National education recovery plan

[hayfeverhellish]

Just seen what the NEU have proposed to government - blended learning for the next academic year which just horrifies me actually. I get why it's needed but my autistic son will not cope with this as we need to work while he's at school. There's much more in this plan that just seems very unachievable in the next 5 weeks before the schools close for summer.

neu.org.uk/press-releases/coronavirus-national-education-recovery-plan

They are saying plans need to be made now in case they are needed. Proactive planning rather than reactive, which tends to be slower to mobilise and less well thought through.

well, I certainly agree that blended learning into next academic year would be an absolute travesty.
There are a couple of good points in the plan though such as trying to identify extra buildings to use and possib;e ways to increase staffing capacity.....

We are planning for blended learning. We would love for all our students to be back, but we owe it to them to be well prepared if schools need to close again.

I wish they would stop calling it "blended learning" and tell it like it is - part time education with no provision made for working parents to actually oversee it.

@BlusteryLake me too. It's like if they give it a fancy name, it's some new fancy initiative when in reality a lot of children will be put on part time education with a TV babysitter the rest of the time.

All very well, but who is going to staff these summer schemes and ditto lessons in other public buildings (libraries etc). Surely the example of library is a poor one as these may open soon?

The blended learning - will that happen only if there is a second spike or R goes above 1,
OR is blended learning going to become part of the "new norm" straight off from September?

They are not saying we should have blended learning in Sept. Merely that we should plan and be prepared for it in case of a second wave or a local hotspot.

They are saying everyone back in smaller classes utilising non-school buildings and ex teachers. Can’t see anything offensive in that??

@Useruser
That's what I thought but wanted to clarify, thank you.

They can propose all they like, the government took little notice last time, I am almost sure schools will be back to normal in September as will the rest of society, life is not sustainable otherwise.

Oxydrive, that’s interesting as everyone seemed quick to blame the unions a few weeks ago.

I want all schools back to normal too but do you really believe your life is not sustainable without it? Life not worth living?

I would rather have proper, planned for blended learning and home learning than the mess we have currently. (I know a lot of teachers are working very hard, but the current situation is very inconsistent).

I know it’s different.....but Scotland are doing blended learning from the 1st day back in August. Each school is deciding for themselves what that will look like in their setting. It’s a bloody shame, but there’s really no other way.

Blended learning plans are necessary if an area needs to close due to a local outbreak though, surely? Schools can shift between in school and out of school learning.

I think their ten points are great and particularly like the focus on finding alternative spaces apart from schools to allow more children to learn.

It's not like anyone else seems to have any good ideas.

Blended learning is better than nothing and it does make the kids more accountable.

My dd will happily do nothing now but if she knew her teacher was going to see she hadn't done her work in two days time she would be more inclined to do it.

Blended learning is almost certainly the way it will be in September and onwards. That's why the detailed planning. But hopefully much better organised.

Social distancing will still be important. The virus hasn't gone away, no matter how much people like to pretend it has.

Hopefully children will be in school at least half of the time and better planned home learning for the rest.

Say what you like about unions but in this respect at least they are trying to get some plans in place.

The government don't seem to appreciate that schools shut in 5 weeks. At that point theres no meetings with staff, no consultation, no discussion. Nothing.

Teachers if they want can literally just turn off all communication and then turn up in September. Of course many won't, but the fact is they can and SLT and the government could do little about. It would be great to just get back to normal in September but it would be stupid to not be putting back up plans in place now in case that's not possible.

The government seem to be acting like they can make some decisions mid August and schools will be able to respond instantly to that.

As school staff we hate the idea of Blended Learning. It benefits nobody and harms those with parents unable or unwilling to supervise it.

More than anything we want everyone back in full time in September and that is what we are planning for as advised by our local authority.

Also we have all ( a small close knit staff of 27) told our unions that we are happy to return full time no social distancing other than no assembly and staggered drop off pick so adults can distance. I am sure there are some teachers who don't feel safe but I am not sure it is the majority the unions are making it out to be. It really feels like the unions aren't speaking for us.

For blended learning to work we would have to have employers agree to part time but how would that work with bills. My kids thankfully are at university and are in hot demand as childcare, come September they will not be available so what can families do???

We are planning for blended learning from September (fe college). We have to, who knows what will change and in what direction and we have to be prepared for a large percentage of our students being taught at home at any one time. It is so far from ideal but we can't not plan because we hope things will magically be different

Same as Gales also FE and planning 50/50 with the proviso that all students are provided for with a laptop and that government funding actually comes through (hmm). Having to plan for the worst as absolutely zero planning from the government

The one thing that confuses me is that with blended learning / part time schooling is if you've got children, you can't work half the week. Surely that applies to any teacher with children, so won't schools have an even bigger staffing problem come September? My NHS team will go down to 50% capacity with the volume of unpaid leave people will need to take.

@Useruseruserusee

Oxydrive, that’s interesting as everyone seemed quick to blame the unions a few weeks ago.

I want all schools back to normal too but do you really believe your life is not sustainable without it? Life not worth living?

It's not sustainable without an economy, a very large part of this is children ion schools. Unions didn't want partial opening, the government ignored them.

If track and trace is running effectively then I don't see why schools can't return as normal.

But - there needs to be a contingency plan.

With no SD whole schools could need to isolate for 14 days.

So it's really a case of planning for ways to mitigate possible mass outbreak and whole community isolation or having plans for alternative learning if they do have local lockdowns.

We have to learn to live alongside this virus for the next academic year. We need to limit the impact on society.

That includes weighing up alternative learning against local lockdowns and if we are overly proactive or prepared to be reactive.

I'm not sure we can know which option will work best before we are in that situation.

Lets hole the govt engage in sensible dialogue

Seems Jeremy Corbyns plan to nationalise Wifi and provide families with free internet was a good one.
Blended Learning can only work if govt ensure internet access and laptops for students without!

As for enabling working parents to take time off for childcare reasons, there needs to be official policy on this!?