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Original poster

So how the F are we meant to work?

656 replies

Littlewhitedove2 · 30/12/2020 18:25

3 primary age kids. One parent left who won’t leave their house except the shops much less come anywhere near me or the kids. Inlaws in a similar position.
Primary school closed. It won’t be 2 weeks - it will be far longer than that.
Husband full time work.
I work part time as much as I can around school but not critical worker.
How do women work now?

OP posts:
Myothercarisalsoshit · 31/12/2020 00:54

ReesMoggsGlasses
You really are a piece of work aren't you?
Teachers don't want to be treated as a special case, they just want to feel reasonably safe and at the moment we are not. We are not allowed masks. PPE is non - existant. We share cramped, underventilated conditions with 30 odd children who may be asymptomatic spreaders. We understand that schools being closed is really fucking difficult - it's difficult for us too. We try and provide meaningful work but we are limited by what we can reasonably expect children to be able to achieve when we are not there to help them. Parents on here go on and on about fucking zoom lessons (that we are not allowed to do) or live lessons (that many parents don't want) as if they were the gold standard. They're not. The problem is on the learning side and what children can achieve without a qualified teacher in the room with them.
I'm in a tier 4 area and I'm quite glad that we're going back next week because at least then I don't have to deal with the absolute shitshow that is 'home learning'. It's bad. It's really bad. It's unlike anything I have ever seen in 20 years of teaching. But it's not our fucking fault you absolute arsehole.

CountessFrog · 31/12/2020 00:56

Was going mad

I’m sorry you’re getting it in the neck here. You sound fab. It’s just that a lot of us, myself included, had zero from class teachers and I don’t think the teaching profession came off well. They still arent coming off well in lots of ways. It’s a huge generalisation of course, and not your fault or your problem to solve.

My kids are now both in secondary and their school is working hard to keep them in school. They have a great head snd committed teachers.

The primary school was terrible on all counts. I’m glad we’ve left.

ReesMoggsGlasses · 31/12/2020 00:56

@Myothercarisalsoshit

ReesMoggsGlasses You really are a piece of work aren't you? Teachers don't want to be treated as a special case, they just want to feel reasonably safe and at the moment we are not. We are not allowed masks. PPE is non - existant. We share cramped, underventilated conditions with 30 odd children who may be asymptomatic spreaders. We understand that schools being closed is really fucking difficult - it's difficult for us too. We try and provide meaningful work but we are limited by what we can reasonably expect children to be able to achieve when we are not there to help them. Parents on here go on and on about fucking zoom lessons (that we are not allowed to do) or live lessons (that many parents don't want) as if they were the gold standard. They're not. The problem is on the learning side and what children can achieve without a qualified teacher in the room with them. I'm in a tier 4 area and I'm quite glad that we're going back next week because at least then I don't have to deal with the absolute shitshow that is 'home learning'. It's bad. It's really bad. It's unlike anything I have ever seen in 20 years of teaching. But it's not our fucking fault you absolute arsehole.
Jog in dear, not your fault?

Tell me again who the experts are...

Myothercarisalsoshit · 31/12/2020 00:58

No, YOU jog on with your uninformed, spiteful shite.

Jellycatspyjamas · 31/12/2020 00:59

This is where the profession needs to adapt and move with the times, it's happening in Europe, it can be done - but no, dong rock the boat

There have been school closures in many parts of Europe. I don’t think battling with teachers is going to achieve anything, they have their concerns which are different to mine but are still valid concerns.

I’d love to see folk - teachers, parents being able to recognise the challenges for each without the “but” in there. Extended school closures will have long term impact on my family educationally, financially and on health and I question why an area with a quarter of the infection rate of London is in tighter restrictions but teachers don’t make those decisions - politicians do, remember this come election time folks.

CountessFrog · 31/12/2020 01:02

I agree, jelly.

High rates in the north? Lock the north down!

High rates in London? Lock the north down!

Myothercarisalsoshit · 31/12/2020 01:05

Well exactly Countess. It's an absolute disaster.

CountessFrog · 31/12/2020 01:06

I veer between thinking ‘vote the bastards out’ and having sympathy for them. No other party would have done a better job.

Some of the decisions, though!

wasgoingmadinthecountry · 31/12/2020 01:06

Have to agree, reesmoggsglasses really is rather spiteful. Obviously had a bad deal at her school and blaming it on the rest of us. Not our fault. She should be trying to get better education for her own children and not accusing us all of being so inept.

