Am I missing the point here...

[kookykins]

I'm going to try and make this as measured as I can and try not to make it come across like a torrent of frustration.

Why is it that teachers are getting to say when schools go back? Why does it feel like teachers are constantly complaining about the virus? No one is an ideal situation right now so why does it feel like they are being allowed to 'opt out' of their careers now times are tough.

I work in a busy NHS hospital and It honestly sickens and saddens me that there are men and women, many parents relying on schools to open, relying on their children's education being properly resumed next week they are giving life saving treatment in dire situations every day. I haven't heard them complaining about having to come in and save lives work extra hours and a lot on low pay.

Teachers to an extent have chosen a career to support teach and mentor our children I feel when the going has got touch (very tough fair enough) they are opting out...however many of these teachers will expect ITU nurses to treat someone in their family who happens to get ill with this virus. How can this be? How is this ok?

I have friends who are teachers who don't feel like this and who want to get back to work but are very much being pulled along by the union so I don't want to paint all teachers with the same brush...

What happens to the children who need to go back to school, who need that hot meal that support that escape? Do they not matter?

Surely the children of this country are a higher priority right now?
Teachers and unions are being given insane amounts of power right now and I don't understand it. If we are all meant to 'be in it together' then why aren't we all cracking on like the next person and getting on with our jobs because we realise the impact if we don't...

Rant over...

Unless my DD's school send a Year 1 teacher to my house, whatever they offer will not be acceptable, as I'm essentially being asked to either neglect my child or give up work.

As a single parent financially, I can't just stop working and as a parent I won't neglect my child.

It's an impossible situation.

I thought one of the reasons why teachers didn't want schools yo go back was to stop NHS beibg overrun more than it already is.

Oh and in DD's school all classrooms open onto the school grounds (single storey building) so doors and windows can be open to allow full ventilation. DD's class were not sent home at all last term as no positive cases were in her class.

In Hong Kong all teaching was done online for months and months, a full teaching day.

So your children are old enough for online learning, assuming they have no ALN.

I think you are within your rights to challenge a lack of provision with your school directly. I know this week I am love teaching years 10-13. I am recording videos and setting curriculum based activities for years 7-9. I will be online throughout the full duration of every lesson to answer questions, offer support, remind children I’m present and mark work being handed in, with feedback to improve or develop.
These are the expectations for me. I will only be allowed to leave my computer during break and lunchtime. My activity will be monitored.
I think majority of schools will be doing similar.

Perhaps give your school a chance to prove you wrong initially and formally complain if you have to. But please don’t assume it’s what we are all doing, as that couldn’t be further from the truth.

As a parent as well as a teacher, I have sympathy for the position parents are in. I have a 15 year old, which should be easier, but getting him up in the morning and getting him motivated to learn (and not switch to mine craft when he thinks I’m not looking) nearly drove me insane... especially when I had to them leave the house and trust him to get his work done.

I hope personally for 3-4 weeks of remote learning at most. Drive down the R rate. The LAs get their arse in gear setting up the testing and PPE and we can get kids back in, with less virus in the community hopefully. That’s what I hope for and I hope my pupils parents can really see the effort that’s gone into the online provision I’ve prepared.

That should say live teaching years 10-13.

@ofgavin

Well quite, I agree, I'm dumbfounded by the fact it's all so easy to do at home apparently, kinda makes the teachers a bit redundant if it's that easy

Lol, that is the best comment I've read. Close all the schools permanently, and lets all just keep our kids at home. My kids in year 1 and 3 got zero online schooling through this whole pandemic. Funnily enough, we took them out of school last year for a week to take them on holiday and hot fined gor it. Where can I send my 4 months of fines to the government?

@Northernsoulgirl45

I thought one of the reasons why teachers didn't want schools yo go back was to stop NHS beibg overrun more than it already is.

You would think this would be the message; to suppress transmission in society.

