To the posters that seem to believe it is the teachers' fault and their unions that the children will be affected by a severe recession for the rest of their lives: I think your anger is misdirected.
The looming recession will be caused by a new virus that spread so quickly that it resulted in a global pandemic. The UK government had to borrow millions to be able to cope with it because they didn't prepare enough for such eventuality, even though they had been forewarned a pandemic was probably due soon, and had neglected the NHS to the point that it would not have coped had they not resorted to a last minute lockdown "to Protect the NHS" (as the repeatedly drilled onto us).
Part of that money that got the country into further debt was to- among other things- pay companies so that they could furlough their employees in an attempt to prevent them from losing their jobs as their work places where temporarily closed (not because the schools were closed and they now had no childcare, but because the government finally realised they needed to halt the rapidly spreading rate of the virus and break the chain of transmission).
I clearly remember that the last week before the government announced the closure of the schools to all children except for those whose parents were key workers, there were lots of parents signing petitions asking the government to close the schools, and I also know people that kept their children at home before the schools were closed because having spoken with friends in other parts of Europe ahead of us (e.g. Italy, Spain, Greece) they felt the government didn't realise the severity of the situation and didn't feel their children were safe at school. The combination of public pressure from parents wanting the schools to be closed and withdrawing their children from school, together with the growing number of teaching staff self-isolating at home as per the government guidelines without knowing for sure whether they had contracted Covid-19 or not as no test was available at that time unless you were admitted to a hospital, eventually tipped the government decision to close the schools.
Now the government has decided to open schools, in the way they see fit, with the year groups they arbitrarily chose with no previous consultation with the unions, and disregarding the advice from SAGE, as it was later seen when they eventually published their evidence, who had suggested rotas and part time options which have now been adopted in Wales but clearly and explicitly advised against to at schools in England by the government (not the unions).
I understand the frustration with the situation, and the fear for the economic recession in years to come, but none of this was caused by teachers or their unions. It was the virus, and the government inept ways of managing the situation and failing to contain it from the start like it was done more successfully in other countries like Singapore.
For what is worth, I did work at my school until the very last day it was opened amid the fear and uncertainty of this surreal situation, and continued to work throughout the lockdown as part of a rota to provide childcare for the children of key workers. And I am now back full time supporting my Year group which is one of the ones the government chose to allow back. And I thoroughly wish all school year groups could be back at school full time and things were back to how they were before, with no bubbles and no 2 metres distance, but none of that is within my power (or the unions' power for that matter). I don't see how that can possibly happen until the number of cases continues to decrease further so that the R is effectively kept below 1, or a vaccine is discovered, or by some miracle we find out that the virus is indeed mutating and becoming weaker so that eventually it no longer poses a risk to a vast number of people.
Wanting schools to go back to normal with no social distance and a disregard for the safety of the staff or the adults that could be exposed through the children, or the small minority of children who could be badly affected, makes no sense if we are still not allowed to meet with family and friends in larger groups, go to their houses, use playgrounds in the park or go to the supermarket and shops without having to queue keeping 2 metres apart. It just doesn't make sense. If it is safe to throw out caution at school, then what's the point of being so cautious outside the school?
Please direct your anger to the government and ask them to make up their minds.