Are the unions going to kick off about back to school in September?

[Flippetydip]

Is there going to be a big hoo ha from the unions about the "everyone back to school at full capacity" announcement from the PM today?

Any teachers on here care to give a view?

In a HCP.

Interestingly, our union very early on in all this issued pretty unhelpful 'guidance', stating we should refuse point blank to attend any Covid pt without the whole Ebola PPE- the day after the gaping holes in the supply of said PPE was revealed.

We felt that there might be an agenda here- that if any one of us did 'go in' with less than the full 'Ebola', then subsequently contracted CV19, they'd be less supportive of us in any case we brought against our employer as we'd not followed their 'guidance' 😳

They backtracked a little the following day, after enough of us reps contacted them to say their guidance was placing us in a morally untenable position.

So yes, there is and needs to be some to and fro between union members and the ideology that can run away with itself in the upper reaches of our unions!

I do not have any direct skin in the primary/ secondary game any more (tho a Y1 going to uni in Sept), thus won't give an opinion, apart from saying regarding your Y12 getting into a good uni, the unis will be gagging for fee paying students by then, with the Brexit decimation of overseas numbers coupled with Covid. They'll be okay.

BUT the only people I have zero sympathy with are any teachers on here who voted Tory. You really do have to own this mess.

It might be 3 months away but the schools need to release their plans now. That was my understanding anyway.
They can't decide 2 weeks before what will happen as planning needs to take place.

That’s what has happened up to now - government announces something, schools plan for it, schools tell parents if their plans, parents get excited, guidance is released (with many changes in a short time), sChills are forced to change their plans multiple times to fit in with the changes to the guidance, schools tell parents that their plans have changed, parents are disappointed and angry, parents blame the schools.
And now, parents want schools to release their plans for two months time when the government have released nothing yet? You really have more depths of hatred for the teaching profession that you want to plumb?

Oh, and for the record, the NHS finds out what's going to happen 'next Monday' or whenever - along with The Public, on the 6 o'clock news.

They're not party to any prior discussions, either.

The unions always kick off because they are run by fuckwits in their ivory tower with idiot workplace reps.

@Carlottacoffee Teachers are not refusing to go to work, they are working unless guidance suggest they shouldn’t be. Many teachers are parents too. They are also struggling with childcare.

Not in one, then, I assume?

BUT the only people I have zero sympathy with are any teachers on here who voted Tory

These people exist????

I am still waiting for someone to share some union advice they think is unreasonable. From the union not from a manipulated view from a newspaper .

enough of us reps contacted them to say their guidance was placing us in a morally untenable position

We had the same issue - the NEU letter about not cooperating with discussion around extending provision was nuts. We needed to cooperate with discussion, otherwise things would be done 'to' us, not 'with' us. In the end in my school, half the NEU members didn't sign the letter at all, and the ones who did, changed it.

Our head was on our side.

In terms of teachers with children - in the real world I only know two teachers who have sent their children back to school, while they themselves have had to go in. So, most teachers I know didn't think on June 1st that it was safe enough for their own children, but they went in and taught other people's children. They've got grandparents involved, or had partners deal with it while also working from home.

Of the two teachers, one of them is me, the other is a single mum with no other options.

These people exist????

Oh yes!! My partner teacher thinks Johnson is some sort of god, and Farage is his hero. Genuinely.

No-one at my school signed the NEU letter either.

Article in Tes this week -

"Independent schools are using everything from marquees to forest schools and temporary classrooms as they open up to more pupils, a leading figure in the sector has revealed."

"Shaun Fenton, a former chair of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, told Tes that schools were looking at a "whole range of ideas" to cope with social distancing."

"He was speaking as it emerged that most private prep schools have now opened up to all year groups and are seeing attendance rates of more than 80 per cent, with some using marquees."

"Mr Fenton said schools would also consider extending their day so that some year groups could remain at home on certain days, freeing up more space within the buildings."

