Has covid 19 emphasised how essential schools are

[EachDubh]

And will people now fight for schools to be better funded by our government?

School budgets have been cut for years, (yes I am aware other departments have but am focussing on schools here). Many school staff fund our children's learning from their own pockets, many PTAs but basic essentials through fundraising. Some schools are on their knees struggling to afford paper, pencils, photocopying etc.

One thing the threads on the Covid forum have shown time and time again is school is essential. For learning, for safety, for emotional development, for social skills and development, to ensure skills learned at home are not missed by some, to support families, support communities, to be a role model, to give oppertunities, for exams... So is it not time tht we, as parents, stand up for our schools. Demand they are funded adequately, ask questions about why some schools can afford eniugh teachers and others can't. Ask why some kids have to learn in an environment that is unsuitable and unhealthy with damp and unsafe structures.

Is it finally time that the UK looks at other countries and asks why is their education system funded better, why are their schools more suitable to educating childen?

I do try to read some evidence rather than rants on Mumsnet when thinking that school closures do more harm than good and children are not super spreaders. Here’s a very readable well evidenced summary ieureka.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/

Covid has highlighted how important schools are for childcare and children’s and parent mental well-being, but I don’t think that’s going to translate into a newfound desire to fight for schools to be funded properly across the board.

People take their schools and the extra that teachers and TAs do for granted too easily. When parents do appreciate what school staff do and how tight school budgets are, they thank teachers at the end of term with a gift, support the PTA, and donate the odd packet of something useful for the classroom, which is wonderful and much appreciated, but it’s not going to lead to widespread change.

@MiniTheMinx

No, covid has not emphasised how essential schools are. And no, parents are not going to be motivated to campaign for better funding.

The Tory government has used the argument that schools are essential for education, welfare and childcare for society as a whole as a means to justify keeping them open during the pandemic.

Parents use the "essential" argument to justify keeping schools open to serve their own individual desire and needs.

Education is essential, but schools are not the only place that education can occur. But parents now believe the school is essential as the only site or circumstances in which children learn. Parents have abdicated all responsibility for education. But then this is encouraged, right up until you receive a termly report, a reading book in the bag, or are forced to struggle to get adequate provision for your child with SEN. Then it becomes parents moral duty to act. Its foisted upon you, you are made to feel its your duty. And it is, because the education act states it is.

I've been shocked at the number of posts on the Covid boards from parents desperately trying to justify why schools should remain open. Even when shown proof that schools are unsafe, teachers vulnerable to covid, and that schools are driving higher rates of transmission these parents are desperate to offload their children to somewhere else. The childcare argument is less justifiable now than in the 1800s ! Many parents can work from home, and the percentage of mothers needing primary school as childcare is a tiny percentage of the overall workforce. Its sickening that people otherwise unconcerned about child welfare have suddenly become fixated on children in need or at risk when ordinarily they couldn't give two fucks. If they did schools would be better funded.

Parents will not pull their fingers out of their ears and get off their apathetic backsides to either educate or campaign. The vast majority of individuals behave as entitled, most are only concerned with their own selves, and only as an extension of this their children. Many seem to have believed that having children wouldn't significantly alter their lifestyle or career choices. Now schools closure will massively impact some families, whether that be maternal mental health, financially or child welfare. Many struggle to parent, and many can not cope without a break. Others still are genuinely struggling with children who have needs far above the average. And parents individually or collectively will only act once lack of funding massively impacts them as individuals. I fully expect to be slaughtered.....but I won't be changing my opinion. It may be controversial to point out that parents (in general) will not accept any inconvenience to themselves, whilst others who quite genuinely really do need support or have children whose needs are challenging on any reasonable measure are left without essential services. This is part of a much wider cultural phenomena where there are contradictions and dichotomy between individual, collective, corporate and political responsibility.

I will not be flaming you.

@dbml I wouldn't ask you to vote Labour, I'd definitely urge you to look at other parties who actually have Wales' best interests at heart. Jumping from Labour to Conservative is like jumping of a burning ship into lava.

