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Covid

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'Unsustainable, overwhelming' Covid burden on schools

225 replies

LastGoldenDaysOfSummer · 13/11/2020 07:42

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.

OP posts:
HipTightOnions · 13/11/2020 19:00

Well, Susan, aren’t you the hero.

Pomegranatespompom · 13/11/2020 19:00

Many people had to @Hercwasonaroll but I do agree, it’s very difficult.

Teachers might have been happy to be furloughed so would many people, I don’t think it would have been correct to do so when there was so much that could have been done. I think leadership was poor in some schools, possibly teachers wanted to do more.

gottakeeponmovin · 13/11/2020 19:01

@hercwasonarole I was responding to a pp who said it was my choice to send my child to a substandard school

And I don't disagree that if you could do your job you should have been furloughed. But teachers weren't - they were paid full salary and many of them didn't teach (at my kids school anyway). Most parents had to deal with child care and home schooling - most of my friends weren't able to say sorry I can't work because I don't have childcare . Perhaps you could have pre recorded your sessions if live events weren't possible - but if you couldn't work you should have been furloughed

monkeytennis97 · 13/11/2020 19:01

'Teachers'. Yup 25th year now.

NullcovoidNovember · 13/11/2020 19:02

Im deeply unhappy at the way my dc school handled lock down and subsequent stuff.

However I have know its absolutely not the teachers, they are caught in between the students and slt.

Pomegranatespompom · 13/11/2020 19:02

@GreenOwlBlue agree.

Kazzyhoward · 13/11/2020 19:03

@gottakeeponmovin

Compared to whom? What about everyone else working through Covid?
Fully agree. Lots of people are working all hours and getting stressed by covid. I spent most of October preparing redundancy figures etc for dozens of clients who had to make their staff redundant, including calculating redundancy/notice pay, preparing final payrolls, calculating holiday pay, etc., etc. Breathed a sigh of relief on 30 October that I'd managed to get it all done. Then the Moron Rishi announced furlough was being continued on 31 October. So, immediately after the announcement, I was getting phone calls, emails, etc from the employers to see if there was time to cancel the redundancies, which there wasn't, so now spent the last two weeks untangling it all, putting staff back on payrolls, reversing redundancy payments, etc., in the full knowledge we'll probably have to do it all again in a couple of months time. That's about 4-6 weeks of working evenings and weekends. Now, I'm also being bombarded by sole trader clients wanting details of the extension of the SEISS support (no details yet provided despite the extension having been announced 2 weeks ago). Like I say, lots of people are being stressed and having to work longer hours due to Rishi's inept handling of the furlough and SEISS support schemes.
monkeytennis97 · 13/11/2020 19:04

@gottakeeponmovin I do know from colleagues in other schools that Heads vetoed live or prerecorded lessons due to safeguarding in lockdown 1. I think that was quite common. I'm not party to know why/why not these could(n't) happen.

HipTightOnions · 13/11/2020 19:06

I think leadership was poor in some schools, possibly teachers wanted to do more.

This is certainly true in some cases. My school carried on with the curriculum, lesson by lesson (some live where appropriate but by no means all) and as much marking and feedback as usual.

Some friends at other schools did similar amounts. Others were twiddling their thumbs a bit and frustrated because their schools took a different approach.

Hercwasonaroll · 13/11/2020 19:07

Perhaps you could have pre recorded your sessions if live events weren't possible - but if you couldn't work you should have been furloughed
This is what I was doing every fucking evening.

but if you couldn't work you should have been furloughed
We were banned from furlough by the government.

Most parents had to deal with child care and home schooling - most of my friends weren't able to say sorry I can't work because I don't have childcare
Lots of parents were furloughed. Lots of bosses were flexible re working hours and work was done in the evening. Mine was. I'm saying live lessons were impossible. That doesn't mead I didn't work.

You school haters really are dickheads.

flowerycurtain · 13/11/2020 19:08

@Kazzyhoward fully agree.

Farmer here. About to take anti depressants for the first time in my life as struggling to cope. The background stress of COVID-19 is Playing havoc with so many industries.

Full respect to every teacher hanging on by their fingernails. But it's not just them. It's so many people.

noblegiraffe · 13/11/2020 19:09

Don’t let them wind you up, Herc, that’s their goal.... same old same old.

BornOnThe4thJuly · 13/11/2020 19:10

@HappyChristmasTreeRex

Our local school has 10 members of staff off, all supply has been banned so we have some teachers with 60 children and no support staff. It's stressful for staff, but more importantly it just isn't possible to give children the level of support and help to learn that they need. I think everyone is just doing the best they can at the moment.
That doesn’t even sound safe. Having worked in a nursery in the past, I can’t even imagine sole responsibility for the safety of 60 children, never mind trying to teach them anything!
Hercwasonaroll · 13/11/2020 19:10

We have two teachers off now and have sent home some pupils to isolate but no-one is getting hysterical about it

Two out of how many?

We had the maximum we could have off before closing to year groups today. We have spent our cover money until Easter already.

