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?

The unions never kicked off in the first place.

Government guidance prevented schools from reopening fully.

I can't believe this is explained hundreds of times every day on mumsnet yet people are too thick to understand and keep blaming teachers, schools and the unions - WHO ALL WANT SCHOOLS FULLY OPEN IF IT'S SAFE.

@Rainbow12e

Daily Mail now reporting that there isnt a hope in hell of schools reopening full-time in September. Surely they have to, if pubs are open but schools not then there will be uproar....

Of course they don't have to. It has to be safe for children and staff. Johnson is full of lies and hot air as usual.

How will children get there with the limits on public transport? Even at 1m social distancing classrooms are not big enough to hold a whole class.

Cloud Cuckoo land.

Ffs!
Where else are 1500 people allowed to congregate indoors with no social distancing, no PPE, masks or anything other protective equipment? Where? Please tell me ......
so why is that ok for teachers?

Whitty and Vallance were noticeably less enthused about the further relaxation of the lockdown on today's briefing (final one) and were stark in their warnings that this isn't going away, its growing around the world and we'll be living with it (to varying degrees) through summer, autumn, winter and spring and that it would be optimistic to expect science to come up with a solution in that time.

So Unions (and all trade bodies across all sectors) should be piping up and ensuring govt think about economy and safety, health and recession and in teaching particularly it seems obvious we need to have plans to move between full learning and blended learning over the coming months (if/as and when required) in my view...

I think if Johnson levelled with the public, explained about schools and why it was unsafe everyone would understand it better.

But he ain’t ever going to do that....🙄😞

@Rainbow12e

Daily Mail now reporting that there isnt a hope in hell of schools reopening full-time in September. Surely they have to, if pubs are open but schools not then there will be uproar....

I don’t think so. Some people might froth on here, but I think most people understand that pubs opening and schools opening are not linked by anything.

The unions never kicked off in the first place. Government guidance prevented schools from reopening fully. I can't believe this is explained hundreds of times every day on mumsnet yet people are too thick to understand and keep blaming teachers, schools and the unions - WHO ALL WANT SCHOOLS FULLY OPEN IF IT'S SAFE

It’s the unions who have prevented schools in Wales opening for 4 weeks instead of 3 this year. Only the unions, who have most definitely ‘kicked off’.

It’s the unions who have prevented schools in Wales opening for 4 weeks instead of 3 this year. Only the unions, who have most definitely ‘kicked off’

Evidence?

I haven't RTFT as havjng a FT job and homeschooling is somewhat timing consuming.

On every thread like this I've supported teachers as the current situation it's not their individual doing. However, my tolerance of the 'unions' and govt approach to this has reached a limit. What is happening now is beyond unacceptable.

I have written to my MP and have received a response. Some of it is fluff as would be expected, there is also several references to negotiations with unions who seemingly don't want to go back. Does anyone know what the terms of this negotiation are specifically?

I think the unions need to consider their next steps very carefully. Whilst I don't doubt govt advice has been last minute/ever changing, unions are not crowning themselves in glory when several sectors (in fact almost ALL employees working outside the home) are putting themselves at risk, in what apparently seems an unacceptable risk to teachers.

As of today we've heard drunk people can adhere to a 1m distance in pubs and restaurants. Apparently in 6 months we can't figure out a workable solution for all children returning 'in some way', and no clarity over September.

On the whole have to say I think teachers do a great job. As does everyone. This thing I keep seeing trotted out 'recruitment is a nightmare, I'm going to leave'... Are we all watching the same news and understanding economics? If the NHS and most other sectors can be privatised so can teaching. Recruitment at the right skill level and salary is also a problem in the private sector.

Our children are being totally screwed over by this govt and the politics of unions who belong jn the 1970's.

KeepWashingThoseHands

Have you actually read either the Union Covid safe checklist or their recent plan for September?

Keepwashingthosehands
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Not much else to say. Those terrible unions eh?

Name me one other work place where you will be closeted with 30 odd different teens five times a day. Who cram the corridors to bursting at changeover. Who don’t really care about hygeine?

