Parents are the blockage at schools re-opening, not teaching unions

[noblegiraffe]

The government has spent months demonising teaching unions and blaming them for blocking schools re-opening, including in June when it was actually the government’s own guidelines that prevented the further re-opening of primary schools.

This has left them in a bit of a pickle because schools are re-opening in September, the unions aren’t blocking it, there are no plans for teacher strikes, but the latest survey data from the ONS says that only 90% of parents are fairly or very likely to send their kids back. If the data is similar to back in June, better off parents are more likely to send their kids back, and more disadvantaged families are less likely.

So the government are now running a campaign aimed at parents, putting out articles across all newspapers. The Chief Medical Officers have dutifully said that schools are safe. And the responses are ‘see, schools need to reopen, our kids are being thrown under the bus’. The message is being read the wrong way. It’s being read as being targeted at teachers and unions who it is supposed are stopping schools opening, and not at parents who don’t want to send their kids back.

And this is the government’s fault. Because they have spent months creating a fake war, they have dropped the ball on a real issue - creating safer schools that parents are happy to send their kids back to.

aren't in the same level of jeopardy as a lot of low-paid, private sector workers and I do find the lack of recognition of this frustrating.
This. Well said. Your empathy is very heartening.
I have always been fortunate enough to have jobs that were flexible and highly paid which I was massively grateful for when my D.C. were small and so snow days, illness etc were not a problem snd I would have been fine in a pandemic. And am now a teacher (in a enlightened indie school that was forced to shut by the Gvt /we could have continued as staff were committed and pupils's parents were not paranoid sheep)
I do feel for retail workers and other low paid parents in the private sector who do not have luxury of working at home or even 'going off with stress' - they really are the ones who are suffering through this, not the minority of school staff who are bleating about 'PPE'.

pandemic denier

@lifeafter50
paranoid sheep?
bleating about 'PPE'?

In his school he would be paid, just as he always has been when he's called in to work and said he's not coming in because DS is ill and not able to go to nursery.
So he had the luxury of knowing of if he doesn't work he'll get paid -unlike the person who drives the lorry to deliver food to supermarkets.

Agree about those on zero hours contracts. I've said beginning of this I would hope it brings about change seeing how useless they are.

But they did get Perspex screens, limited numbers, PPE etc in private sector retail and guidelines enforcing this on public too.

So where they are right to 'bleat on' about their contracts and SSP at Keats they don't need to 'bleat on' about safety.

I get the being paid if there is a Covid case in his case with the potential of being ill himself but think it is wrong for a teacher to be paid if they don’t come into work as their child’s class is off school. That is a day of unpaid leave with potentially a cost to the school for a substitute or worse his class has to go home and then impact the employment of the parents of his class. More so for primary than secondary.

@lifeafter50

In his school he would be paid, just as he always has been when he's called in to work and said he's not coming in because DS is ill and not able to go to nursery. So he had the luxury of knowing of if he doesn't work he'll get paid -unlike the person who drives the lorry to deliver food to supermarkets.

Yes, that was exactly my point!

You’ll be relieved to know most teachers only get 1 paid day a year for absence due to caring for a dependent.

Just in case you were worrying we were being left out of the race to the bottom.

Workers rights, sick pay, parental leave etc are all very valid concerns to be addressed to the government and policy makers. Not teachers.

@TheHoneyBadger

You’ll be relieved to know most teachers only get 1 paid day a year for absence due to caring for a dependent.

The school I work in is very proud of their "very generous" 3 days of paid parental leave per year. Although you can only take one a term. When dc#3 had chicken pox my immune compromised FIL had to cover after the first day. We had noone else.

Perhaps they can create robot teachers. None of that disruptive nonsense like having kids of their own or a parent dying in hospital or getting sick themselves.

The dying parent example is because a colleague had to take a day off to race across the country to his dying mother’s bedside and I can still remember my heart of stone then head of department moaning and bitching about the quality of cover he’d written at 2am.

I can also remember having to beg for a day off to see a close relative who was going to die imminently early on in my career.

Of course we have lots of benefits but being able to take time off when you need it is not one of them.

That's one of the real downsides to teaching/working in a school.

The guilt.

Not in - letting down whole class

In- not there for own child etc

And it's one of a select number of professions where covering isn't that simple and has an impact.

In Tescos - sally is off and can't do till 9. There's probably another 50 odd people who can cover no issue

School - sally the spas in teacher is off. Who can cover that's fluent like Sally and has that relationship with pupils?

Every job has its pros and cons and every sector has its challenges. It's best to recognise and work to overcome those rather than this race to bottom others seem to think they should have with teachers.

Spanish teacher not spa!

