Can’t see how children will be able to go back to school in 2021

[Ouchy]

Let’s face it. The R0 may not be controlled for months. Vaccine unlikely until 2021. Teaching unions up in arms. People unwilling to accept the risk of the virus (low for many). I’m getting more and more concerned and the government haven’t published any forward plans for how school can be restarted in the various scenarios we may be facing come September (have they?). What on earth are the DfE and the Education Secretary doing during the working week if they’re not planning this stuff? Is there something I’ve missed - am I mistaken? I’m getting more and more concerned. The children are low risk - there needs to be a plan and fast as their educations and social development are being kind of ignored for something they’re super low risk for as individuals themselves. Looking for reassurance really - am I mistaken or being silly?

TrustTheGeneGenie

So you are just going to ignore the wider opening of schools, teachers providing work, teachers going into schools, the oak academy and many others?

All to try and prove a point that is wrong.

The poor young people must have already had serious issues

Ah that's ok then!

For fuck sake.

That's three CHILDREN now dead. And all you can say is oh well they must have had issues already.

Funny because if you mention Corona victims having underlying conditions you get called heartless and cold.

What about fast tracking PGCE students, letting TAs do more, lots of people have lost jobs so can have intensive training and be redeployed ie. what are the options to increase the number of 'teachers'. I know they may all not be trained to the same standard but it's way better than no school.

I know they did this with nursing but that's a 3 year course. pgce is 1 year, they've already done this to this years cohort. TA is a different job - they're fab at what they do but it takes a different skill set.

Training has to be in a classroom. The PGCE already is intensive and lasts a year. If the government tells us to we will, but a bad teacher can actually be worse than no teacher (I've seen lots of content being wrongly taught to exam classes by students - with your plan no-one would realise this)

It's really worrying. The government are increasingly saying 'sort yourselves out'.

So you are just going to ignore the wider opening of schools, teachers providing work, teachers going into schools, the oak academy and many others?

What do you mean ignore it? I know it's happening but it's not a substitute for full time education is it?

KeepWashing,

i don't think that most schools have space on their playgrounds for essentially a camp of temoporary buildings the same size as the current school. Certainly the secondary doesn't have space for between 50 and 150 of them (depending on whether you go for groups of 15 or social distancing)

And i don't think that the country's sock of temporary buildings is likely to be up to doubling the size of every primary, and quadrupling the size of every secondary, before September. let alone equipping them for teaching.

This is our children’s education. Their future. For an illness that barely affects them

Yep, screwed over by Brexit and now this. Lucky lucky lucky young generation. And of course we're screwing over women for a virus that predominantly affects men, too. Of course we are.

TrustTheGeneGenie

You said that no one else agrees that education is important.

You are clearly wrong.

You are clearly wrong

Do you think our children are getting a good enough education then?

@TrustTheGeneGenie

I think over the summer I would hope there will be technological investment in schools for a proper (part time) home schooling support system, possibly live online classes

What happens to children with two working parents?

or with one working out of the home parent? But that is the responsibility of the parents as far as childcare is concerned and the government with the technology and school heads in terms of setting expectations for home based learning by their staff and provision of home based learning supported by teachers and not the teachers themselves who cannot be held responsible.

TrustTheGeneGenie

You are changing what you wrote.

Just in case you need reminding

I can only hope they decide childrens education is important come September because clearly nobody else agrees

This is clearly not the case, and is just being made up by you.

OK trust yup, that's what I was saying. If you say so...I am saying suicide rarely has one factor.

Knife crime down. Gang violence down. Fights and street crime down.

@Appuskidu

If the oxford vaccine candidate is successful, Autumn is a possibility.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.sciencefocus.com/news/coronavirus-manufacturing-begins-on-millions-of-doses-of-the-oxford-vaccine-candidate/amp/

We just seem to be encouraging young people to be more selfish 'it barely affects me. I'm all right, Jack'.

Everyone agrees that education is vital. Everyone.

The difficulty is that, in this pandemic, we are having to balance education with a risk to life - and, even more difficult, balance a riosk to the education of one group with the risk to life of another group.

If you only look at the children, then of course, their right to education weighs very heavily. But then, however much we might not want to, we do also have to look at the other side of the equation - the vulnerable parents, the teachers, the grandparents, all those who will die if we allow the uncontrolled spread of this virus.

What makes it so difficult is that the two things we are weighing up are so different, and affect different people - and there is such aa huge amount that we would need to know to be able to make the best decision that we simply don't know yet.

Assert that children don't pass it on, and then find they do - the consequences are huge.

Burt assert that they do, and then find they don't - the consequences are huge also.

Knife crime down. Gang violence down. Fights and street crime down

Yes because lockdown is the answer to that. Perhaps better education and support would be the answer to that.

And yes suicide is rarely down to one factor but lockdown is what pushed these poor children over the edge. But you pretend they would have killed themselves anyway if it makes you feel better. The same way posters are berated for saying covid victims would have died anyway.

but I didn't particularly like your tone.
That has got to be one of the funniest things I've read on here in a long time, coming from you, GeneGenie.

The government are re opening schools, btw. Yes, thanks for that tip. I'm aware of the scheme, and have been back in my classroom most of this week, mixing with loads of children who have probably been hobnobbing with hundreds of others on the beach at somewhere like Durdle Door last weekend.

@Piggywaspushed

We just seem to be encouraging young people to be more selfish 'it barely affects me. I'm all right, Jack'.

Oh aye yeah. All those kids who in health might be alright but will be homeless soon and will have had little to no education. Really alright aren't they ffs.

I actually feel it's people who are "alright jack" are those of us who's lives havent been affected. Don't have kids in school. Can work for home or don't need to work.

Because I don't no many posters who are struggling who want this shit show to continue. It's the comfortable posters who are happy in lockdown.

So if you do the maths, they will need more teachers, not less
In the Netherlands, one teacher is teaching half the class in the morning. The same teacher teaches the other half in the afternoon.

After being off for so long on full pay, I think asking teachers to do this is perfectly acceptable.

@cantkeepawayforever

I'm not arguing with you as I haven't spent hours considering all the possibilities - because I'm not the education secretary. The point is we can't continue as normal or no education, so just because something doesn't work for your secondary school in your area doesn't mean it doesn't work anywhere. There's a lots of green space and community buildings in my village and I'm guessing a lot of graduates who won't be getting jobs anywhere this year who could be trained (to a point).

It's going to have to be a combination of lots of different changes.

Or we just say no it's not possible because we don't have the imagination to think past what we currently do. I can barely think of any sector that isn't having to evolve their 'working model' on the fly. Schools are no different, complex for sure but so are hospitals etc.

After being off for so long on full pay, I think asking teachers to do this is perfectly acceptable

They have not been off. They have been teaching from home.

To be flippant, we will all die anyway.

We are all facing dilemmas in our lives at the moment - how do I weigh my daughter's Y13 (and how it would be much better in school) against the risk that my parents might lose the final 10-15 years of their lives? How do I weigh my increased medical risk from Covid (medially vulnerable) against the bubble I teach's need for a teacher in front of them for them to return to school (I have decided in favour of being in school ... my family is somewhat unimpressed). Having to dp this at a whole society risk level is genuinely really, really hard.

If I'm in as a teacher full time and planning/marking for the kids who are at home I'll be doing two jobs.

Surely you usually plan and mark for the whole class. Why are you talking about doing two jobs?