Headteacher unions begin legal proceedings against DfE

[Makingnumber2]

www.naht.org.uk/news-and-opinion/news/leadership-news/update-regarding-start-of-term-sent-to-members-on-2-jan-2021/?fbclid=IwAR3WFugSo-KsSToWAvbteMs8HspeXZTMBd9VaiOlAVxOeL0FM1wDRzqbviA

NAHT and ASCL start legal proceedings against DfE

The workers I talk to on the tills at Sainsburys never have a bad word to say about their kids' schools and teachers. One today told me how tough she thought it had been for teachers.

Seems she can sympathise.

noblegiraffe It is lovely to see you. 🙂 Blimey - we're still hanging in there! 😁 🤦‍♀️

Not a teacher, but I am a parent. Fully support this. It's absolutely disgusting how teachers and school staff have been forgotten about and treated during this whole ordeal. Yes life will be a hard for me with a FT WFH job to do along with home schooling my 4yr old but morally I'd rather take a few weeks of disruption and upheaval to mine and my sons life in order to protect a segment of society (school staff) that have, up until now, been shat on by both the public and government.

@Flaxmeadow

Interesting that you think the general public haven't noticed there's a pandemic going on.

Are you addressing me or the general public feeling here? Yes we do know and that is precisely why "a walkout" , in other words a strike would be so unpopular with the public. Because we are in a crisis

Lots of support from parents on here, for example.

No some support from middle class mumsnet

I imagine lots of support from people who aren't happy at keeping schools open with no mitigation measures during a pandemic while they have to close their businesses too

Ask John and Jane minimum wage Tesco staff what they would think about a "walkout" by teachers

John and Jane are keyworkers so their children will be in school.

Because this isn't a strike and teachers will be available to work in safe environments

LOL at the idea that miners

a) weren't keyworkers

They were key workers, that's part of my point

and

b) got huge public sympathy. They were demonised , derided, beaten and virtually starved into submission

The miners had massive public sympathy especially in the industrial districts.

@Flaxmeadow Off topic, but your understanding of the miners strike and the societal impacts of it are wrong. Other than the mirror/guardian the right wing press had zero sympathy with the miners and supported the Thatcher government. Outside the more industrial areas there was scant support from the public too - pity for the the families yes, but nothing else.

The mine workers themselves were as divided on the strike. The government of the days used "divide and rule" as an (effective) way to break the NUM, principally by making sure the NCB persuaded NACODS members not to strike which meant it would never succeed.

I'm a parent and Technician in a secondary school. I totally support this move by the teaching unions. Secondary schools are not remotely safe environments.

Miners are bloody keyworkers!!

flax I suspect you were nowhere near the miners' strikes in reality and its impacts.

@Rosehip10 Flax also seems to think it was only English miners

flax I suspect you were nowhere near the miners' strikes in reality and its impacts.

If you'd like search my posts you're welcome. My family were coal miners in the north of England, I've posted about it before. I have also posted my age group and the jobs I did when I left school and the working class environment I grew up in

I get that mumsnet is very middle class and often has southern/London based perspective but some of us do remember first hand the miners strike in the 80s

@FrippEnos

Bagamoyo1

Actually as a GP I’ll be administering the vaccine

Its about time that you actually did something., I haven't been able to get a face 2 face appointment with my GP since March.

That's shocking. It's not been the case here, it's been telephone triage, video conference and then F&F if needed. I've seen my GP that way.

If the virus was still rampant after a proper shut down of ALL non essential things - I mean garden centres, shops that don’t have 90% of their shelves dedicated to food, coffee shops etc. - then that’s when we should shut schools

This is where people need to be logical, not emotive. Garden centres closing will save the day? I took my mum to one in the summer. There were about 20 other people there (large indoor and outdoor space). Staff and customers in masks. Strict social distancing when queuing for tills and drinks. Tables taped off to ensure social distancing.

In September I went back to work, walking to my lessons through corridors packed with kids. No “masks in corridors” rule until after the October half term. Teenagers my size and taller, inches away from me and each other.

If people seriously think that keeping garden centres open is the problem, then they have no idea how viruses work.

@ilovejkrowling but the mask doesn't protect you it protects others so a prison officer wearing a mask isn't protected of the prisoners are not
There are lots of professions where the people they come in contact with don't wear a mask
My dh does a job where he has to go into peoples houses , he weArs a mask that protects the clients but not him , they rarely wear a mask, he tries to follow sd and always has to remind people
L

OK flax , whatever. i am amazed you think there was huge public sympathy. I worked in Newark for a while and the wounds there were raw.

I grew up on Red Clydeside. That kind of background makes me MORE inclined to support union action, not less.

My full support here both as a parent of two secondary age kids and as a TA.

I'm relieved that finally there has been a collective stand against our bullying, incompetent, department for education with Gavin Williamson at the helm.

That kind of background makes me MORE inclined to support union action, not less

As I said earlier, I get the support of unions, I've been in unions myself and played an active role, but I could not support this proposed teacher "walkout", certainly not during a pandemic.

@Flaxmeadow

Who has refused to work?

You’re wrong and the fact you don’t understand what a strike is, and keep going on about it. It’s embarrassing now.

No-one has suggested a strike, you keep saying they have because you don’t understand what

A strike or "walkout" is exactly what's being suggesting. That they want to call it by a different name, will not make it anymore palatable to the general public, who will know exactly what it is. Or do teachers unions think the public are stupid?

Except I think currently tide has turned.

There is far more parental support now than there was in September.

I would say very much like it was back in March - when numbers and hospitals were similar.

@TaxTheRatFarms yes it is part of the problem not all only have 20 people, every non essential place should be shut if closing schools
Anywhere that continues to help the spread that isn't essential means schools potentially out longer
Its not just garden centres its likes of homeware shops where people are browsing with their kids in tow
Couple supermarkets i know of have had some large outbreaks amongst staff , despite sd and masks , but we need food but it shouldn't be a jolly out

@Flaxmeadow

That kind of background makes me MORE inclined to support union action, not less

As I said earlier, I get the support of unions, I've been in unions myself and played an active role, but I could not support this proposed teacher "walkout", certainly not during a pandemic.

Well, it's good that school staff don't need your support to demand a safe working environment then.

Unions were slow on this as well , they should of done this when schools broke up as we knew then what was happening
Would hope that we would see drop on numbers soon as school has been out for almost 2 weeks and I know people will say xmas mixing but I only know of a few who mixed at xmas and no cases so far , i know a few who had to isolate over xmas due to dc bringing it home

Most schools been out over 2 weeks now

TheSunIsStillShining
John and Jane know fuck all about public heath. They might not even understand how this whole shit is spreading. They should not be in any form or way in a position to decide what should happen in a public health crisis to me, my son, the teachers, their kids, their

There you have it folks. The oh so enlightened Ocado delivery middle class, sneering at the working class mingling in supermarkets.

This is what they think of us

You don't seem to respond to any reasonable points flax.

As I pointed out, John and Jane will be fine. They're key workers and teachers and striking and therefore will be available to teach keyworkers in school and other pupils at home. If teachers just carried on working in unsafe conditions, their children would be more likely to have to isolate repeatedly and this will affect their ability to earn an income.

Well, it's good that school staff don't need your support to demand a safe working environment then.

My whole point has been that a teachers strike, oops sorry "walkout" would have no support from the general public

People have watched millions of NHS and food retail staff work throughout this pandemic, often with far less safety measures than teachers. Yet there has been no call for a strike, sorry a "walkout" from them

Can't teachers and their unions see this, or have they become so far, furlough, removed from everyday life