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?

[PrimeroseHillAnnie]

Nobody in the public sector is gonna lose their job.

[echt]

Reported.

Oh and welcome to MN, StrangeTimes

[Areallthenamestaken]

Because we're funded by the council and our wages aren't reliant on customers paying us or not, unlike coach driving.

Even if we were not working, your comment is spiteful and shows how little you understand or value the profession.

We're not just baby sitters there to occupy your kids when you're at work.

[fivesecondrule]

My DCs teachers have already said that they will be checking in with them daily (health permitting). I'm not a teacher but I will be homeschooling 2 DC as of Saturday- I will need their support too.

[LolaSmiles]

That was the undertone OP. It was essentially "why have they still got a job when others haven't".

It's not about attitudes towards other jobs. It's the reality that it's quicker to train someone to do some things (such as driving a bus) than it is to train a teacher.

Then consider the following:

• shortage of teachers
  
• some subjects in very short supply
  
• the years it takes to build experience and subject knowledge
  
• the years it takes to develop skills to support SEND needs
  
• schools will teach different exam boards so staff have to get up to speed on them. When we change schools, it takes a long time to brush up on the different specifications and a couple of years to get to grips with the nuances of how mark schemes are applied
  
• the key stage 3 curriculum differs school to school so staff spend time getting on top of planning for their school
  
• topics will vary in primary, same issue as ks3
  
• having a stable staff team offers pastoral care to vulnerable students and having consistent staff makes a huge difference (it's no surprise that schools with high turnover tend to have poor behaviour, though it's a chicken and egg situation there)
  

I could go on, so yes, it is a lot easier to find another driver than it is to replace a staff team that provide years of pastoral support and have spent time developing the curriculum for their school.

This thread, intentionally or not, very much came across as another dig at teachers thread.

[EverydayLife]

As your husband is an experienced driver, can he do deliveries? I was reading about Tesco employing more delivery drivers. They will be essential in this crisis.

[Topseyt]

What a ridiculous post.

Recruitment to teaching is in crisis already. Sacking all of the ones we currently have would help in what way?

They are still working too. Lessons remotely on Skype or Facetime. Marking work emailed, replanning lessons to fit in with the above and now many of them having to help work out how things will proceed for young people who would have been depending on their exam results this year to proceed to either their A Levels or on to uni.

Many are also now going to be asked to keep schools open to provide childcare for keyworkers' children, possibly 24/7 as some will be shift workers, and possibly also during the school holidays.

This all came out yesterday and is why posts such as this are so ignorant.

[Aragog]

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


Why do you think teachers won't be working?
Schools remain open for key children.
Children will have access to home learning online - who is producing that?

Teachers and TAs will be working. Just in a different way.

Just like my solicitor Dh and sister will be working from home. And my SIL accountant, and my BIL surveyor, and my brother programmer, and a whole raft of other people who will be working from home - doing their job but in different ways.

Now I do some people like to teacher bash but this really does reach a new level!

[Nappyvalley15]

Sorry your OH lost his job.

Staff with rare and in demand skills take time to recruit.

Even if every teacher sat on their hands until September we should still pay them. They are essential for getting this country going again when this all passes.

[Aragog]

And if we make them all redundant who will teach your child when schools return in a few weeks??

[parrotonmyshoulder]

I realise you have now back tracked, OP.
I still want to say, I’m a self-isolating teacher and the moments last night where I wasn’t caring for my very feverish and poorly child, I was lying awake worrying/ planning desperately about how to support families and pupils of the very vulnerable pupils I teach. While home schooling my older child yesterday and nursing my younger one, I was emailing parents and preparing resources, while holding online meetings with colleagues.
Is that enough? I can give you my work plan for today too if you want. And when my 14 days are up I’ll be in school anyway, providing childcare of a fashion.

[LolaSmiles]

echt
Quite. I've also reported.
At least in the meantime it's nice to see people actually understanding what school staff might be doing.

[LangSpartacusCleg]

As others have said, teachers are still working.

However, even if they weren’t, given how difficult recruitment and retention is at the moment, nobody would dream of firing them, making them redundant or just not paying them because if they did, they would find themselves without any teachers at all.

[diddl]

But if school bus drivers are losing their jobs-what will happen when schools reopen?

[BlessedBeTheFruitCake]

My DC's are still being set work online via Microsoft teams, the teachers will be available for video/messaging. They will still be checking the submitted work. That's without the teachers that will still be in schools to make sure children of keyworkers can attend.

