'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.

I think what the teacher bashers fail to remember is that schools are an intrinsic part of societies infrastructure! If they start to fall apart at the seams, we begin to see societal breakdown. A tweet was shared earlier from a school where the whole of the schools SLT were ill/self isolating, the business manager was running the school and the behaviour management system had been disbanded!
That is scarily dystopian! Secondary schools run a fine line with discipline and maintaining compliance as it is! If huge member of staff are not there and staff are trying to manage (not teach, manage,)huge groups of students it all gets a bit 'lunatics have taken over the asylum'.

Parts of my school are in a bad way. It's about behaviour management systems for sure. We have some very challenging individuals, and a tight system for escalating them for support. The whole top layer of support isn't now in school. So, we're drowning and kids aren't safe.

Parts of my school are in a bad way. It's about behaviour management systems for sure. We have some very challenging individuals, and a tight system for escalating them for support. The whole top layer of support isn't now in school. So, we're drowning and kids aren't safe.

This is a massive issue for some schools with whole swathes of staff off. All the support systems are collapsed and that makes it very difficult to maintain a safe environment for both staff and children.

Chosenone that’s exactly it with the ‘fine line’.

I'm worried about my kids school. I know they are trying their best and it's so difficult but even in school their education is being so badly affected - especially for my DD who is in year 11. Teachers out shielding and crap substitutes replacing them who can't teach the content or control the rowdier kids, some teachers doing lessons via teams on a laptop sat on their desk, mocks being sat by a large portion of kids at home and no set grade boundaries as apparently the teachers trust them not to cheat , no computers for computer science, no instruments for music classes, no cooking facilities for food tech, big groups of kids self isolating. It's a nightmare really.

People who were unhappy with the way schools were working in lockdown should surely want more safety measures, as this is what will keep schools open for longer

Yes, this. Our schools are back with no masks (masks from 6 in Italy, France, Spain, Korea, etc etc). No social distancing, no extra money. No smaller class sizes. None of the things WHO and pretty much all scientific experts say should be done

I simply don't believe there are that many parents who are just saying 'we don't care, we don't care how many teachers get ill, how much disruption to our kids education, we support the government in not finding ANY extra money AT ALL for already underfunded schools but finding LOTS of cash for eat out to help out and their mates profiteering over testing and PPE'. I mean, really? How many parents really want no extra money for schools to make them safer and able to stay open longer?

I think there are a lot of bad actors posting.

More and more posts on here from teachers and nurses crying before or after (or during) work. This is not the sign of a healthy, well-run society. Our most valuable workers - those without whom the country simply could not operate - are miserable and stressed and don't feel valued in their jobs. Something HAS to change. This time I doubt a bit of clapping will help (in fact I suspect it might do the opposite).

Solidarity to all the teachers who keep posting here. I for one am incredibly grateful for all you do and don't think it's ok for you to have to work in these conditions.

Thanks IloveJK

Shame on you Susan, for suggesting teachers get signed off willy nilly. I've never met anyone who would do this!
Just consider yourself incredibly lucky that you have such robust metal health that you can not even empathise with someone collapsing at work.

@Hercwasonaroll
It’s not an expectation by my school at all but if I don’t sort it who will?! My class need to learn effectively for next week and I am well enough to do it. It’s all very well to say I am pregnant with corona virus but in reality there isn’t another teacher to do it. Those poor kids are missing a week of school the least I can do is make sure they have something worthwhile to be getting on with!

People who teacher bash don’t really realise the impact of teaching on lives. I don’t moan, get stressed or complain about my workload. Ever really. But I am awake at 3am running what needs to be done Tomorrow morning through my head and I’m not more affected than most - less I would say in my experience!

It’s not an expectation by my school at all but if I don’t sort it who will?!

That's not your problem.

As I said above, there is no way a staff member in my dept who was off ill with coronavirus, let alone pregnant, would be setting their own cover. This is effectively what you are doing.

"As I said above, there is no way a staff member in my dept who was off ill with coronavirus, let alone pregnant, would be setting their own cover. This is effectively what you are doing."

