'Unsustainable, overwhelming' Covid burden on schools

[LastGoldenDaysOfSummer]

Ofsted finds school staff 'exhausted' from ‘firefighting’ amid Covid crisis – and that 'last-minute' DfE decisions aren't helping

www.tes.com/news/unsustainable-overwhelming-covid-burden-schools?fbclid=IwAR0hhEWbw0JML_n__3WxhgzxkTNjQs6Pnc_0GEC1rVf5Y5ddWvT-5d1sR-c

Yes, another schools one. But evidence of what teachers are going through in the face of a total lack of support from some parents, the LEAs and the government.

@gottakeeponmovin

People in care homes aren't complaining though - it's always the teachers. If they had been doing a teaching role throughout the first lockdown I would have less of an issue - but they weren't. Whilst everyone else was doing a full time job at home and helping their kids with their school work teachers were nowhere to be seen. Therefore teachers can not work from home and have to be in the classroom in the same way as store staff have to be in store. They need to just get in with it and stop moaning

People in care homes aren't complaining though

Yes they are. No need to lie.

www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jun/17/care-work-during-coronavirus-crisis

If they had been doing a teaching role throughout the first lockdown I would have less of an issue - but they weren't.

But they were working. Who do you think was looking after the children of key workers? The majority of teachers were working, don't judge them all by the few who weren't. No need for more lies.

Whilst everyone else was doing a full time job at home and helping their kids with their school work teachers were nowhere to be seen.

Some of them were delivering free school meals, others were dropping off work to the homes of children with no internet access. More lies.

Therefore teachers can not work from home and have to be in the classroom in the same way as store staff have to be in store.

Many shielding teachers were tutoring shielded children. That's work. Others were setting lessons for home working children.

Therefore teachers can not work from home and have to be in the classroom in the same way as store staff have to be in store.

Obvious lies just make people look simple. Or bitter and twisted. Either way it isn't a good look.

My ds secondary is sending out a message approximately every day of a new positive case. They self isolate those in close contact. Not the bubble. They should be shutting the bubble at least imo but are following guidance

DS is a teacher, teaches mainly Y11,12 and 13. His school are supposedly isolating only those in close contact, not the whole bubble. They achieve this by enforcing rigorous seating plans and tracking who infected kids sat next to. They don't take any account of who they sat next to for hours in the common room or on the bus (rural school). So pretty flimsy really.
One of the consequences is that he has to do lessons for classes which have half the DC in school and half at home. Extremely tricky as he would normally plan a lesson differently if the kids were all at home or all at school.
He is very, very tired and stressed.

What more can be done

Do you understand that kids are not wearing masks in most classrooms because the government has said their use should be avoided and schools that do mandate this are accused of child abuse?
Do you know that plastic screens in classrooms are rare?
Do you know that some teachers are in classrooms where the windows don’t open properly or at all?

I care about everyone who is being out at risk including me - I have to travel by public transport everyday to get to work. But if you can't work from home you still have to go to your place of work. That's the way it is. And I don't believe for a moment that the teachers who spent no time on classroom planning, live sessions and marking homework were out everyday delivering work to people who needed it. They simply were not. At my kids school if you wanted printouts you had to go and get one - there was no special teacher delivery service

I expect she has been provided with that screen because she is clinically vulnerable.
It doesn’t change the fact she is in close contact with 30 or more children per day for long periods of time. I wonder how good the ventilation is.
This is not recommended in any other situation apart from in schools. It is not safe for that teacher.

@Nuffaluff I don't disagree with that - she probably shouldn't be in that setting at the moment. That doesn't mean that all teachers shouldn't be in schools though. It's fantastic that some schools still delivered a food level of education. At my kids - two separate schools - this was not the case. As I said if it had been I may have a different view

I have a relative who is a TA. His school is currently badly affected with staff absence. He is being pulled over school to help. Forget the bubbles. Supply staff are being used but they are very close to closing school now.

I’m NHS Staff and I’ve worked throughout but I so feel bad for school staff. Some people are horribly derogatory towards them, no appreciation for the education they provide kids in what is a very difficult situation. Schools can’t be covid safe in small classrooms and often old buildings , children catch and spread the virus and you may not know the adults/teachers/staff test positive. If you think schools staying open with minimal knackered staff, will give your child a good quality education you are misleading yourselves.

