London School of Hygiene & Medicine states that all schools need to be closed

[SoscaredforJan]

Pre-print of the new B.1.1.7 lineage published 23rd Dec 2020.

“Our estimates suggest that control measures of a similar stringency to the national lockdown implemented in England in November 2020 are unlikely to reduce the effective reproduction number Rt to less than 1, unless primary schools, secondary schools, and universities are also closed.

We project that large resurgences of the virus are likely to occur following easing of control measures.

It may be necessary to greatly accelerate vaccine roll-out to have an appreciable impact in suppressing the resulting disease burden.”

cmmid.github.io/topics/covid19/uk-novel-variant.html

I have said since the beginning that schools need to stay open, and I work in one. But now, it really does sadly look like they do need to close for a month or two. Very sad.

Closing schools is not just a question of education though! You are asking working parents to put their work above their kids for most of the day, in some cases it is unsafe, a parent does not have time to prepare healthy meals if working in a stressful job, kids become screen addicts etc etc- the whole family becomes miserable! Kids and parents’ mental health suffers immensely.

You can’t expect those parents to keep working to save others and pay for others.

Close schools by all means, let kids lose a full year of education and let all families have 1 adult on furlough then. Ask the chancellor if that is possible. If not, other options have to be found.

Yes, the government needs to make it clear to parents of young children that, while the children are awake, the parents should be concentrating on caring for them not working. State-promoted child neglect is not accepted.

Many teachers are also working parents.

Do you think they should focus on caring for their own children rather than their day job?

How can anyone sensibly talk about 'closing schools' indefinitely? What about the jobs of people who work in them? What about keyworker, SEN or vulnerable children?

Teachers who are parents can't be simultaneously caring for their own children and teaching full days online which seems to be the expectation from some who state that they cannot do both themselves.

Closing schools is not just a question of education though!

Equally well opening them is not just a question of education either.

You're asking teachers to put their health on the line, and potentially that of their loved ones. Teachers' mental health is also suffering.

What surprises me among the "keep schools open" cries is that they aren't shouting for safer schools, for protection for the teachers etc which would ultimately result most likely in fewer education days lost.

Not many of the people have actually been saying schools should be closed. They have been saying schools need to be safer.

Surely both sides should agree on this?

How did babies come into discussing the safety of keeping schools open?

If secondary schools have to close for safety sake what the hell has that got to do with babies? What have I missed?

Yes, I think teachers should also focus on caring for their children. I also think government should have given state schools more money during the pandemic and I believe ECV teachers should not be teaching in person. I am also ok with kids wearing masks etc. and I believe teachers should be vaccinated as a matter of priority. I believe 1) physical health comes first 2) mental health 3) education.
Parents and teachers are on the same page and there is much overlap. So why are there so many acrimonious threads? Clearly because we have all been thrown under the bus. That is working parents and teachers.

@christinarossetti19. Absolutely, they should focus on their own children. As my experience has shown me, I can't teach small groups of motivated adults and safely supervise one toddler at the same time. What hope does a primary teacher teaching a class of 30 seven year olds have, especially if they are trying to supervise multiple children at home?

I was constantly saying to my classes, 'Just a minute' and 'could you work amongst yourselves for a few minutes'. I had to schedule additional classes to cover the material because progress was so slow. It only worked (and tbh it didn't really work) because my students were very tolerant and because I put in a lot of extra work.

@meditrina

Presumably this is what lies behind today's 'We may lose control if schools and universities reopen" article in The Times

If they are closed, them I hope someone starts planning now what to do with public exams in 2022
(2021 seems inevitably doomed, but the amount of time lost for the following year is mounting, and for once a planned and predictable set of adaptations, rolled out in good time, is possible)

How does one stop students who live off-campus returning?

Agree with this re exams

@TheHoneyBadger. I think the issue is that some secondary school teachers may have small children at home. So they can't simultaneously teach a full timetable and care for them.

If only secondary schools close, the childcare issue largely goes away.