It's unfortunate that teaching unions have been forced(?) to take the angle that "staff will not work in an unsafe environment" as the press jump on that and stir up bad feeling and blame teachers for being lazy. Other public facing sectors then also feel short changed or ignored whilst working in non covid safe environments.

No ALN, but thank you for explaining a teachers POV that the provision we are getting isn't good enough, of course it's a case of suck it and see, and I don't assume every school is providing this poor level of service... but... a lot are

@ofgavin

No ALN, but thank you for explaining a teachers POV that the provision we are getting isn't good enough, of course it's a case of suck it and see, and I don't assume every school is providing this poor level of service... but... a lot are

I've got friends who are teachers who tell me that they have worked long hours throughout the last bout of closures, I've got friends who are teachers who have said they did very little and took up knitting or another language.

I think it's a disgrace that the home learning support wasn't mandated. It shouldn't be at the individual school/teachers discretion. As clearly some will do it and some won't.

@SeldomFollowedIt

You do realise having schools off will decrease the pressure on the NHS?

Yes. Exactly this.

And schools being open only to keyworker and vulnerable children will mean less chance of these children needing to self isolate.

Nikhedonia, funnily enough even in the same school there are differing provisions too, my year 2 gets a slightly better deal than my year 5 (I can only describe this as the year 2 teacher knows how to use google classroom and can upload stuff, and the year 5 one is either IT illiterate or doesn't give a sh1t!)

It's all so wrong, stealing a living.

@Nikhedonia

Yes, year 2 (6 year olds) might manage some online learning if it’s interesting enough and they have a computer, they might even enjoy seeing their teacher over the screen and be able to join in with some Q and A.
Year 1, might still be too distracted and still have their baby-like ways. I can understand you feeling that even the best online provision would not be good enough.

I can understand how parents in this position might ask for furlough. How they might have to share childcare with another parent, or how they might even need to lean on grandparents if they are of a healthy age. My friends mum is a healthy 54 year old and is going to move in and sleep on an air bed to support with childcare. She’s having to take holiday from work to do this, so it’s a pain.

But the alternative could end up isolation period after isolation period which will end up really disruptive for some parents anyway. My son isolated for 2 weeks in November, went back to school for three days and was off again! Thank god he’s old enough to stay home alone. I still didn’t like leaving him day after day though.

There’s no good option and that’s the problem. But if we can get Covid out of our school communities and drive down those numbers, there is less chance of pupils or teachers having to go off. And if the government acts quickly, we could do that in just a few weeks with a proper lockdown. School should be open to all children, but what can we do at the moment? It feels impossible.

I do feel for parents of young children though.

DD is a summer born year 1. She could technically still be in Reception. She can't do online classes, she can't even do a 30 minute dance class online without me needing to go in and find out what's going on.

I can understand how parents in this position might ask for furlough.

Furlough isn't financially viable to me. It would result in me losing more than £2500 pcm (net) and that's quite a lot of money to me.

how they might even need to lean on grandparents if they are of a healthy age.

Both of my parents still work full time.

Is this a serious post? Epidemiologists have been imploring the government to shut schools and move to online provision for a while, in order to prevent the NHS from being any more overwhelmed than it already is. It is meant to help you and your colleagues. It’s not about teachers wanting special treatment. Please look at the bigger picture and read what SAGE, Indie SAGE and the numerous scientists who explain the issues on Twitter are saying.

^^My post is addressed to OP, not post just before mine.

You’re a dickhead for saying this @kookykins. Be angry with this shitshow of a government, not teachers who didn’t sign up to work in unsafe germ factories. The vast majority of teachers are healthy and fit, but what about the ones that aren’t? There are CEV teachers working in schools now with no masks, no distancing and no choice. Why should they put their lives literally on the line because this government are seemingly incapable of acting in a timely fashion to make sure it is keeping its citizens safe? They may have signed up to mentor and teach but they didn’t sign up to be exposed to a potentially lethal virus when there are other ways of educating kids that would be just as effective and safer (if only the government would throw some time, money and expertise at it).