No wonder school staff are frazzled and burnt out.

Well i am sad that gottakeeponmovin felt let down by the teachers at her childrens school when the government closed their work place. However their workplaces are now open and this report was by ofsted about the current situation.

I really want my son and his teachers to be given a safer environment now and dont know why having stressed out teachers in poor working conditions is necessary or helping my son.

@goldendaysofsummer
I have no reason to lie. They are not lies they are facts. Not all teachers were looking after key workers kids some schools were completely shut and even those that were were not doing the same levels of lesson planning or even teaching. We had no interaction not even Pre recorded lessons. Maybe some did but many schools didn't and it's not fair on the pupils of schools who failed to deliver. As such until all schools are offering pre recorded or live zoom lessons so that children are getting a reasonable level of education I am afraid you have to cater for the whole not the lucky ones

The problem with a report like this is that it's generalisation, by its nature, and I'm sure all schools are different. My childrens' school has only just experienced its first class closure due to one child testing positive. They haven't gone over the top with restrictions such as no bags, which I know other schools have done, and prior to half term the head was considering relaxing some of the measures such as staggered drop off and pick up (not the measures within the school).

I really don't understand teacher bashing. I wonder if it's a form of reverse snobbery - you earn more than me so put up with it? I for one take every opportunity to thank my children's teachers for all the extra work they are doing under very difficult circumstances. Teachers and school budgets were under an awful amount of stress even before Covid.

[quote gottakeeponmovin]@goldendaysofsummer
I have no reason to lie. They are not lies they are facts. Not all teachers were looking after key workers kids some schools were completely shut and even those that were were not doing the same levels of lesson planning or even teaching. We had no interaction not even Pre recorded lessons. Maybe some did but many schools didn't and it's not fair on the pupils of schools who failed to deliver. As such until all schools are offering pre recorded or live zoom lessons so that children are getting a reasonable level of education I am afraid you have to cater for the whole not the lucky ones [/quote]
But you did lie. As I demonstrated with real facts.

You do realise that many children have no internet access at home. No zoom or prerecorded lessons for them. What should they do in your world? Fall even further behind?

The government suspended the curriculum. You do know that? Not teachers, not head teachers, not the unions. The government. Don't blame teachers for the actions of the Tories. Schools were given no guidance whatsoever from the DoE but still the majority managed to set work and look after the vulnerable children who still attended school. And the children of key workers. When schools opened up again in June the teachers were there, working.

Maybe you could write to your MP to ask for the funding for your Utopian ideas.

@gottakeeponmovin

Absolutely Alex - it's entirely down to what they earn and has absolutely nothing to do with the fact they did bugger all last lockdown. Spot on

Laughable.

gotta do you think that teachers should have better safety measures in schools to slow transmission and keep them open for longer?

You do realise that many children have no internet access at home. No zoom or prerecorded lessons for them. What should they do in your world? Fall even further behind?

Exactly why the schools should be open

@noblegiraffe absolutely if there were such measures but other than what is in place (my older kids have to wear masks) I don't know what further protection would be possible but if there is something of course it should be implemented. Ultimately though they need to be at school

As a fellow essential worker who is off work due to prelonged stress we are all exhausted, overwhelmed and a lot of essential workers are fighting with poor mental health.

I'm not undermining the findings but this is across the board not just teacher related. Burnout is inevitable and many of us will be unwell if we don't manage ourselves and take time off before it gets to a critical point.

But open in a safer fashion, yes, gotta?

But you did lie. As I demonstrated with real facts.

I must have missed those real facts. Your facts are the same as mine - your experience. No more or less truths or lies

But they didn't do bugger all last lockdown.

My dd's secondary school teachers were setting work online, marking it and providing feedback, going into school on a rota to keep the school open for key worker/vulnerable children, putting measures in place to keep everybody safe.

