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).

Ha ha OP a national enquiry and apology!!!

Excellent idea. Present it to the government. There's nothing else going on at the moment. I swear this is the most bonkers teacher bashing thread to date.

Can we include librarians, school caretakers, council workers, dental nurses, etc in this national apology

We can all get flogged in the village square as the multitudes rush in to the space we leave in those lucrative, highly valued much sought after teaching jobs.

Various national surveys have been done.

I can't be bothered to link to them. Google.

@Readandwalk

Can we include librarians, school caretakers, council workers, dental nurses, etc in this national apology

We can all get flogged in the village square as the multitudes rush in to the space we leave in those lucrative, highly valued much sought after teaching jobs.

Only if you agree to be flogged naked on national TV!

The reason some private school teachers/staff have been made redundant is because of falling student numbers at their schools, or because their school offered reduced fees over lockdown, and so the school can't afford to keep them on and has increased class sizes- basically their job no longer exists.

It's obviously very sad for them.

In the state sector, student numbers haven't really fallen, maybe one or two students in a year group have been withdrawn. Schools are also aware of the need to keep staff on to provide cover, as they know there will be high levels of staff absence this year. The only way to make redundancies in the state sector would be to increase class sizes, which would be a terrible idea right now!

I'm not aware of any teachers who didn't do as directed by their school over lockdown. In theory, if they weren't, they could be disciplined- but I'm not sure school leaders want to be recruiting replacements on top of everything else they are dealing with right now.

I have also just noticed that your thread title doesn't even match the copy and pasted from another thread content of your OP which is specifically about providing work while self isolating.

Personally, I think if a state school teacher complained about providing work whilst fit and healthy but in SI they would be ripped to shreds on here.

It is my full expectation if I have to SI that I provide work within school policy. At the moment for the one or tow staff that has affected in my school that ahs been cover work. that will change if /when large groups of students or teachers get sent home no doubt.

Indeed it was a local state school which was pasting pics on twitter of their remote teaching whilst a year group and some teachers were isolating.

Maybe @notevenat20 should have a go at being a teacher as she thinks it's such an easy job and all current teachers are a waste of space.

I clearly didn't say that all teachers are a waste of space.

I don't know any teachers who didn't work during lockdown.
I know a few people who said their children hadn't been set work but what they meant was they weren't getting live lessons, which basically translated as they couldn't sit their children in front of a screen and leave them to it.

Very true. Providing work which can be accessed at any time reaches the most people most of the time, which is something you don't appreciate when you can't see further than your own situation.

Apart from which, I'm afraid anything provided for KS1 which doesn't require an adults help won't be moving them on anywhere. They may as well be colouring in.

Interestingly the suspension of the curriculum was meant to stop the attainment gap between different areas of society widening. The Government knew that most private schools, grammars and schools in affluent areas would be able to provide a good remote provision which most of their pupils would have the technology to access. But schools with huge budget deficits and schools in poorer areas would not be able to do this. But also the gap within schools would also widen with many disadvantaged pupils unable to access technology and pupils living in chaotic households also struggling.

Obviously what the Government thought might happen, did happen. So ironically the schools parents should be annoyed with are the ones that provided work and not the ones that didn't! Obviously, the main issue is the complete lack of funding in state schools, which I assume many on here will blames the teachers for too.

notevenat20

About half of the teachers I know did. A national survey would be very interesting.

Who would you give it too?

Lots of parents would say that they received no work. (many didn't even look)
Teachers would say that they set it.
Kids would say that they weren't set it or couldn't find it.

@ineedaholidaynow

This sounds like going to the lowest common denominator which is sad.

But that is the Government's fault not schools @notevenat20 just in case you start blaming teachers again

@FrippEnos and what about all the parents who didn't engage with the work provided by schools?

I'm not trying to justify anything but I will say that the new normal is not sustainable and now we could be heading towards a lockdown during half term where we may be expected again to be in with key worker children.

My day starts when I arrive at school at 7.30am. I now have to be in the playground from 8.30. I have a 30 minute break at lunchtime which is really not long enough to eat and prep for the afternoon. I then go in with my bubble to the hall while they eat and clean tables and benches for the next bubble to come in. I then carry on teaching till 3. My children are never all gone till 3.30 when the last staggered class goes because of siblings. I then have to prep for the next day.

I have had to buy a microphone as my voice is going trying to project to the back row. The idea of teaching children in rows doesn't take into account the bruised legs from not judging the end of the rows and the fact that six year olds are great at moving them forward all the time so I have to move them back!

Also I can't mark daily now as we cannot touch the books that often. I wash my hands and power mark on a Friday so they have the weekend touch free. I am so grateful that I spent two weeks of the summer holiday working through my planning so I was ahead at the beginning of this year.

My class are sharing colds at the moment so my 'tissue bin' is full daily and my grabber is being used a lot! There is nothing worse than a carpet littered with snot receptacles!!

I'm not saying it's harder than other jobs or that I am working harder but it is very different and that in itself is tiring. The mixture of 'needs' and regulations is a constant juggling balance for us all.

