Has there been acknowledgement that Sixth form and FE are different?

[Shiningstar84]

Genuine question.
I teach in a 6th form college, yet everywhere I read talks about how 'children' don't transmit the virus etc.
I don't consider the students I teach to be children, they're young adults aged 16-19 (20 in some cases). These are young people who are socialising frequently and can spread the virus surely.
I'm frustrated at my college at the moment, as although government guidance (updated) will be released soon they are adamant we are going back to our 'normal' timetable. This consists of 1 hour lessons. However, during lockdown we trialled 2 hour lessons which meant obviously less contact with students. They've completely gone against this idea without any consultation with staff. They've also said they don't want any of us wearing masks around the site.
Fundamentally I don't feel like my college takes the safety of myself and colleagues seriously but on a larger level I don't see why older 'children' aren't having a plan in place for some remote learning. Feedback from over 100 students I teach was overwhelmingly positive. They liked the option to come in perhaps once per week but that working remotely worked well and they felt safer (obviously).

Perhaps government guidance will differentiate clearly later and how establishments who teach older students can have a different approach.

Students in a school 6th form are subject to the governments guidance for schools whereas 16-18 year olds at college (even if it's college which teaches only that age group and only A-levels), are classed as a further education college for whom the guidance is different.
I believe an update to government guidance for education settings is to be released tomorrow on www.gov.uk
Wait and see what that says. If your employer is following the official guidance, there is not a lot you can do unfortunately.

I am also worried we go back next week to start enrollment of our new students 2000 students visiting college over a week. In FE bubbles don't work with a choice of over 20 A-level's our bubbles will be over 1000 students we are being told no PPE. I am a little scared this could be the longest term in my 10 years of teaching.

Thanks @OldFloweryCardigan I suppose I feel frustrated that my college have opted not to do a couple of things which are certainly within their power. They could easily amend the timetable back to how it was during lockdown which would limit contact. We shall see what is said.

Worth waiting for the guidance as it's only tomorrow. Whatever it says, if all the staff sign a short letter that makes clear requests as you've done here, then they will have to respond. Your suggestions sound clear and workable to me.

@hummmmming yep I feel the same. We will be enrolling 1000 but have 2000 students total. Just seems absolutely bonkers. My management are very much wanting things back to normal and will do whatever it takes for it to happen.

Timetable adjustments for longer lessons is normal though, you could argue it's efficiency as much as anything covid related.

My 17 year old is about to start his second year in a FE college. The place is enormous. They are planning to go back as usual.

I’m having a baby the week before so I’m really nervous.

@mrex for sure. They've not even spoken to us about our preferences. I'll be bringing it up as soon as I can.

I work in a sixth form college too and share your concerns and experiences. We’re apparently back entirely as normal with the exception of a few bottles of hand sanitizer. Bubbles are impossible so we’re effectively a bubble of 1000, and I’ll be moving around 5 different classes. I’ve no idea what the plan is for enrolment as we usually sit practically knee-to-knee with students and their parents crammed into a room! We do have a strong union presence but they don’t seem to change very much...

@gravityfalls yep, same here! Enrolment will be interesting to say the least.

@wankpuffin (great name). I'm not surprised you're nervous. There will be thousands of families with elderly relatives and vulnerable family members who are going to be concerned with this. My mum is due to have my daughter once a week but my vulnerable sister lives with her (was shielding). So now what do I do? A bubble of 1000 is ludicrous isn't it. It baffles me because we can effectively remote teach for part of the week!!

This is a big contrast to universities. My Dd will be issued with a refillable bottle of hand sanitiser - there will be refill stations across uni. All lectures are on-line til Christmas at least. Some seminars are going ahead in small groups if they think it will work.

[quote Shiningstar84]@wankpuffin (great name). I'm not surprised you're nervous. There will be thousands of families with elderly relatives and vulnerable family members who are going to be concerned with this. My mum is due to have my daughter once a week but my vulnerable sister lives with her (was shielding). So now what do I do? A bubble of 1000 is ludicrous isn't it. It baffles me because we can effectively remote teach for part of the week!![/quote]
Ds tutor commented to me how much better all the students on his course did during lockdown. Ds did the distinctions for his units - He was just doing the passes in college.