The teachers at the primary school where I'm a governor were incredibly busy during lockdown - again, setting and marking work, keeping schools open for the children who were in, supporting families who were struggling and following up on safeguarding concerns. And the poor head teacher, deputy head and staff governors spent their evenings sitting through far more governor meetings than we would Far from doing bugger all, they were busier than usual, including working through the half term and Easter holiday period.

I don't really get the teacher bashing thing, but I sometimes wonder if it's because most of us went to school and therefore assume that we know what teachers do, when the reality is that the pupils only see a tiny fraction of it.

@gottakeeponmovin

But you did lie. As I demonstrated with real facts.

I must have missed those real facts. Your facts are the same as mine - your experience. No more or less truths or lies

Yes, dear.

Alexa - I know teachers generally work hard but during lockdown they were not providing lesson content, not interacting with the kids and not marking their homework. That is the core of their daily job and at my kids school they were not doing it - so what were they doing?

aliloandabanana "The problem with a report like this is that it's generalisation, by its nature, and I'm sure all schools are different."

All schools are different but I can only imagine that most schools are struggling. In our primary school the staff are finding it really hard.We are in a low incident area and have only had 2 cases. However many TAs are currently off either ill, shielding or self isolating. This means that catch up and normal interventions can't happen. SEN children with 1 to 1s sometimes don't have them. Due to the current regulations of children sitting in rows and a firm seating plan, children can't be grouped to give them adequate support in a lesson. Handwashing, table wiping and staggered toilet trips all take time out of normal learning. Staff are having to supervise children over lunchtimes whilst they eat in the classrooms. This would normally be a time for teachers to mark books. English and Maths extra support is having to happen in the afternoons so the curriculum is being severely narrowed. PE lessons are shorter and less frequent because different bubbles can't use our hall and get it cleaned between and the playground is taken up for a lot of the afternoon with staggered KS1 playtimes and then staggered collection times. We have been told children can't use the computers as there is a problem cleaning them between uses. However most parents in our school would think everything is fairly normal as we do our best to make sure the children are happy. Ofsted are absolutely correct. It is not just a generalisation, they have collected information from lots of schools and written a report on it. They didn't visit our school, but it accurately reflects our situation.

[quote gottakeeponmovin]@goldendaysofsummer
I have no reason to lie. They are not lies they are facts. Not all teachers were looking after key workers kids some schools were completely shut and even those that were were not doing the same levels of lesson planning or even teaching. We had no interaction not even Pre recorded lessons. Maybe some did but many schools didn't and it's not fair on the pupils of schools who failed to deliver. As such until all schools are offering pre recorded or live zoom lessons so that children are getting a reasonable level of education I am afraid you have to cater for the whole not the lucky ones [/quote]
At the beginning of the first lockdown, at our school we were told to provide work for each lesson the pupils would have that week. Parents complained we were expecting too much and that they didn’t want pupils sitting in front of a screen all day. So we were told to change to booklets or menus of tasks that pupils could complete as was convenient to them and their families. I marked and fed back on every single piece of work I received. This didn’t change the fact that 2/3 of pupils submitted nothing at all.
Later into lockdown parents complained that zoom lessons weren’t being offered. Teachers provided Zoom lessons to exam classes and had no one turn up. Core subjects ended up moving to just one zoom lesson per week for the whole year group to access. They’d get maybe 20 pupils turn up.
We had to make phone all’s to all parents in our form groups. One parent complained there hadn’t been enough zoom lessons. She was asked if her child had attended any of the zoom lessons provided and hadn’t ‘because none of her friends were doing them’.
Staff were in school on a rota working with the keyworker students. In June I spent 1/3 of my working week in school teaching a core subject (not my specialism) to our Y10s. Every other day of the week including my non-working days I was available via email, the homework platform and Twitter to help pupils.
All teachers I know were working just as hard. And I had my own two children at home to supervise by myself while my husband was out policing the city.
To be honest, I’m sick to the back teeth of reading how little teachers worked in lockdown. I know how hard staff at our school worked, I know that every single teacher in my youngest child’s primary school was in full-time from June looking after keyworker bubbles and prior to June we’re calling every parent on their class every week as well as providing work. I know that my eldest in KS3 was kept busy throughout with plenty of work to complete. I know that my friends at other schools were working just as hard.