I'm not getting hysterical. I am planning 3 times the normal number of lessons due to staff off actually ill with covid. I have marked over 400 assessments in the past 2 weeks. I've also been teaching a full time timetable. But this level of work (75 hours last week) is only sustainable for so long.

Hercwasonaroll · 13/11/2020 19:11

Full respect to every teacher hanging on by their fingernails. But it's not just them. It's so many people.

I agree here. We're all suffering. Doesn't mean teachers can't have a thread.

GreenOwlBlue · 13/11/2020 19:12

@HipTightOnions

I haven't articulated that well, but it's a hard thing to put into words.

You articulated it perfectly, GreenOwlBlue

Glad what I said resonated with someone @HipTightOnions.
Hercwasonaroll · 13/11/2020 19:13

@GreenOwlBlue What you described completely resonated. Everything is a teeny bit harder, and the compound effect is huge.

MrsHamlet · 13/11/2020 19:14

^All this ‘signed off’ nonsense does give teachers a (deservedly) bad name.
I teach in a school where we did do live lessons in lockdown on the summer term and it was tough but nobody ‘collapsed’^

Wow. Because anyone getting signed off from any job because of workplace stress is what exactly? Workshy? Lazy? Feckless?
Because someone collapsing due to stress is a sign of some kind of mental weakness?

MillieEpple · 13/11/2020 19:16

This is the most bizarre thread. It really feels like people are saying that because their school let down children 6 months ago (in their opinion) my son should sit right next to a child with covid in an airless room without a mask and teachers are moaning if they feel stressed about it.

PuzzledObserver · 13/11/2020 19:18

Neither teacher nor parent here.

Covid has placed pressure on pretty much everybody. Teachers are far from unique in that - but I don’t think the article was claiming they are.

It is perfectly reasonable for a trade paper to report on the particular way in which Covid pressure has been experienced by their trade.

MarjorytheTrashHeap · 13/11/2020 19:19

@starrynight19

These discussions would get a lot further if there could be an acknowledgement that some pupils were failed during lockdown and parents are concerned it could happen again. Posters are not necessarily lying when they tell of their experience, it is irrelevant if one teacher was working 12 hours a day doing X, y, z if that was not that parent's experience.

Of course some schools didn’t get it right first time around.
But the point is if we ‘keep schools open as they are’ you will very quickly be finding out if they can get it right the second time around.

Quite. Schools are closing left, right and centre because of Covid. If your experience of school closure was so poor, put your effort into campaigning for measures that will stop schools being completely closed rather than moaning about things that are in the past.

And be grateful for what you've got. In the thread about how Covid is affecting other countries that was up a few days ago, there were many places where school is partially or completely online. Some places in the US have had children home since March and not expected back until January.

Danglingmod · 13/11/2020 19:20

Thank you MillieEpple for getting the point. Flowers

Ashard20 · 13/11/2020 19:24

In my experience at my school, the parents who complained the most about provision during lockdown were the ones who didn't read the letters or check the website regularly for updates. They didn't look at the copious information we sent out in the folders we put together for our classes at short notice before they left, informing them of how they could access learning tasks.
They didn't engage with the learning platform we hastily purchased and set up to facilitate two way communication with our children.
They complained vociferously on social media until other parents, who had been diligent, came on and put them right.
Some parents complained that they hadn't received any of our texts - upon checking, they were the ones who hadn't updated their phone numbers or contact details.
They also didn't have access to the confidential information about our most vulnerable families, the ones we were going out and checking on. They preferred to moan that we were shut and doing nothing.
In some authorities, schools formed hubs for the key worker children and staff formed pools of teaching, away from their own school, on a rota basis. Contact was still on-going, via the website.
We fielded countless calls all over the summer and even now, asking questions about arrangements that are clearly displayed on the website. Despite texts and letters, it still doesn't occur to parents to spend some time searching for information on the website. Their usual response is that it isn't there - until we show them.
So, so quick to blame ... it's unbelievable, yet sadly not surprising, that this thread has become another attack on teachers. As for all the clamours for actual marking to be done, etc. what did you actually expect? Us to drive round collecting it all? Handing it all out again for feedback?
Sorry about that - we wouldn't have had time because we were actually driving around, delivering food parcels, or checking in, at a distance, with families going through very difficult times. Why would you be entitled to know that? I actually remember some poor head teacher on a MN thread at the time being lambasted for doing that.
At the same time, there are now parents who moan about wearing masks and following one-way systems in and out of school and parents who refuse to let their children self-isolate or send their children in positive, causing whole bubbles to close.

So, be concerned at the lack of safety in schools - because for once OFSTED have got it right. It is a disaster waiting to happen, unless more effective precautions are put into place.

Pomegranatespompom · 13/11/2020 19:27

I don’t think posters with a different view is an attempt to wind up teachers.
It’s a bit shit for most of us, I really appreciate everything the school is currently doing.

Pomegranatespompom · 13/11/2020 19:29

I’d hope people would universally agree that teachers should have safety measures in place. I find it bizarre it people don’t agree with masks/ screening/ cleaning etc