rota to go in with another member of staff for key worker/vulnerable students. In the primary school I was on a rota to go in one afternoon per week. I was with the PE specialist. Because we are both experienced, the Head did all his video calls then. We had a lot of fun, but the kids were anxious and sometimes hard to manage.

In 2021, my secondary school had given every student a laptop, so we did live lessons over Teams. It wasn't easy and I actually worked from school because of the poor wifi at home, but we covered the curriculum and most kids did ok. I did my share of working with the key worker/vulnerable students too, which was fine. I did 2 afternoons per week in the primary school, working with the y5/6 bubble. They were hard work mostly because there was a lack of equipment they could use and they were with the same 15 students every day.

I bitterly resent accusations from ministers that I'm lazy or workshy. I'm not. I had to completely re-plan my curriculum with no guidance or notice. Our school had moved to Teams in late 2019, so I had had some training, but lots of it was learning on the hoof. My own DDs helped me with lots of things and it wasn't perfect, but I tried my best. If they really wanted teachers to succeed, all teachers & kids would have decent devices and fast reliable free internet connections. Today, we had lower school kids working at home as some colleagues were striking. I taught online again. It is so much harder than face-to-face and every class had kids with tech issues. I'd love to see bullying Sir Gavin and incompetent Prat Halfcock show us how to do it better!

Reality? How quaintly 20th Century. Lots of people don't believe in reality anymore. They think/feel something therefore it's true.🙄

Teachers were battered, nurses eventually battered, GPS, dentists… the list could go on. All just tried our best. Id just put a hard hat on and get on with it.

Nobody knew how tough it was for each profession. I for one am glad the majority didn’t witness what I did.

Time to move on.

It's relevant due to the leaked conversations by government monsters, including the education secretary at the time, which is in todays news.

It is extremely relevant now! I am a school mentor and we are struggling taking students in key stage 1 as we are on catch up. Year 2 has children more than ever with anxiety. Their brains did not make the necessary connections due to lack of interaction outside families. It is a struggle for many children emotionally never
Mind academically. I think It will be a good 5-6 years before it gets back to anything resembling normal in schools.

I meant a school mentor for trainees.

I had three children in three different schools. A mix of primary and secondary, state and independent.

All three were excellent. Just excellent.

it was, nevertheless, a horrific time and home-schooling three children while working FT in a brand new job very nearly broke me. But that was circumstantial. I can’t fault any of the schools or any of the teachers.

I was teaching 240 children online in one lesson. I was also told to mark their work every day and it would only take 6 mins per pupil, to download, assess, correct, record and upload.

Yep! 24 hours marking every 24 hours!

I still have the email.....

That was my experience although on Google Meet.

Live lessons every day, all day. Me in the dining room, DD in her bedroom.

Our school eventually gave parents the choice as to whether to send their kids in or not, so we entered hybrid teaching. The absurdity of going into school, disinfecting me, the desk, the computer etc for one kid in most cases while another 24 were inside the computer.

What will remain with me forever is just one sentence said by my then 16 year old daughter. "I never gave my teachers permission to enter my bedroom".

Not in any kind of "ooh look at Mr X looking at my bedroom" way. Just a pure and simple teenage outburst of what the fuck even is this madness.

We are still paying the price and will be for years. Our first year secondary kids are still 2 years behind emotionally and mentally. Our school has put teachers who usually only teach the first 3 years of secondary into the GCSE prep classes as they are still making up so much that they just never did. Because we can set and mark as much work as we want, and fuck me we did, but when doing it wasn't obligatory because we were in a pandemic, and even attending the online lessons wasn't obligatory because the chattering classes were baking goodies and bopping around to Joe fucking Wicks and refusing to let their kids have the pseudo -normality of lessons, then they don't now get to criticise us yet again because their kids are two years behind. No shit Sherlock.

There are things that won't be forgotten, or forgiven. And how education was handled is one of the biggest.

(And I was absolutely in favour 100% of lockdown. But our children deserved better)

It was tough, but like other networkers we got on with it.

I was in school with key worker children while my DH worked from home and looked after our kids. My school also allowed children with an EHCP or social care involvement or anyone with safeguarding issues to come in.

All other kids had a full day of online learning, so we were running two different schools in effect.

I am so proud of what we did. We worked so hard to care for our students.

Fuck Hancock and Williamson, snivelling little twerps.

keyworkers not networkers!

My partner is a teacher and his experience was very much like the OP describes- but in addition his school is in a very deprived area so he spent lots of time helping families with access to the technology they needed to access online lessons etc as well as helping them access financial support etc (not a teacher role, but families approached the school in desperation as many of them were working in hospitality on zero hours contracts and already struggling pre-pandemic). Post pandemic he and his school are still trying to help pupils catch up academically and generally.

I am aware of one or 2 teachers who did very little during the first lockdown- claiming that they couldn't be in school face to face due to a household member's vulnerability, setting minimal remote work and claiming not to be able to access/use technology to do more. This was very frustrating for the other teaching staff who were working even harder to cover, but they were definitely the minority and I suspect the same applied to any profession or workplace.