[Aragog]

Schools haven't closed yet but I'm in isolation (dd has had a cough and cold, plus I'm in an 'at risk' group)

I've had two days at home. I was off timetable in school on Monday before the guidelines changed.

The past two days at home I've not moved from my computer. I've been setting home learning for if schools closed and to provide work for the children already at home. I already had some children working online since issuing their codes yesterday afternoon. This will ramp up now. I've been supporting my working colleagues from home, doing support tasks for them. I've worked as many hours as I do at school, in fact maybe more. Just in a different way.
All this whilst supporting my teen dd who has been a little poorly with her 'cold' whilst still studying for her A level despite having no idea what's happening there, and supporting my Dh who's father is seriously ill and who we were told his cancer is now terminal just yesterday but we can't visit as we are isolating.
Now tell me we deserve to be made redundant just because other people have been.

[Karmagoat]

Teachers are still working regardless if schools are closed or not, and who do you think is going to look after keyworkers kids and the vulnerable kids who will still be at school? If they all lose their jobs, who's going to teach YOUR kids when they go back to school?. Pull your head out of your arse OP

[toomuchsplother]

I didn't know you were still working
Well in that case can I ask then next time spent the 5 mins it would taken to you create this goady thread reading the news and educating yourself.
And I for one have noting but admiration for anyone who earns a living.

[Crackerofdoom]

I think the question should be: Why have so many people lost their jobs and/or job security through no fault of their own during an international crisis with no safety net, no protection against losing their homes etc?

This is the system we vote for at every election. This is the system where the state owns and runs virtually nothing and when things go wrong we rely on the benevolence of the rich to try and keep things going whilst people with small businesses, low incomes and little or no savings are thrown to the wolves.

Richard Branson personifies this with his treatment of staff whilst asking for a government bailout to keep his airline in business.

Teaching in the UK is still funded and run by the state. Therefore workers can be treated the way that ALL workers should be treated.

If public transport was nationalised, your DH could have been paid or re-allocated to another vital state-run job whilst this crisis is going on.

Other EU countries which are more socialist have provisions in place to protect people. In Austria we have a social security safety net which means that people who work in the private sector right now and are losing their jobs don't need to worry about losing their homes.

Instead of focusing on teachers, you should be questioning the system.

[Aragog]

And if you weren't just being goady and 'didn't know they were still working' why was it teachers you decided to direct your question at? Why not another profession where people are now working from home?

[corythatwas]

This thread is a bit of a lesson to us all. The only way of getting through a crisis like this is if we can manage not to give in to the temptation of wanting to pull other people down to our level of misery. In the months to come, everybody will suffer one way or another. We need to support each other and wish each other well.

Yes to holding responsible people to account if they have messed up, particularly if it can be proved that this is due to deliberate actions rather than unforeseen developments.

No to wanting everybody to suffer because I am suffering.

We hear tomorrow if dh is to be made redundant. Certainly expecting ds to have to go.

I keep my job because as an academic I will actually be working twice as hard, providing online content at short notice and supporting students from all over the world who are panicking and need guidance, liaising with colleagues about emergency measures, and still expected to carry on research as normal, ignoring the fact that I can't physically get at half the material I need. It is not frontline work, I will not be risking my life, but there is enough hard work there for two of me.

[Dinoctoblock]

I’m sorry your husband has lost his job, OP. Such worrying times.

I’m a PT Primary teacher. I was in school working as usual on Monday and Tuesday, then the news came on my day off on Wednesday and since then I have been figuring out how to use our home learning app, getting set up on line, getting all my parents and class registered, posting a test piece of work for my class, making alternative arrangements for pupils who have no access to WiFi, photocopying schemes of work and resources to take home, making up resource packs for children on free school meals. Alongside this, I have been worrying about our vulnerable children, this could be a disastrous period for so many children. I will be regularly phoning some families who might need more support.

I will work every Monday and Tuesday while this school closure continues, and a lot more besides I think.

[parrotonmyshoulder]

If, after all this, the big businesses get bailed out and the NHS is still screwed over/ sold off, I am moving to Mars.

[PrettyLittleLiar20]

Reported for what? It doesn’t break any of the Mumsnet rules. Just running to Mumsnet because you didn’t like what someone said is abit tell-taley and primary school like isn’t it. Just saying.

[Peninsula]

Mean post