Being stuck in a room with a lot of other people in close contact is what spreads the virus. And in a school that can mean 25 sets of different students in a week for one teacher.

That’s 750 close contacts in an enclosed area in one week. And then there’s the corridors...

It’s the unions who have prevented schools in Wales opening for 4 weeks instead of 3 this year.

Do you mean the support staff union pointed out that support staff weren’t contracted to work in the summer and so there might not be enough support staff in to open safely?

@Disillusioned11 because the benefits to children from being in school are enormous. Life changing.

And the risks to teachers who are not shielding are low. Please see the RCPCH's position on this.

And this is interesting. I think it was someone upthread who raised it. Or maybe another thread?

Oh look! More schools than health workers have had outbreaks....

Why do teachers keep doing this, where people who otherwise support their cause are shot down because they disagree with the union approach? Apparently it's acceptable to ask that children go back part-time or on any other basis because we don't have the imagination to think of alternatives. Have you actually listened to what parents are asking for or are you just being reactionary and defensive?

It's irrelevant whether it's a teen or not, don't you mean stuck with 30 other 'people'? Yes I do know those environments as imagine a scenario that's not a school where (shock horror) lots of people are already having to return to.

*unacceptable

But Keep have you actually read what the NEU have said?

The Daily Mail has no clue - no one does as the government hasn’t released their guidance!

Let’s all calm down until then.

Apparently it's unacceptable to ask that children go back part-time

It’s the government that decided that kids couldn’t go back part time. Ask them why not (the economy).

Could you tell us these scenarios please? I would be interested to k ow.

The Daily Mail says teaching unions say it’s pure fantasy to get a full return to school with 1m social distancing.

Will anyone explain why the unions are being portrayed as wrong to say this? Given that with 1m social distancing I could fit about half a class in my classroom? Where will the other half go? Who will teach them?

@Flippetydip

RE: school outbreaks in a article from June 18th.

The number of suspected coronavirus outbreaks rose by 70 per cent last week, new figures show, while the number of confirmed cases has also increased by a third.

Public Health England’s weekly COVID-19 surveillance report, published today, shows the number of acute respiratory outbreaks in schools rose from 14 to 24 – putting schools on the same number of suspected outbreaks recorded in hospitals.

Of these, 12 were confirmed as coronavirus outbreaks, up from nine confirmed outbreaks the week before.

PHE guidance states, as the winter season is left behind and infections like flu become “less prevalent, we would expect most outbreaks in community settings to be related to COVID-19”.

An outbreak is defined as two or more people experiencing a similar illness, which appears to be linked to a particular setting.

The report states: “While care home outbreaks have continued to decline, an increase in school and ‘other settings’ outbreaks have been noted over the past few weeks.”

Schools started welcoming back more pupils on June 1. Last week marked week two of wider reopening. While two thirds of primaries opened more widely, fewer than 40 per cent of eligible pupils returned.

Dr Joshua Moon, a research fellow at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), said: “I would be fairly confident the opening of schools has increased transmission within schools, but that is also what you would expect – the question is whether or not you can jump on that and get it under control.”

Between April 20 and May 24, the number of suspected outbreaks in schools did not rise above four, however it has shot up to 15, 14 and 24 in the past three weeks respectively.

It seems to me that all unions have done 'wrong' is to point out the blatant issues with the Government's guidance.

Like the fact that to teach all children in half class sized groups needs double the number of teachers and double the number of classrooms.

And that 2m distancing allows between 6-8 pupils per classroom, so the reduction to 1m means you can fit 12-15.

That's just basic measurement and common sense. Not some kind of bizarre intransigence....

I said 30 other people for an hour.

That’s 150 a day in an enclosed small room. Where else would this happen? Where it changes every hour? Where they have high fived, sneezed, snogged, hugged, touched other desks, screamed with laughter on a corridor.

So it’s not really 150. The contacts between them, mean the chance of bringing it into a class is much higher than anywhere else. So the contact may be with 150 per day, but the germ spreading would be more like the whole school number. And it’s happening every day 5x day.