Why do teachers still have jobs?

[StrangeTimes]

So my husband has just lost his job from next week. He's a coach driver. My best mate has lost her job from this week, she used to work in a cinema. I have many friends now out of work and desperately trying to get jobs in supermarkets.

However teachers will not be working now for many months, so how come they're not being made redundant?

I'm not being goady I genuinely want to know. I'm glad they are still being paid, I'd hate for them to be in our position. But why?

Are other jobs "safe" like this too?

@stormyclouds. Give it a rest!

@StormyClouds enough now-this is horrible.

Jeez! Some people are so thick.

How many times do they have to read that many kids haven’t got access to online facilities?

Or live in a tiny flat, caring for younger siblings, disabled parents, etc, etc.

Just because you have a comfortable life, it doesn’t mean everyone does.

I do agree with Stormy. Or at least I think there should be very clear expectations about what teachers are expected to deliver while the schools are all but closed. All the contact we have had is a letter with some generic website links and then this was followed up today by a few pages of handouts. There has been zero contact from class teachers (not even on a whole class basis). The children feel like school has just dropped off a cliff.

@Mendeleev

I appreciate that not every DC has access to technology. However, my DC's school has used pupil premium money to fund tablets for DC who can't afford them, as they are often used in class.

The school could imo be making use of these to at least provide some form of online lessons or feedback. As it stands, all we've had is a few worksheets for two subjects which were sent home on the last day and nothing at all since!

I know that some schools are offering much better provision, including online classes. My query is about why this cannot be offered across all schools, and exactly what it is that teachers at schools like mine are going to be doing for the next 6 months while receiving full pay!

What's your background Stormy? Why the disregard for educators and teaching unions?

1. A national immersive online educational environment to be created- this would be a mix of recorded and live lessons taught by private tutors and teachers from overseas, as well as games, e-textbooks and other materials

Wtf? Tutors and teachers from overseas?
I suppose that's how your DS1 got his place at University eh?

First of all, they are working.

Secondly they have the benefit of a large unionised workforce to help ensure they don’t get shat on

@StormyClouds
I know that some schools are offering much better provision, including online classes. My query is about why this cannot be offered across all schools, and exactly what it is that teachers at schools like mine are going to be doing for the next 6 months while receiving full pay!

Then ask them, because you're clearly not getting the responses that you want to hear from the majority of mners.

I'm a solicitor @UnFuckingAcceptable. We simply don't have a choice to down tools and sit on the sofa for 6 months- our clients will simply go elsewhere. This is also why private schools are offering extensive online provision.

My firm has been able to quickly set-up arrangements to work from home, and I simply do not see why it is beyond possibility for teachers ti do similar. Particularly when private schools and universities already have facilities in place for online classes.

The people who will have the advantage in applying for uni will be the private school pupils who will be receiving schooling basically as normal while many state school students will be losing six months of their education.

When all of this dreadful Covid is gone and kids are back at school, many, many Year 10 teachers will be holding afyer school classes, and lunchtime sessions to try ro get the cohort who will be Year 11 in September through their specification by next May. This Year 10 will not have covered much this year. There will be real stress and panic next year as Head Teachers will expect 'good GCSE results'. The current Year 12 cohort will really struggle to complete A level specifications too.

So you’re generalising that all teachers are sitting on their arses because you sent your kid to a useless school?

I suggest you direct your vitriol to the head of your son’s school rather than on here, where most of us are working bloody hard to support our young people.

@StormyClouds - read the guidelines of NUT ... Very illuminating. The logic seems to be that it is better not to bother educating any children because some wouldn't have access to technology.

A more sensible approach would have been to campaign for technology to be available for those who couldn't access it. Or to plan catch up sessions for those children when schools reopened. But no, they would rather throw the baby out with the bathwater.