In all schools I've been at there is an expectation you set cover unless you are physically incapable of doing so. The school I am at the moment had half the department off work and all of them set cover work when off knowing that a third of the staff at the entire school were off at the school. 25 hours teaching time and collapsed classes was common. Hell we even had some staff trying and come back in when visibly still ill.

Perhaps at your school teachers might be allowed to focus on their recuperation but I think that is the exception rather than the rule.

It is hard for everyone, unsustainable for most - and even worse for those that won't have jobs or houses at the end of it. Self care at home and at weekends is paramount. Christmas holidays will soon be here, the vaccine will be rolled out - and things will ease.

in all schools I've been at there is an expectation you set cover unless you are physically incapable of doing so.

This is the case where I am. We obviously have different lines of physically incapable.

We've had half the dept off for 3 weeks mostly corona related and I've set cover for nearly all of those lessons. Because the people who are off ill need to recover. One person tried to send stuff in but they were so knackered it was tosh

"We've had half the dept off for 3 weeks mostly corona related and I've set cover for nearly all of those lessons"

Like I say, I think this is likely to be the exception rather than the rule. The pregnant pp was saying she has had to set cover work. This is not surprising or unusual in teaching. I daresay this is a common situation in the majority of schools and in fact it is worse at present as you also have to set online work for isolating students.

The pregnant pp was saying she has had to set cover work. This is not surprising or unusual in teaching.

I'm a teacher, I know the norm is to set cover.

I also know that if you're off ill, there's no legal obligation. More teachers should say no and stop doing it. Yes it makes life worse for everyone else but if you're ill you need to focus on getting better. Isolating students are NOT the PPs problem.

"if you're ill you need to focus on getting better. Isolating students are NOT the PPs problem."

Legally that is true but we both know that,contrary to the work shy teacher rhetoric on Mumsnet, the majority of staff in school would set the work regardless as long as they could crawl out of bed.

I'm not saying it is right but it is what happens and relied on by slt. Hell my school didn't even have the facilities to set teams work for others in the department, never mind English who had 6 out of 8 absent.

Like the pp said if she doesn't do it she knows it won't get done so you feel obliged to do it. Hell we have had people text in instructions from hospital!

DS whole year group sent home for 2 weeks beginning of last week with confirmed covid case, another year was sent home by the end of the week. London.

Hopefully it hasn’t spread to other years.

Hell we have had people text in instructions from hospital!

Yep, my DD was admitted to hospital in an emergency one night and I stayed in with her. I was up at 5am searching for cover work activities and emailing my TA from the trundle bed.

@walksen

The fact that this is expected of teachers is just wrong. So wrong. But I can see why they’d do this especially with all the teacher bashing, as if the pandemic is their personal problem to deal with.

in all schools I've been at there is an expectation you set cover unless you are physically incapable of doing so.

Yep. My friend was having to set work for her class whilst in hospital. It was expected as she had her operation during term. She managed this until she was just in too much pain after her major stomach surgery to sit up in her hospital bed and use her laptop. Her cannula kept on getting dislodged whilst she was typing and the consultant ended up phoning the school and officially informing the head of her need to rest!!!

@Schummakker we've always done it. You set cover if you are off sick. There is no one else to do it.

@mumsneedwine There is someone else. HOD, head of KS, ultimately HT.

It's decent to send something if you can. But to say there's no one else is a lie. Schools should have a plan for short term sudden absence tbh.

[quote mumsneedwine]@Schummakker we've always done it. You set cover if you are off sick. There is no one else to do it. [/quote]
Yup. It was expected and you got a phone call if you hadn't sent something in.

@gottakeeponmovin

Compared to whom? What about everyone else working through Covid?

It's not a race to the bottom, nor should it ever be.

I haven't discussed the report before.
Hasn't it only just been published recently?

Teachers go to work when they are ill. It's the easiest option. I go in at 8.30, leave at 3 and tell the kids I'm ill and to be nice to me. Definitely better than getting up at 6 when you're ill to plan lessons.

Teachers do not get the respect they deserve. Especially on here!