NEU tells teachers not to go to work on Monday

[Workyticket]

skwawkbox.org/2021/01/02/breaking-union-tells-teachers-not-to-go-to-work-on-monday/

@notevenat20

Please explain how cancelling the summer holidays will help protect teachers and children who are not going to be vaccinated against this virus as teachers are not a priority for vaccination and the vaccine is not licensed for children.

The hope is that in 6 weeks most if not all of the most vulnerable will have been vaccinated, including vulnerable teachers. This could greatly reduce the death rate.

Yet according to the vaccination calculator posted on various threads I will not get the vaccine until late July/mid August, that's not going to be of any use to me in work even if the schools are closed for six weeks. It gives me no protection and gives the vulnerable children and families I work with no protection. They will be at risk, I will be at risk as will my own family who have nobody else if anything happens to me.

Seldom followed
. Presumably she has consulted lawyers and had a risk assessment done in the light of the new strain and can therefore, assure her staff that section 44 doesn't apply?

If your child in Secondary school has an amazing maths teacher that could well be @noblegiraffe who has been championing the cause for safe schools throughout this pandemic even though some posters have treated her horrendously.

OMG, definitely, this noblegiraffe

@itsgettingweird Schools would be on a sticky wicket point blank refusing if the government has said only one parent needs to be a key worker regardless of the other parents work/non work as the case may be. This is why the government says if you can keep you child at home you should - that’s parental responsibility. However, they could be further down the list of criteria for getting a space so could ultimately be refused one if you have reached the total number of children to safely social distance.

@Panickingpavlova

Lol, I don’t think I would like to work underneath her that’s for sure.

@DrRamsesEmerson

FGS. I didn’t think my opinion of the teaching unions could sink further.

Why? Because they are protecting their members safety? Oh sorry - forgot that teachers are just there to provide free child care whatever the risk....

@notevenat20

Or do you think teachers should work for free because........????

You do realise that a lot of the country is working twice as hard for no extra pay don't you? It doesn't look good to imply that only teachers should be exempt from this.

Teachers already were doing more work for no extra pay even before Covid19. We are used to it. We are also used to people not believing that we do or acknowledging it. The public have been very quick for forget that we gave up our Easter holidays and May Half Term to go in to work so KW, SEND and vulnerable children could be looked after for free.

I spent most of this holiday (doing work every day inc Christmas Eve, Day, NYE and NYD etc.) to prepare, re-prepare and prepare again based on DfE incompetencies but yet DfE employees got a £1k bonus to do the same and couldn’t even produce decent work to show for it

Incidentally, I’m going in to Monday to work and support KW etc children and teach my lessons online and had already paid for someone to come in to my home to do so (I’m not in NEU) so as not to take up a keyworker space at my child’s primary and I fully support what the NEU and NAHT are proposing which is not a strike

I would implore those on this thread who are being very critical, to actually read and understand exactly what is being proposed.

@notevenat20

Or do you think teachers should work for free because........????

You do realise that a lot of the country is working twice as hard for no extra pay don't you? It doesn't look good to imply that only teachers should be exempt from this.

And even more are furloughed. Not sure what point you are trying to make other than illustrate your dislike if teachers. Is it envy?

[quote Gogglebox20]@itsgettingweird Schools would be on a sticky wicket point blank refusing if the government has said only one parent needs to be a key worker regardless of the other parents work/non work as the case may be. This is why the government says if you can keep you child at home you should - that’s parental responsibility. However, they could be further down the list of criteria for getting a space so could ultimately be refused one if you have reached the total number of children to safely social distance.[/quote]
Yes this is pretty much what our local school had to do.

Priority lists and numbers backed up with risk assessment.

We had 1/3 staff shielding.

From Sky News - Brighton and Hove City Council has advised primary schools to delay reopening and teach remotely until January 18 due to increased rates of Covid-19

AaronPurr thank you and that you to noble for the original post.

@itsgettingweird That’s the thing...it’s all about context and if there’s minimal staff they have to prioritise places accordingly.

It's not fair to still put the onus on teachers to refuse to work and parents to not send dc in.

Heads, unions and those at the top need to take charge instead of passing the buck to least powerful in the hierarchy.

@Parker231

From Sky News - Brighton and Hove City Council has advised primary schools to delay reopening and teach remotely until January 18 due to increased rates of Covid-19

Let’s hope the announcements all start trickling in now until the government have no choice but to go online.

How on Earth will the government back down now though and save face.

My DDs class of 24.

8 nurses and doctors as parents (7 children in)
3 on EHCPs (10)
3 retail workers (13)
There's also a couple of them who were in last time as their DC of single working parents and the parents couldn't WFH and home school.

Our school it's only 1 keyworker parent. So over half her class will be in if we close (tier 4 midlands so likely) so I can well believe a similar set up elsewhere.

My DD won't be offered a place even though I'm a single parent with limited input from her because I'm none keyworker and permenantly wfh.

My 'beef' with the profession comes from being married to a primary school DH, so seeing from the inside how much work is actually going on.

He would do less than half of what he usually does during working from home.

Then he's one of those teachers doing a crap job @Flippingnightmare. Or he's a DH who doesn't teach.
The teachers in my family worked even harder during lockdown. They were going in some of the time to teach KW children, and from home, they were creating and structuring work for all the children online. They were working until 10pm every day, as everything to do with setting work and teaching online was new to them and massively time consuming. Not to mention all the pastoral work they were having to do for those vulnerable families who depended on free school meals, and checking in on the children with SEN or who might be thought to be at risk.

If your husband did as little as you claim, I'd be embarrassed, frankly.

The government will save face by blanking teachers and the unions.

Blaming*

Sky news -Brighton closures

That is fine. I would expect then that all teaching staff being paid are redeployed on online teaching or testing. We had two teachers during the lockdown who had a great time in Cornwall surfing. Posting on Facebook about how This was the best summer ever. I am sure it was, but for the rest of us if we do not work we do not get paid..

Don’t support this at all and it’s a total mockery if they are refusing to teach majority of children but keeping key worker children in schools (vast majority of whom will have NHS worker parents and will therefore be more likely to contract Covid). Absolute nonsense!

Well done NEU.

I'm overseas. We are closed until March (high expectations for distance learning including live zooms 50% of the time, with the recordings subsequently posted on Google Classroom for anyone who missed it).

I've got 3 teenage dc & it's going to be a bloody nightmare, 🤷🏻‍♀️ & I'll work twice as hard as I would if school was open to all students.

My dc will bitch & moan & slack off & I'll need to do extra parenting too.

But it's safest. & I say that from a school where we actually HAVE all the precautions @noblegiraffe has been asking for, which kept us open until mid December when the wheels suddenly came off rather spectacularly.

@laidbacklife

Don’t support this at all and it’s a total mockery if they are refusing to teach majority of children but keeping key worker children in schools (vast majority of whom will have NHS worker parents and will therefore be more likely to contract Covid). Absolute nonsense!

It's a numbers game. "Covid loves a crowd" as we were reminded the other day. Even if we just halve numbers in school, we can actually social distance at 1m most of the time. If it's less, even safer.

I wonder how much of this is because a vaccine is now available.

There wasn't this fuss last Summer. Now the vaccine is available it smacks of getting themselves to the front of the queue come what may.

@justgeton

I wonder how much of this is because a vaccine is now available.

There wasn't this fuss last Summer. Now the vaccine is available it smacks of getting themselves to the front of the queue come what may.

It's because there's a new strain and R is well above 1 in parts of the country and predictions that it will rise higher elsewhere. There wasn't the fuss last summer because rates were low.