"If we create a longer teaching day then we can fit the standard timetable into four rather than five days and maybe each year group could be at home one day a week, with some extra online and independent learning," he said."That would take some of the pressure off of social distancing on campus.”

"Chris King, chief executive of the Independent Association of Prep Schools, which has 607 members across the UK, said: “Most of our members are back with all year groups, and there’s widespread reporting of 80, 85 and 90 per cent of children back within the schools."

"He said that some prep schools offering boarding, as well as those with a specialist background, would not have returned at all. But early estimates suggested up to 70 per cent of his member schools were back for all years “right across the board”.

“Small class sizes help; having the facilities and space so you can give over things like sports halls to one or more bubbles, those sort of things have helped," Mr King told Tes."

@Normalmumandwife

The unions always kick off because they are run by fuckwits in their ivory tower with idiot workplace reps.

You're a twat. HTH

@Normalmumandwife

The unions always kick off because they are run by fuckwits in their ivory tower with idiot workplace reps.

Reasoned and rational debate. Oh dear. Is that all you have?

It isn't the unions who are the fuckwits here.

Having a lot more money helps.
Having huge grounds helps.
Having tiny classes helps.
Worrying about parents taking children out, helps.
Being able to immediately exclude anti social behaviour helps.

Shaun Fenton (Alvin Stardust's son!!) was a head of a large secondary in Harpenden for ages : he should know what issues arise in a comp.

@noblegiraffe

From what I understand from multiple MN threads over lockdown, without teachers, parents wouldn’t have jobs. Can’t look after your kids and go to the office, apparently.

Well at this moment In time parents are in a strangle hold but the economy Is slowly starting to move again so if teachers refused to come back either -

1. parents would give work up ( most likely mothers)
2. private children’s child care would start opening
3. elderly parents would start looking after their grandchildren so there families wouldn’t go under.

And tbh I’d just rather the union or who ever it was just said what the fuck they were doing instead of playing hard ball. And I have seen threads on here where teachers have been told not to co operate.

Can't see how that works for lunch and loos.

I visited a private park this week - they had some very nice temporary loos.

If bubbles have to eat at different times that means at a 11-18 school lunch would be spread across 3 and a half hours! (Assuming 20 minutes to wolf lunch down and 10 minutes clean in between)

Packed lunches outside? Outside caterers on wheels for different year groups on a rota basis?

I have seen threads on here where teachers have been told not to co operate.

Yes, we were told not to cooperate. I don't know any individuals or schools who had any issues with cooperation in discussions.

We need our unions, and we sort of have to be members for insurance/protection reasons on normal day to day issues. Child makes an accusation against you for example, older more expensive and experienced teachers being pushed out via competency for example.

Packed lunches outside?

In November. Nice and picnicy.

The unions always kick off because they are run by fuckwits in their ivory tower with idiot workplace reps.

I think government and GW have been the fuckwits in the ivory tower here, tbh.

Things that might have helped-:

Meeting with a range of state school primary and secondary heads (not one executive head of one MAT who was their mate, which is what I presume they actually did, if at all) repeatedly, to discuss what would work.

Meeting with the unions to discuss what would work.

Telling heads information before telling the general public.

Not releasing sound bites to the Telegraph.

Releasing the guidelines with the announcement.

I’m sure there are others.

How much money has the government allocated to schools to buy marquees and hire village halls?

In November. Nice and picnicy.

I thought schools were going back early September?

I like the idea that the government announces something batshit like all primary kids back before the summer in bubbles of 15 with no rotas, without consulting with anyone who actually works in a school who could point out the obvious flaw in that plan, but it’s the people who go ‘that’s unworkable’ who are the fuckwits.

How much money has the government allocated to schools to buy marquees and hire village halls?

If I were a school governor and we were planing to buy a new mini bus, update the school library, buy musical instruments, redecorate the main entrance hall etc. then I would argue to reallocate those funds where necessary.