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...

Say 3 weeks.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Not a chance schools will close and then reopen in 3 weeks. It will be months

So, my choice is, go in to work, teach 5 lessons remotely, come home

or

stay at home, teach 5 lessons remotely, whilst also taking care of 2 young children.

And the bottom choice is the lazy one? Ooookay.

@Noellodee

So, my choice is, go in to work, teach 5 lessons remotely, come home

or

stay at home, teach 5 lessons remotely, whilst also taking care of 2 young children.

And the bottom choice is the lazy one? Ooookay.

What's an online lesson?

Most primaries seem incapable of hosting these, preferred method is to
Bing us a twinkl sheet each day

I'd have no problem with you all staying home if you really were all doing hours of online lessons

@ofgavin

I'd have no problem with you all staying home if you really were all doing hours of online lessons

Exactly this is what I don't understand, people crying out stating why won't they let us homeschool. It's utter bs no parent managed to do a 9-3 school day at home a couple of hours would be a massive win for most.

Maybe this will help you focus your thoughts folks:

@Countdowntonothing

It's not that teachers want schools shut (they were never shut and never will). We want them SAFE. We want what was promised. We want the funding to pay for hand sanitizer and soap because school budgets do not have a spare penny. We want testing, but done properly and safely. We want funding for cleaning. We want the technology promised so if bubbles close we can provide adequate home learning. We want money for supply staff to cover staff absences. We have been saying this since last summer but the government haven't listened, have denied us the simplest of protection measures and gone back on all their promises of funding and technology.

We were dropping like flies before Christmas and now cases are so much higher, it's just going to be worse. We WANT to be in school teaching, but with proper measures in place.

100% behind you on that

I want schools open because of the emotional, mental & psychological effects on some students of school closures, but very little is being done to make schools safe and this needs to change

OP this isn't a race to the bottom, just because our health and safety in the NHS is crap it doesn't mean that other professions should tolerate it.

Why start another teacher hating post? They are stressed and demoralised and none of this is helping. They have zero priority for the vaccine. They are scared. Data about teacher deaths etc has been suppressed.

I don't know a single teacher in real life (and I know loads) who doesn't want to be at school and teach. But while rates are so high in the community we have to consider what is best. Overall it is better for children to be at school, no one would argue with that. However, bouncing into repeated isolations again and again isn't benefiting anyone. If a couple of weeks off can suppress the rate of infection, these kids are more likely to be able to stay in school for longer. We'll see the effects of Christmas mixing in another week, is it better to hit when the kids are at school or at home? It isn't rocket science.

It's good that they actually have unions that give a shit, while the rest of us are treating Covid positive patients with crappy surgical masks.

Keyworkers can send their kids in next week, I will be.

Online, as in me there, giving a lesson, students at home.

Personally, I don't think it's the most effective way of delivering the work. We're a large secondary school and I think there is no need for four different teachers to be teaching the same lesson to the same ability range. I think we should share the actual lesson delivery out four ways, and use the time saved to both broadcast and record the lesson for later consumption, provide additional supportive materials (in hardcopy if necessary) and a later Q & A session to solve any problems that come up whilst students are completing the work set.

Of course, we'd have had time to arrange all this if the government weren't so fucking useless. But hey, please do carry on telling us we're a bunch of workshy snowflakes. That really gets our morale up.

@ofgavin

I'd have no problem with you all staying home if you really were all doing hours of online lessons

Not possible for Reception, Year 1, Year 2.

"Work from home, if you can"

A Year 1 teacher cannot work from home, so should be in school.

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

@Noellodee

Online, as in me there, giving a lesson, students at home.

Personally, I don't think it's the most effective way of delivering the work. We're a large secondary school and I think there is no need for four different teachers to be teaching the same lesson to the same ability range. I think we should share the actual lesson delivery out four ways, and use the time saved to both broadcast and record the lesson for later consumption, provide additional supportive materials (in hardcopy if necessary) and a later Q & A session to solve any problems that come up whilst students are completing the work set.

Of course, we'd have had time to arrange all this if the government weren't so fucking useless. But hey, please do carry on telling us we're a bunch of workshy snowflakes. That really gets our morale up.

You've had since March...

You know what's not easy to do at home? Catch Covid from the thirty other people rammed into a small unventilated room with you.

Really? We were told about delivering online learning in January in March, were we?

Wow. I slept through that one.

@Noellodee

You know what's not easy to do at home? Catch Covid from the thirty other people rammed into a small unventilated room with you.

That's bollocks as I WFH and by virtue of doing that and homeschooling never have time to leave the house, but I caught it in the only place I could, sainsburys

Just because there may be a place for a vulnerable child it doesn't mean their parent will take them.

@Noellodee

Really? We were told about delivering online learning in January in March, were we?

Wow. I slept through that one.

You've had since March to get online ready

It's not rocket science, winter was always going to come, winter was always going to be worse

"Work from home, if you can"

If you can't do your job from home, get to work. If you aren't happy with your working conditions, go on strike (and accept you won't be paid for it).

Hey, I want to play this game, too. What's your job, OfGavin, so I can tell you how to do it? I mean, I probably know nothing at all about it, but that's the whole fun of it, isn't it?

@Noellodee

Hey, I want to play this game, too. What's your job, OfGavin, so I can tell you how to do it? I mean, I probably know nothing at all about it, but that's the whole fun of it, isn't it?

I'm Of Gavin

My husband used to be a teacher, until he left for industry where he realised what real work was

@ofgavin

During lockdown 1, many teaching staff were redeployed (depending on the LA).

My instructions were to set one task per week, for each class I teach and forward it to my head of department to distribute. This was generally done on a Sunday afternoon.

Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm, I was redeployed and looking after vulnerable or key workers children at different primary schools in our catchment. With no access to IT.

It was a terrible use of my time. Often there were 8 or more staff and only 5 children in attendance. I’m useless with little kids as well, I’m secondary... But the LA wanted us somewhere, doing something that they had chosen and could monitor.

I did check up on the tasks I set in the evening and I did mark what was handed in. Not because I was asked to, but because I chose to...but I can see why after a full day, other teachers might have chosen not to.

I suspect parents could say that what I offered wasn’t great, or up to scratch. It could be described as just odd worksheets. But I think it would be very unfair to imply that this was somehow down to me taking advantage of the situation; being lazy or not dedicated to my job.

For any further secondary online learning, teaching staff will not be redeployed and TAs and support staff are the people who will be looking after key workers children and vulnerable children. Teachers will only be following their timetable and will be implementing all of the online learning, lessons and videos we have been working on since returning to school. I should imagine, the vast majority of parents who have secondary children capable of following online learning, will see a big difference compared to what was on offer previously.

I’m not sure if primary will be the same? It’s worth remembering that some staff may be working with groups of children throughout the day as well as juggling online teaching. Parents with children too little to follow online lessons I do feel for and I hope we are able to get the R rate down as quickly as possible, so that education for all children can resume safely.

Can I suggest you wait and see what your school offers for online learning and if you are not satisfied, you are well within your rights to contact the school and request something extra or different.

My son’s school were rubbish during lockdown 1, but in the last 2 periods of year group isolation he had, they were outstanding.

We have had no online lessons, videos etc, and having reviewed the plan go forwards, there'll be none again - having also asked other parents whose children have isolated more recently, it's all worksheets dumped on a repository.

This is not teaching.

As others have said, KS1 cannot be taught remotely in this manner.

To choose to never engage with the children either as a class or individually is dire and substandard.

What year groups are your children in @ofgavin ?

@DBML

What year groups are your children in *@ofgavin* ?

2 and 5