@Nikhedonia

DD is a summer born year 1. She could technically still be in Reception. She can't do online classes, she can't even do a 30 minute dance class online without me needing to go in and find out what's going on.

I can understand how parents in this position might ask for furlough.

Furlough isn't financially viable to me. It would result in me losing more than £2500 pcm (net) and that's quite a lot of money to me.

how they might even need to lean on grandparents if they are of a healthy age.

Both of my parents still work full time.

2500 is more than I (teacher) take home in a month. And I'm actually quite high on the payscale .

It's hard not to give a rude response given you've accused (admittedly some) teachers of "stealing a living." I will refrain.

But you could surely afford childcare if needed. Someone who could watch them and help them access home learning.

I honestly think that KS1 (particularly Reception and Year 1) as well as children with additional learning needs are being completely forgotten.

"Online lessons" don't work for all.

Then the patronising posters come and say "oh at that age it's not proper learning, just read to them" If I take her on holiday during term time, she's losing out on critical teaching/learning time though and I must be fined...

It's hard not to give a rude response given you've accused (admittedly some) teachers of "stealing a living." I will refrain.

No, I did not! I have never said anything like that.

@LacyEdge

Is this a serious post? Epidemiologists have been imploring the government to shut schools and move to online provision for a while, in order to prevent the NHS from being any more overwhelmed than it already is. It is meant to help you and your colleagues. It’s not about teachers wanting special treatment. Please look at the bigger picture and read what SAGE, Indie SAGE and the numerous scientists who explain the issues on Twitter are saying.

Sorry, on topic here.

This is exactly right. In response to OP's question in the title, they clearly are missing something.

Teacher's unions are using the health and safety at work act because that's a legal challenge they can make. But it's really about making the whole country safer and reducing the numbers of patients presenting with covid.

Surely government will decide if schools close based on the appropriate evidence. Unions may be making a noise, but they don’t get to decide, nor do the teachers.
It has been a very difficult year for many people in many jobs and walks of life. The NHS staff who work with Covid patients have been absolutely amazing - I don’t know how they do it. I wear a mask when I’m teaching and it’s very restrictive. I totally take my hat off to the staff in full PPE. I am also very grateful to everyone involved in keeping the country running as well as possible in a pandemic.
I don’t think now is the time to strike/work to rule because everyone has to play their part.

@Nikhedonia

It's hard not to give a rude response given you've accused (admittedly some) teachers of "stealing a living." I will refrain.

No, I did not! I have never said anything like that.

My apologies. This was another poster and I misread. Sorry again.

ofgavin
It's all so wrong, stealing a living.
I agree with you on this point. I quit after 28 years at the chalkface because I couldn't take the self-serving hypocrisy of the teaching profession any longer.

In my experience, the majority of frontline teachers do their best in a system which is doomed to failure due to atrociously poor senior leadership, and Local Authority responsibility/monitoring.

However, the 'education' which is provided is not good enough at the best of times ... and under the current conditions, probably non-existent.

Any teachers who were allowed to abdicate their responsibilities during the first lockdown should be dismissed, along with the 'senior leadership teams' who allowed them to do this.

I sincerely hope that one good outcome of the pandemic will be that parents use their newfound awareness of the deficiencies of educational provision to DEMAND an overhaul of the whole system with vastly increased accountability.

Most parents would be absolutely horrified if they knew what their children experience day after day in mainstream state schools.

Sick to death of the teacher bashing on MN.

I have family and friends who are teachers and TAs, they are on their knees. No PPE, Government giving last minute instructions and u-turns every 5 minutes, teachers nowhere to be seen on the vaccination priority list. And now being expected to run testing of students in school!

Teachers - you are amazing and are being treated appallingly by the government and way too many parents and now NHS staff ( if OP actually is...)