My daughter's dance school and drama school swiftly found ways to teach on line and didn't seem to find any obstacles. I expect teachers would find fewer obstacles if it was "deliver teaching or dont get paid"

Sorry for the very long post!
Secondary teacher here. We are writing new tasks every day (not currently new learning, though), for those who have lessons that day, and are monitoring who is doing it, and how they are doing.
I'm also fielding a lot of emails from students saying they can't access the work, even though we checked while they were in school in the last two weeks before school closed, that they could access it.
For those students who haven't got internet access, we've sent home work packs so students have something to do which goes alongside what everyone else is doing.
I'm also rewarding students who have done well whilst at home, and helping those student who have problems.
I'm also completing other tasks which my head of department has sent me.
I'm pretty much glued to my computer in the usual school hours, and go back a while later to clear up student issues.
In a way, it's much more intense that my usual day, because students ask questions, and then don't answer to my response - meanwhile, I'm preparing work that is suitable to be done at home for the following day.
As a school, we're also waiting for directions at to what to do after the Easter holidays - no word yet.
That may well mean a whole lot of work more, if we're going to introduce new learning, which we are already doing for those students who would have been sitting exams this year.
On top of that, I've also been expected to provide grades for students who haven't even sat an assessment recently, because my school demands it.
We're honestly doing our best, because, believe it or not, we care about the progress of our students.

I’m a teacher and still working, I’m on a rota to look after keyworkers children and when I’m not doing that I am making resources and doing online courses for professional development which will in turn benefit my learners. I am also in daily contact with parents (I work in a SEN school).

Why is everyone so jealous of teachers on here (and in society in general). If it’s so cushy go do a degree and become one yourself!

@1forsorrow coach drivers have diffrrent qualification than delivery drivers. They have to have the right qualification to drive the chosen vehicle.

@stormclouds and who is going to look after key workers like nurses children?

If you got your way the NHS would have hardly any staff left. You are nuts.

It doesn't take all the teachers in the school to look after the key workers children! my children's primary school has 27 classes. They were allowed 60 key worker children. They didn't fill the spaces because a lot of parents found other cover. That doesn't require 30 teachers to care for them full time . So what are the rest of the teachers doing?

So what are the rest of the teachers doing?
Do you mean to be so deliberately goady, or have you failed to read 16 pages of the thread where people have been discussing this?

I can see posts where secondary teachers are doing stuff.
But at our school -nothing - one letter to the school with some links to websites. One little worksheet per year group. That's it. No other contact whatsoever.

God, some of you lot would find stuff to moan about sat on a beach in the Maldives.

Chill your beans, Easter is coming. Neither kids or teachers work at Easter.

My kids have been sent work through the school VLE every day - it's being marked and sent back to them. They are kept busy pretty much all day - yr 9 and yr 10.

I'm a teacher too (FE) and am also busy researching and setting up on line study for 400+ learners in 6 different language levels, many of whom do not have good access to the Internet. Having frequent meetings with my team and answering a ton of emails from the team and students.

Working as before, just in a different way

@NeverTwerkNaked Have you emailed the headteacher or rung the school to enquire about work? If you're really not receieving anything then that is appalling and i would take it up with your MP.

At the school i work at we are planning 5 maths and 5 english lessons per week as well as topic work and reading for the children to be doing. Teachers are planning this, replying to emails, sorting out curriculum for next term should we come back and looking after keyworkers children - it is not a holiday.

@Interestingdrug72 Many teachers will be working over Easter this year. Many schools will be remaining open to look after key workers' children.

I don't know about the rest of the UK, but here in Wales the Welsh government sent kids to an early and extended Easter break, leaving teachers 2 weeks working in which they have to completely change how education is provided, whilst also setting up and staffing hubs for keyworker's children and finding a way to distribute FSM to those eligible. It's like a two week INSET, in which we have to change everything.
However, I don't think this was communicated to parents at all, hence a lot of pissiness that teachers aren't pulling their weight.

Yes I know that. But in general most will have some days off. Why people are getting so worked up about it I don’t know.