So how is all this ‘open only for key workers’ thing going to work then?

[FlamingoAndJohn]

Really is doesn’t seem to mean anything.

I can’t really teach a random selection of children.

Also, I'm sure I don't have to remind you that we teachers are still being paid during this time. ( unlike many)

Any concerns about getting or passing on a virus are of course justified. Moaning about a change in the nature of the job is not.

What also worries me is the teachers et al not knowing who'll be in each day so no register so no knowing who is missing because something has happened to them that won't be discovered until the end of the day (something from a road accident to something more sinister)

It's unlikely but for some reason my brain went there!

There are some heartwarming responses from teachers here and others that simply want to not pull their weight at a time they may be needed.
If you are not prepared to work, you should not expect to be paid. It is no wonder so many of the public think many teachers are shirkers. I certainly don't. Most teachers work really hard and face daily tough challenges and long hours, but there are a few in every school who are inflexible and unwilling to accept change to anything in their job and moan and grumble all the time.
I think anyone who wants to continue to be paid through this when their job has closed should be prepared to work at something- councils will need help, shops may need help, the NHS will need help.
And for the oerson who had a little pop at me saying I can look after my children because I am at home- I chose to do that and gave up a very well-paid Deputy Head job to do it. I am not expecting to be paid to be with them while others continue to work in school.

We haven’t had two days to plan for this!! We’ve had a couple of weeks at least ....it’s clearly being coming for some time and most school leaders will have been planning for every scenario.

Yes we are effectively being asked to be ‘free’ child care so it means there is a big financial incentive for part time NHS staff to up their hours without upping their child care costs. So what? Engineering companies are being asked if they can produce parts for ventilators, hotels if the can become ICU etc. We are being asked to contribute to support society. We should step up ..... the vast majority of staff in our schools think it’s fair enough given the circumstances. Unlike the most others, we do not have to worry about being fired, made redundant etc. Our wages are effectively guaranteed by the tax payer so it’s the least we can do. The total numbers of children we are being asked to look after are low. If you don’t know how to support vulnerable children with what will be likely be enhanced staffing ratios then you shouldn’t be in teaching. It’s stupid crazy manic now to get the final bits set up but after that it will be fine. There really isn’t much for a whole school staff body to do once there are so few kids. And lots of staff are actually looking forward to it. Teaching for fun, following children and teacher interests without exam or ofsted pressure .... teachers’ dream!

Lulu that was not a "pop" at you it's a statement of fact. You are not posting here as a teacher who will be expected to take your own dc into a school. Your dh can work in his school knowing the dc are safe. So to state what others not in this position should be happy with is unfair.
My qualms are all around what will happen with my children (a two teacher family) not what would happen to me.

@Effic
Thank you for your voice of reason.
From an NHS worker
Surely we just all have to work together?

I'm also not sure when working from home (like many others) to produce work for students on unfamiliar platforms, communicate with them, reassure parents, mark work etc became "being paid for nothing" as some posters are suggesting.

@Motorina 💓

A few schools open, take in frontline service staffs kids for a few hours keep them safe and fed. Teachers who volunteer to come in rotate. So all the school teachers for the area, meaning maybe a teacher is in 1 day per week 🤷‍♀️

I'm a special school TA and we shut today, until at least after Easter, along with other special schools in the County.

Not sure how this is going to play out here!

Well the fact that you can do this implies you have nothing better to do with your time. And maybe, therefore, you don’t understand the complexities of the issues being faced by some.

Lemongingercakes, what is so complicated about this? Are you just being a sourpuss looking after your own.

??

I'll still be working full time. Not sure how that translates as looking after my own.

Neither have I been verbally abusing and swearing at other posters 🤷🏽‍♀️

I'm really not sure how special schools will cope. I'm mainstream SEN, lots of our kids with EHCP have health issues and I imagine most will stay away. I'm happy to work anywhere, I'm fit and healthy and dh is wfh. I'll not be sending my kids to school. Its going to be a real challenge, I was quite excited about home educating my DC, but I'll rock up to school, mine or whichever I'm needed at. I don't feel confident in my ability to teach amazing lessons! But I'm sure I'll muddle through. I'm grateful I'm in secure employment at this stage.