I (like very many of my colleagues) give an awful lot of thought to my job and how I go about it. People like her are what makes me just want to quit. I don't want praise, just normal conversation. It's my job. And as it's just my job, surely I shouldn't be put in such a vulnerable position.

That's me done. People like reesmogg will never be on my wavelength. I'd like to bet they'd never put up with what we have in primary schools since March.

Circumlocutious · 31/12/2020 01:07

@ReesMoggsGlasses

As the OP says, exactly how the F are we meant to work?

Most of us don't work for pin money, we work to keep a roof over our heads

But teachers who are ‘too vulnerable to teach’ should just get off the horse. Perhaps you think they work for pin money?

Utterly clueless.

wasgoingmadinthecountry · 31/12/2020 01:11

Just saying, not too vulnerable to teach. Maybe too vulnerable to teach in a pandemic. Have done it without complaint however. Not working for pin money, otherwise would have definitely quit!!

Myothercarisalsoshit · 31/12/2020 01:12

Circumlocution
Yes indeed.
I'm 52. I have been a teacher for 20 years. I am highly skilled and very good at my job. I'm in quite good health and don't consider myself to be any more vulnerable than anyone else (apart form the elevated risk of Long COVID). What the hell do they think would happen if people like me all 'got off the horse'? Absolute shite.

Myothercarisalsoshit · 31/12/2020 01:13

wasgoingmad we're all vulnerable!

XmasSkies2020 · 31/12/2020 01:15

Bubbling up with other parents at school in the same boat, who you know and trust could be the answer. Doesn’t need to be the same school. I find my children behave better with other children around, so you could do more structured schooling/ activities. Then you gets full or half days off to work

wasgoingmadinthecountry · 31/12/2020 01:15

I know - wasn't trying to play the age/wheezy card. ReesMogg just pushed my buttons. There are teachers in their 30s with no underlying health conditions in ICU right now.

Myothercarisalsoshit · 31/12/2020 01:19

@wasgoingmadinthecountry

I know - wasn't trying to play the age/wheezy card. ReesMogg just pushed my buttons. There are teachers in their 30s with no underlying health conditions in ICU right now.
Sorry wasgoingmad - I was just agreeing with you. Possibly too forcefully. It's a shitshow.
wasgoingmadinthecountry · 31/12/2020 01:23

@myothercarisalsoshit

See what it's brought us all to? :)

XmasSkies2020 · 31/12/2020 01:32

Ugh this thread is horrible. Covid really has brought out the worst in people.

I came on here to offer support to a struggling parent and am dismayed to find the teachers Vs parents mob at work again.

Disgraceful!

MrDarcysMa · 31/12/2020 01:34

Can you both ask for flex furlough ?

CountessFrog · 31/12/2020 01:36

Just out of curiosity, do you personally know these teachers in their 30s in ICU right now? I mean, do you know which hospitals, how many of them? Whether they caught it at work? There are presumably all sorts of professions in there. DH is an ITU consultant. I heard of only one person in their thirties in his unit in the first wave, a BAME accountant. Otherwise fit and healthy.

It’s an honest question. Because honestly, these types of statements get thrown around and when there’s no real evidence for them, it’s a shame to say it.

You’d think it would be in the news of true. It was in the news when young health workers died.

turnitonagain · 31/12/2020 01:43

My company started to offer additional carers leave and a stipend to pay for babysitting or tutors during school closures because of COVID. Someone in HR told me uptake is very low - our company is mostly men. So that means fathers aren’t applying for these benefits. And unless they’ve told their partners about them, they would have no clue.

In other words I wonder how many men really work for employers who are cruel and uncaring, and how many just assume it’s their wife’s issue to manage and aren’t taking advantage of benefits available to them. Or they think it’s not “manly” to ask for the leave or stipend.

ChloeDecker · 31/12/2020 01:43

You’d think it would be in the news of true. It was in the news when young health workers died.
You would think wouldn’t you and yet teachers have died this week and it hasn’t made the national news.

ChloeDecker · 31/12/2020 01:44

Thank you for that post turnitonagain

wasgoingmadinthecountry · 31/12/2020 01:54

I do know of 3 teachers seriously ill in hospital (or at least they were at the end of last term) - one 30s, one 40s BAME and one older (50s). All from the same local grammar school. I also personally know a TA who is still only working 2 hours a day due to long covid.

wasgoingmadinthecountry · 31/12/2020 02:36

Sorry, really not trying to make it parents v teachers.

I am a teacher but also a mum of 4.

My anger is solely with the government and their lack of planning/utter inability to keep workers safe.

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