But that is the Government's fault not schools @notevenat20 just in case you start blaming teachers again

Yes that part is. I was agreeing with you.

I do blame the heads who decided that doing the minimum they could get away was ok.

I do also blame those teachers who decided that doing the minimum they could get away was ok.

I also blame those teachers who in angry self righteous defense of the indefensible have damaged the reputation of the many hard working and decent teachers.

Several families of children I teach gleefully tell people there was no school work set at all over lockdown. Of course, they are mistaken. I emailed each pupil I teach on the day of their lesson, including in that email a link to a video of an example to help them with the worksheet/textbook page I set that day. I also required a photo of their work and for them to complete an online quiz that I had put together for that class that day. But if you don't check your emails, or the online homework system, or the school website, how could you possibly know that? Until you get the first letter from school informing you that your child has not been completing work, followed by phone calls each week, offers of paper copies of work if email access is difficult. But still, several families claim school set nothing, and did nothing, at all, over lockdown. Over 70% of the pupils completed all work set, with close to 90% completing most work set (possibly not up to the standards we would enforce at school, but good enough). Our biggest parental complaint was that there was too much and the kids needed some space, so several subjects moved to off screen tasks, sending out modelling clay and craft materials so pupils could do more practical tasks without needing to be on a screen for that particular lesson.

But still, a lot of the local community think our lockdown provision was woeful, due to the small minority of families who refused to engage with anything set by school. Those who are now very vocal about "nothing being set"

@notevenat20

But that is the Government's fault not schools @notevenat20 just in case you start blaming teachers again

Yes that part is. I was agreeing with you.

I do blame the heads who decided that doing the minimum they could get away was ok.

I do also blame those teachers who decided that doing the minimum they could get away was ok.

I also blame those teachers who in angry self righteous defense of the indefensible have damaged the reputation of the many hard working and decent teachers.

And I blame people like you for the massive amount of shit stirring you are doing about our profession.

But still, a lot of the local community think our lockdown provision was woeful, due to the small minority of families who refused to engage with anything set by school. Those who are now very vocal about "nothing being set"

That reminds me of my own teaching when students complain about an exam question on topic X that they weren't taught. There is a lesson called "topic X"...:)

Teachers are not one mass homogeneous identikit bunch.

I’m my school the expectation for all staff was the same (provide remote learning, including instructional videos via the agreed platform, contact parents via phone on a rolling programme, organise paper packs for families who are unable to access online working)
They were also all on a rota to provide care for children of key workers.

As always some teachers produced better work than others.
Some teachers were more efficient than others so worked less hours but still produced high quality work.
Some teachers had to be coached and supported.
Some were already equipped with the skills to do what they were asked.
Some chose to do a lot of online training to improve thei skill set
Also, there were other variables like age group. My KS2 teachers spent much more time answering queries from pupils. Lower down the school they spent more time interacting with parents.

But the bottom line is we all worked harder than we normally do. We worked in holidays and evenings.

Everyone loves teachers normally
😂😂😂😂
Sorry op but this did make me laugh, no one loves us teachers. But, actually I agree with some of what you say (not the national apology bit...). I work in a private school so for me lockdown was full days of online lessons as well as looking after my own two children.
But I have a good friend teaches y2 at a primary school; by her own admission she did barely anything apart from provide a few links to science websites once a week as the science coordinator. She was pissed off when she was asked to do some proper planning in the run up to returning. She did about 2% of the work I did, if that, and I would imagine it would have been similar across her school.
Thing is, you cant generalise. There will be some who worked hard and some who didnt. The ones that didnt, well they (or their SLT) have been lazy and will have to live with the fact they let students down.

@SmileEachDay

They are lighter and don’t give you a headache like the “band” ones.

Still difficult to teach in, but loads better. Hope it improves things for you also!

Thanks - hope so!

How's all that blame working out for you, noteven? Is it helpful?

On the topic of 'lazy teachers doing the minimum', as I mentioned upthread many parents were complaining about teachers doing 'nothing' because every week they emailed links to Oak Academy.

As Oak Academy was funded specifically by the DfE for this purpose, do you blame teachers for making use of it?

We rang all the families who hadn't accessed any online learning. It then took one child another 3 weeks to log on and ask us to set some work. My response was, look in the Year 2 file and you will find the last 9 weeks of daily work set! They then continued to ignore all messages and uploaded work. What can you do? That parent probably still thought the school hadn't set any work.🤷‍♀️

@Hugepeppapigfan

Worked more than ever during lockdown just in a different way. School senior leader. Teachers also worked hard at my school. All expected to work during any self-isolation unless very ill. To answer your question, no worries about redundancy as we have been working throughout.

Please raise any complaints about your children’s school directly with the school leadership.

This!

So goady and yet again another example of teacher bashing on Mumsnet.

The amount of teachers on MN who think teachers should NEVER be criticised for anything and are all saints who basically live for the good the young people of the UK is staggering.