I did train because I wanted to make a significant improvement in kids lives, I'm in a leafy suburb school now, because teaching in tough schools go too difficult, turns out no one thanks you for taking the challenging road. Quite the opposite.
Strange times, I'm looking forward to the other end of all this.

Will we be allowed to wear PPE?

Cotton, this is one of my greatest concerns too; we are going to need regular office and admin functions in place every day in order to manage registration and amendments to the staff rota as staff inevitably move in and hopefully out of self isolation, as well as a designated safeguarding lead present every day. If we accept pupils from other schools with EHCPs we will need to be able to fulfil its stipulations. We need to uncover all the angles in the coming days.

Health workers are asking for tests because if we have the virus we won't go to work if we have a cold we won't be off for 14 days but in work.
We're all going to be doing things we were never trained to do,we will definatly be in harm's way.We are not all young and without our own health risks.We all have vunerable relatives that we can't see and may never hug again.We will be working some very stupid hours because you cannot ring s bell and leave sick patients.
And all we ask is that you help a little and look after our children,you don't have to baby sit you can do some teaching,stretch young minds and at the end of the school day you can go home.

Because shop workers get gloves and masks, delivery workers get to drop off at the door, hospital workers get (I hope) full Ppe. What protection will we get for our almost certain exposure to the virus?

Nellodee,why do you need ppe,we very little is hospitals.You just need lots of soap and water and take a deep breath.

You will note that children returning to school in Asian countries have masks themselves and desk dividers.

So how will this work on a workload level, I wonder. I have 15 classes to set work for, mark work for, communicate with and a form to check in with parents with, as well as line management meetings - all set up through our platform.

Will we be expected to do this on top of looking after the children of key workers and the vulnerable students - who all no doubt need and deserve their place - whilst also potentially juggling our own childcare?

Or will this be taken into account and we effectively won't be setting work/ marking work/ communicating otherwise those days? Somehow, experience tells me it's the former...

and take a deep breath.

😂

@nellodee believe me there are a huge number of keyworkers who do not have any special protective gear and are required to be at direct risk of infection through their work. Teachers are not an isolated case

If I am going to be exposing myself to a virus with a 7% fatality rate (as is the case in Italy) I expect that a full risk assessment will be done and steps taken to ensure my safety. Remember when everyone was up in arms because the driver who collected the people from Wuhan wasn’t wearing Ppe? Well now everyone you meet is someone from Wuhan. And now we’re all thinking we’re going to be handing out pens and collecting in paper like a normal working day? And then going back to our families?

I don’t think so.

We need to be demanding masks, gloves, and radically different systems in place. Children need to be isolated from each other during the day, because health care workers will be getting infected on a regular basis and so will their children and so will we. We need training in contagion management. Otherwise this will absolutely be a case of women and children first, in entirely the opposite direction.

This will not be fun and cannot just be business as usual.

you don't have to baby sit you can do some teaching,stretch young minds and at the end of the school day you can go home

@Theyrecomingtotakemeawayhaha - I'm afraid it will be more like babysitting, we just don't really know yet. But if we're looking after children we don't know (even from the same school), perhaps with EHCPs or not but who have learning needs or physical needs or emotional needs, from a range of year groups and a range of abilities, with a skeleton staff, then we will do our best but cannot guarantee to do much stretching of young minds.

And then yes, after the children have gone home we can spend time perhaps marking, definitely trying to sort out some "lessons" for the next day that will keep the children busy and well-behaved (we hope!). Every day for an unspecified amount of time. Without ANY PPE or cleaning products or the possibility of being tested so we can stay at work too.

So I appreciate you probably didn't set out to be patronising, but by asking us to "help a little" it is actually going to be a lot more than that in reality.

Education professionals and health professionals are all working hard and going to be working harder over the next weeks, months. Let's agree on that!

PS. I love a bit of Dr Demento!!

And they should be demanding protective equipment too.