Neither teachers, nor parents wfh in non-education roles, can do their job and look after young children at the same time. It isn’t a competition. The government should legislate properly on this, not Boris waffling on about expecting employers to be understanding.

With so many weeks not taught in the summer due to school holidays why don't they move the term? There are more than enough weeks including some of Easter and the half term as well. So the summer isn't lost completely, some Saturday mornings could be incorporated. Kids don't need to lose out on education and teachers don't have to go into work during the height of a pandemic in the winter when it will be at its worse. Hopefully a great deal more vaccinations would have been given too. Downside is working parents have to struggle again and the summer holidays won't be so long BUT if the virus is that much of a threat right now, then surely it makes sense?

It would be such a lovely Xmas pressie if The Powers That Be were to listen to mainstream scientific and medical opinion.

It doesn’t really make sense economically to furlough at least one parent to look after maybe just one child. Childcare is needed for younger children but that doesn’t necessarily have to be provided by professional teachers. That’s certainly not what you usually get when you send children to holiday clubs. Also, in the last lockdown many schools didn’t do part days/ only provided 4 days because they were doing extensive clean downs. As we now know that the biggest risk is airborne transmission, there could be some adjustments made to hours offered to more children. I think there are a number of measures between fully open and almost fully closed which could be used

As I’ve said on other school threads even though it’s far from ideal IF schools have to close it’s because they really need to,since September schools have clearly been priority. And as I’ve said previously, assuming they DO have to close one parent of child/children under 11 should have the option of being furloughed for childcare reasons if they do not qualify/get a key worker place. By doing this the government would be showing education is really a priority.

And giving teachers keyworker status for childcare too. Was absolutely insane that there were teachers in spring lockdown expected to adjust to remote teaching and deliver that teaching, but not qualifying for keyworker childcare because they were at home.

I believe 1) physical health comes first 2) mental health

The two go hand in hand. It's just "health" mental health problems can cause physical health problems and vice versa.

@GoldenOmber. Completely agree. Luckily my employers were understanding, but I heard of lots of teachers with young kids being expected essentially to "pretend" their children didn't exist while teaching online classes.

If schools are expecting that this time round, they will need to get a lot more creative. And parents will have to be a lot more tolerant. For example, I ended up doing a lot of my teaching in the evenings when DS was in bed (between 8pm and 10pm). I also taught an early morning class sometime from 5am to 7am for my students who preferred it. So that might be an option. But expecting teachers to do a full 8.30-3 timetable while caring for their own children is completely unreasonable and incompatible with basic care for young children.

I think the expectation seems to be that teachers will be working from in school even if schools are closed this time. That seems to be what I'm hearing from colleagues in different schools.

Furloughing one parent has huge implications for women if it's the parent with lower earnings who has to take the fall .

@TrustTheGeneGenie

I'm sick of hearing small kids dont matter. Their education doesn't matter. Their friendships and development don't matter. Because they are only 4 or 5

nobody will care as long as we're saving the elderly generation and the nhs

Would you still be so militant if it was confirmed that the new virus strands did indeed affect children and put them at risk of death, the same as adults?

Would you still want schools open no matter what?

Most schools plans don’t include anything like 9-3 as live teaching or instant messaging. I don’t think that is the expectation from the government guidelines either

@trulydelicious. I'm not sure whether or not schools and early years settings should close in the New Year. It should be a last resort, but it may come to that (for example, in the circumstances you suggest).

But what I do think is that we need to think through the consequences of having a significant proportion of the workforce not working. Not only for the families themselves (financial difficulties etc.) but also everyone else (essential work not being done).

Because I won't be working. Not even going to try to make it work this time. I'll take some time out and focus on my child instead. I'm sure many will choose to do the same or their employers will force them out.

Again, even if the government agreed to furloughing one parent per family...who will do their work? It still needs doing! Using teachers as an example, if a teacher is furloughed for childcare reasons, who then teaches their class??

Also, not all work can be done out of 9-5 hours - my team have a lot of meetings with other staff who I'm sure wouldn't be happy with having to meet at 7pm at night