Yep @zandathepanda, if they can do it then FE should also be doing it. The news cycle only ever talks about children but FE never gets a mention. It's utterly ludicrous to have bubbles of 1000 and be back full time on site. We aren't required for childcare (we always have skeleton staff for vulnerable or at risk students), so why the need to be in a small building with 2000 students for 5 days per week? Honestly, it's beggars belief. My college is stuck in the dark ages but I hope some colleges and 6th forms are a little more progressive

@wankpuffin I was able to mark more of my students work than ever before and students have achieved the same or better than they normally would have for their internal units. I know that different courses will have different feedback but on the whole older students enjoy the flexibility of it.

I hear you. My 17yr old ds is doing his A levels in a huge sixth form college, over 2000 students who come from a massive intake area.

He has Aspergers and anxiety and has spent most of lockdown worrying. We have received an email from his college detailing the new safety measures, social distance policies etc but he said that despite the place being huge they will still struggle to distance themselves in many areas.

His anxiety is going through the roof the closer we get to September.

The no PPE rule - are you actually banned from wearing PPE?
I think it would make sense for over 11s to be asked to wear masks / visors. If you get 50% compliance it is better than nothing.
I would be interested to see how it pans out if a school / college try to discipline a member of staff for wearing a mask / visor.

I’ve been utterly baffled at how vast the difference is between FE/Sixth form and universities. Plenty of our students are over 18 thanks to them progressing from level 2, and foundation Art courses etc. And yet, they’re going to be significantly less protected than either my children at primary school, or their friends at uni. Like, orders of magnitude less protected.

Remote learning worked fine as well, I didn’t get behind on any of my courses, although a significant minority need SOME face to face time to keep up - a 2 day in/3 day remote spilt would be absolutely perfect for me and my students but that’s been dismissed out of hand in favour of “back to normal in September!”. Not helped by the fact that the guidance so far has utterly failed to address any of the sixth-form specific issues, assuming they’re in school sixth forms or in FE mixed with adult learners.

@Zoflorabore Sorry to hear that. I can completely understand the anxiety though. I feel that especially in post compulsory education that there should be an option of some home-learning. My idea was actually that year 12's would come in for one week and then year 13's have remote learning and then swap over. At least there would only be half of the cohort in at a time.

@Love51 I was just told they didn't want us wearing one. In reality I guess they wouldn't discipline us for it.

@GravityFalls Exactly that! Why are they so eager to dismiss the idea? It just seems utterly bonkers to me.If anyone can remotely work well its this age bracket-they've actually really enjoyed it!

@Love51

The no PPE rule - are you actually banned from wearing PPE? I think it would make sense for over 11s to be asked to wear masks / visors. If you get 50% compliance it is better than nothing. I would be interested to see how it pans out if a school / college try to discipline a member of staff for wearing a mask / visor.

My Ds college sent out an email saying that students would be asked to remove masks. Which is crap, I think. They are all over 16, many adults are students there too doing access courses etc. I think that they should have to wear them.

Yes, a lot of mine really enjoyed remote learning too. I’d struggle to do 100% remote from the start of a new course, but it’d be fine with just some of the time in college. Honestly I think we could function nearly as normal with one f2f lesson a week - especially if my own DC were back in school - so it’s crazy that it’s being ignored as a possibility. I'm making sure they’re set up on Teams from day 1 and integrating into my in-college teaching so if we do have to switch to remote we’re more set up for it this time.

@GravityFalls Same. I've bought a really good head-set and webcam too so that it's an even better experience moving forwards. We're all trained on Teams and have cameras in the classrooms in preparation. However, my college are only going to shift to the system if explicitly told to. It's a real shame actually and I think some students will just not bother to come in.

My daughter is due to start her second year at an FE college. She has major anxiety anyway, this has ramped it up tenfold and she's having panic attacks and nightmares.

Her college is quite large and has a huge amount of adult learners enrolled. I don't see how they can safely open. I'm fully intending to request online learning if there is a no mask rule. To be honest I wouldn't get my daughter out of the front door if that was the case.

She has a proven record of excellent online learning (in her class of 25 from March she was one of only 4 that would be logged in to every lesson). I don't see why they can't do remote learning for this age group. I know my daughter and a good chunk of her friends all said they much preferred it. All of them found completing work online easier as there were less distractions.

@ILoveYou3000 Exactly. If it's not safe and remote learning is an option (a good one at that) why wouldn't the government be pushing for this for this age bracket? It's such an oversight.
Hopefully there will be some acknowledgement of that in the updated guidance tomorrow- but I won't hold my breath.

I think those of us who are concerned should all be writing to our MPs. Most MPs do take note of the content of their inboxes, particularly if they are in constituencies that are not completely safe seats. Banning students or staff from wearing masks is completely indefensible!