No, I don’t think this will make the public feel more strongly about education funding.

@MiniTheMinx speaks a lot of truth. The genuinely needy are as always drowned out by the selfish majority who can't countenance any lifestyle changes whatsoever until things personally affect them. There have always been people who prefer to put themselves first and we're hearing their selfish voices a lot at the moment.

when it comes to voting intentions, dont be fooled to think that because someone agrees something is important that means it will be the most important factor to them. If you ask me if I think a well funded, free at the point of use health care system is important in the UK, I'd say yes. I can also honestly say the NHS wasn't even in the top 5 things I considered when deciding who to vote for at the last General election (and no, I didn't vote Tory).

Many people who don't have dcs in state education currently will agree keeping children educated is important. Doesnt mean they have a clue what it's like in state schools currently.

(And similarly, people who only have current experience of one stage -preschool, primary or secondary - are unlikely to know what the current situation is in other stages, or indeed if that their child's setting is or is not standard)

@Stellaroses

Absolutely.

@MiniTheMinx

You have summed up the internet right now, perfectly.

I have been stunned how the argument tends to go:

Person 1: Schools have to move to online temporarily to save lives.

Person 2: But my child needs socialisation and I need to work in peace and quiet or I could lose my job.

Person 1: We are in the midst of a pandemic...socialisation is the last thing we should be thinking about now. And what about all those people who have already lost their jobs to keep schools open? We’ve got to breaking point haven’t we? and we have to drive down numbers to keep people safe.

Person 2: Well I won’t cope. I’ll lose MY job and MY child will be screaming and completely out of routine. Schools NEED to stay open no matter what the cost. Other people’s jobs, other people’s lives...I can live with that. Teacher’s will most likely recover, it’s well worth the risk to me.
Oh and think of the vulnerable kids!!!!

That’s all I’m hearing and seeing at the moment and it’s disheartening. Especially when I have first hand witnessed living in an area that went up to over 1000 cases per 100,000 people and I have seen what that did to my school, our pupils and their families. The disruption to individual pupils was horrendous (some year groups have had to isolate 2 or 3 times since October) and now they are at a disadvantage compared to other pupils in other schools. There is no longer parity and there is no fair, level playing field. Those kids understand this and their MH is worse for it.

But I’m sure nothing will change.

@DBML it was always going to come down to this - the people who pay the price for restrictions and lockdowns the most are the people who are least likely to suffer/die if we don't lockdown or have restrictions. Back in March there was a big feeling of community spirit, we were doing this for others and it was OK to do this small sacrifice of a few weeks to save lives.

At the time, I mentioned on the group WhatsApp for my youngest dcs class that at the earliest schools would be back after the May half term in June. That was roundly considered to be doom mongering. Those who were being community spirited, didn't think it would be this long at all.

That selflessness of personal sacrifice for others has dried up.

I expect primaries to follow secondaries and be shut for at least the first week of January in tier 4 areas, possibly longer. I also expect very few people directly effected by this to think its a good thing this time round, and while last time lots of people did believe that 3 weeks then reviewed would mean 3 weeks, now most people think if they say 1/2 weeks shut, it'll be March before the reopen.

[quote BooksAreNotEssentialInWales]I do try to read some evidence rather than rants on Mumsnet when thinking that school closures do more harm than good and children are not super spreaders. Here’s a very readable well evidenced summary ieureka.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/[/quote]
On a quick skim that looks bonkers.

Rates were 2.5% in secondary school children before the Xmas break.

This was the highest % positive in any group in the community.

Primary school rates were not far behind and rising more sharply than any other group in the community.

Rates higher in school than anywhere else would suggest in school transmission.

We now have word of the new variant where transmission in children is thought to be even more of a risk.

So that article is a bit out of date on key points, especially as we now have hospital admissions even higher than in the April peak.

But even for mid December, it was a bit wrong headed and desperately trying to minimise the situation in schools.

I find Independent Sage most helpful for updates to be honest, but it sounds like SAGE are in agreement with them currently.