Have state school teachers faced redundancy for not working during lockdown?

[notevenat20]

I recently read

I think those of us who work in the private sector understand we are going to have to work during periods of self isolation whilst juggling family. It was the same during lockdown. We want to keep our jobs so we will have to provide the service.

This got me wondering, is this a pressure state school teachers feel too?

Certainly at DC’s school no educational provision was given for almost all of lockdown (there were 6 key worker children in the school, out of 420).

Talk to the school, share your concerns and be glad you've moved your children. Don't take it out on teachers on mn. We're all clinging on with our finger tips at the moment.

I completely sympathise and this was almost exactly my life.

Talking to the school was never going to make any difference. As I say, in my personal experience a parent has no influence over the policies of a school. The only difference they can sometimes make is for something that only affects their child.

I don't mean to take it out on teachers in general. I understand that some feel a criticism of one teacher is a criticism of all teachers. I also hadn't fully understood that mumsnet is really teachernet :) I assumed I would be talking to fellow mothers who might have had similar negative experiences we could share.

@notevenat20 you do realise that some mothers are also teachers?

particularly those teachers on Mumsnet

You may get fewer defensive replies if you actually focused your annoyance about lockdown provision to the schools - the head, SLT, governors etc. and not just deciding that huge swathes of teachers decided to do nothing for months.

Your point is not unreasonable. I have given some detail of my own personal experience of DCs school and others on this thread have also told of their own negative experiences. It's probably not worth repeating.

Your are right that maybe most of the blame should be aimed at heads and SLTs (who in our primary at least are all teachers). The governors were also poor but mostly by just leaving the head to it.

notevenat20 you do realise that some mothers are also teachers?

Yes but like a school logic test, most mothers are also not teachers.

@notevenat20

Wasn't the OP of this thread the one who tried to derail another 'fts DfE pull yourself finger out' thread by trying to make out that campaigning to make schools safer was somehow anti-feminist?

This is just plain wrong and slightly upsetting. I don't know who is a woman on MN but it seems odd to so dramatically misunderstand a basic feminist point.

The point I raised was, in summary, this. In the conversation about schools and the harm that shutting them or having them part-time causes, I have found that the harm to women is hardly discussed. Women suffer disproportionately where there is no full time schooling and always have. Of course we would all like to live in a world where this isn't the case but that's a separate question. As we stand, it is still true.

Hmmm.

I went back to that thread. It was Noble's about Boris Johnson admitting that COVID is "readily transmissible between adults and children", after having banged on for months about schools being COVID-safe, and putting in vanity measures to reassure parents.

Your first couple of points were trying to play down the risk of transmission, then you suddenly plopped this in:

'It really upsets me how MN posters seem to be ignoring the women's rights disaster of not having full time at-school schooling. It's almost like everyone has forgotten the basic fights that feminism has won.' (Wed 17th Sept 21:21).

No-one had been talking about child care or wanting to close schools on that thread. It looked very much like a derailment tactic, and in fact many posters then spent time engaging with you on this, instead of talking about the original topic.

@noblegiraffe has slight feminist leanings herself, as it goes.

Given that all of the professionals you have complained to, including those with an objective view...MP, LA and OFSTED, haven't upheld your complaint do you think you have unreasonable expectations given unprecedented times?

I didn't repeat what actually happened. If you find it in the thread you will see that isn't the most obvious inference to draw.

I think as teachers who are also mothers we have a natural insight into how schools work, the challenges teachers face and how often our hands are tied. There was much more I wanted to do for the children in my class but I needed to follow school policy and ensure consistency. We had staff who suffered a loss themselves or were recovering from illness themselves. Nothing about this situation is easy for anyone

No-one had been talking about child care or wanting to close schools on that thread. It looked very much like a derailment tactic, and in fact many posters then spent time engaging with you on this, instead of talking about the original topic.

I may well be guilty of talking about something that wasn't very relevant to the OP. I should say that I realised this myself and then made a post about feminism that was largely ignored.

notevenat20

The term agenda seems misplaced.

Nope, you are definitely posting your agenda on every thread that you post on about teachers.

Nope, you are definitely posting your agenda on every thread that you post on about teachers.

Is that same as being upset about a painful experience that was damaging to myself and my children?

Or do you mean that someone is paying me?

So do you want teachers (lots of females there) to be made redundant? Particularly the ones at your DC school?

So do you want teachers (lots of females there) to be made redundant? Particularly the ones at your DC school?

No. But I do want the head and SLT, to be put on a warning and the chair of governors to be removed for deriliction.

@SaltyAndFresh I still stand by what I said.. I do see, having read the repost, why some posters are defensive and upset.
It’s perfectly reasonable to be disappointed with some provision but not actually be a teacher basher...
Anyway I’ll leave you all to defend your corners!

I also hadn't fully understood that mumsnet is really teachernet smile I assumed I would be talking to fellow mothers who might have had similar negative experiences we could share

Oh honestly. The PA bullshit again.

@notevenat20 - Your initial op should have been a lot clearer. Why didn't you say that initially?

But I do want the head and SLT, to be put on a warning

A warning for what, exactly? It has already been established that Ofsted have not been making judgements about schools because they can only do so against Government guidelines and there haven't been any. So how would any "warning" stand up in court?

@notevenat20

Nope, you are definitely posting your agenda on every thread that you post on about teachers.

Is that same as being upset about a painful experience that was damaging to myself and my children?

Or do you mean that someone is paying me?

No and no.

So how would any "warning" stand up in court?

I am sure it wouldn't. I am not the govt. Just an upset mother.

It has taken a while to get from a generic opening to what the Op wants.

Why not change school if you are that unhappy?

Why not change school if you are that unhappy?

She has.

So I’m somewhat suspicious of the reason for the thread.

@StaffAssociationRepresentative she has changed school

Be nice if she could say something nice about schools (maybe her new one) rather than bashing teachers all the time

oh okay. What is the point of the thread? Is it a case of the grass is not greener?

@notevenat20

So how would any "warning" stand up in court?

I am sure it wouldn't. I am not the govt. Just an upset mother.

So, what you actually want is personal vengeance? But you've been willing, on this thread and many others, to take out your anger on the dozens of teachers who frequent these boards, which has had a serious detrimental effect on their mood and possible mental health? Well done.