I really wasn't trying to start a race to the bottom - I wish everyone had the job security that teachers have, not that teachers didn't. But I do think that a lot of middle-class people - not just teachers, but including some of them - talk about what other people should do/the plans they should have in place/etc without recognising the privileges they have in their working conditions. I was trying to recognise my own privilege and to encourage others to do the same. Teachers are really often made to feel shit and guilty for not coming into work. They don't, however, frequently lose their jobs over it. It's not fair to pretend that a teacher is in 'the same position' as a minimum-wage worker.

@Hardbackwriter I completely agree. I also think that some high earning MC people assume all teachers are workshy unionised scumbags with no idea of the reality of the job.

Job security is one of the reasons I stay. I love teaching but hate the crap around it.

I agree that cover in teaching isn't easy. Being off is harder than going in. As with any job there are huge pros and huge cons. I never thought pandemic health and safety issues would be a con.

It’s also not fair to pretend that teachers can solve those problems. If you want better working conditions and contracts campaign for it and use your vote wisely. Don’t shout about workers rights to teachers who can do nothing about it and shouldn’t be expected to work in unsafe conditions to accommodate it.

We can only stay open if we are not I’ll or isolating in such numbers that we have no choice but to close. That means safety is in everyone’s interest and people sending in sick kids or not isolating when they’re supposed to will create massive problems.

Campaign for workers rights, special benefits for covid isolation etc. Those things may make the difference as to whether schools stay open. Not wanting sick children in school doesn’t make me unsympathetic towards their parents pressures but I can’t solve that.

Schools should open safely. The implications for people’s incomes etc should be the responsibility of government and employers.

Schools and teachers are run by human beings with one pair of paws each. Harsh reality is, if your child's bubble has to isolate or cannot attend school for whatever reason it is the parent's problem to look after them. As far as I can tell school's want all their pupils back full-time with a safe environment for the staff and pupils, but if Government guidelines demand they close they have to close.

Many parents will be in the same position of difficulty with work. Household bubbles will have to be allowed.

What other options are there?

Honey AMEN to that. We are not responsible for other people's rubbish employment rights.

We will shut first due to staff needing to isolate. We shut before lockdown for that reason.

If my childs bubble isolates, I'm off too. HT will have to suck it up. I have no other option.

Excellent post honey

@TheHoneyBadger

It’s also not fair to pretend that teachers can solve those problems. If you want better working conditions and contracts campaign for it and use your vote wisely. Don’t shout about workers rights to teachers who can do nothing about it and shouldn’t be expected to work in unsafe conditions to accommodate it.

We can only stay open if we are not I’ll or isolating in such numbers that we have no choice but to close. That means safety is in everyone’s interest and people sending in sick kids or not isolating when they’re supposed to will create massive problems.

Campaign for workers rights, special benefits for covid isolation etc. Those things may make the difference as to whether schools stay open. Not wanting sick children in school doesn’t make me unsympathetic towards their parents pressures but I can’t solve that.

Schools should open safely. The implications for people’s incomes etc should be the responsibility of government and employers.

I agree with @TheHoneyBadger. I am not a teacher, and it will impact my work if schools go back pt or if school is shut, but I want a sensible, safe, proper, thought out plan.

And teachers are only responsible for teaching NOT for my childcare difficulties.

Good post Honey. At the end of the day, it will be as much of an arse if they are closed due to bubbles popping / staff shortages as closed due to a locally or nationally ordered lockdown, won't it? And yes, it will be down to parents to step up as the Government has seen we can all do it since March and won't spend any more money on extra teachers.

If my childs bubble isolates, I'm off too. HT will have to suck it up. I have no other option.

Do you use parental leave? Interested in the pp that said 3 days per year. Do schools differ a lot?

I think they do differ-especially academies.

My old school wouldn’t let you have any time off paid for common childhood illnesses (eg D+V, chickenpox etc). You could be off, but it was unpaid. For anything more serious, it would go to the governors-the pay decision depended on how much the head liked you!

Me being off unpaid wouldn’t necessarily help the class not close though-we have no spare staff to cover and couldn’t find supply for love nor money in March as all the local agencies had nobody left as so many staff in local schools were also out.

It is absolutely crazy, that teachers will be unpaid for self-isolating??? Imagine if they didn't isolate.

This virus is exposing all the things that have gone wrong with British politics and policy.

Do you use parental leave? Interested in the pp that said 3 days per year. Do schools differ a lot?

Unpaid leave so probably falls under parental
Expectation is you use the first day to organise childcare. H will do at least his equal share, probably more. Beyond that options are very limited. Grandparents ordinarily do childcare but I'm not exposing them if there's an outbreak as they are shielders. I don't think many people will want a child that's been in contact with positive cases either.