Why do my children not deserve an education?

[noitsachicken]

Just because we are not key workers?
My children don’t qualify for a school place, that means they won’t be educated in a classroom, by a teacher, with their peers, they won’t have time to socialise with their friends or play in a group.
They will be sat around the kitchen table, sharing a space with siblings of different ages, all with different needs, with a non-teacher parent trying to do the best they can.
Last lockdown school provision was ‘childcare’ the curriculum was suspended and there was no expectation. That is not the case this time, children who are not allowed in school are at a huge disadvantage.
I realise we are ‘lucky’ compared to others, we have access to technology and I can be home with the children, but I worry for my children, for their mental health and their education.
Why do they not deserve an education and others are prioritised for an education based on their parents job?
How long will those of us with children who are not allowed in school accept this?
I understand the reasons for closing schools, but children are not being treated fairly, if childcare is needed for those with critical jobs then it should be no more than that.

My children’s school is doing proper lessons in school but the children who are in are (mostly) children who need a lot of extra help. I couldn’t begrudge them getting proper teaching. Plus the risk in our area of getting coronavirus is huge. Those families who are sending their children in are putting in themselves at risk so I imagine it wasn’t a decision taken lightly.

I won’t deny that I have had lots of anxious moments about how my children’s education is suffering but we just have to keep going and try out best.

OP you sound massively entitled. We are in a pandemic. Get your shit together and do what you can to reduce the spread to try not to overwhelm the NHS and to try not to give your childrens' teachers covid.

It's not "unfair" that critical workers' children are in school. They need to be, so we can get our food deliveries/so the covid wards have staff/so your bins get emptied/so fires get out out etc.

The children who are in school are getting the same provision as those who aren't. Some one to sit and watch them on an iPad while they access whatever learning platform the school has bought. In some ways the key worker kids are at a slight disadvantage because there'll probably be a larger adult to child ratio in school than at home (unless you have loads of kids) so if they need help they may have to wait a little longer.

Learning is a collaborative process. Hence why people who home school under normal circumstances often meet up to share activities. Let's not pretend that listening to the dulcet tones of the white rose maths guy, as lovely as I'm sure he is, then filling in a worksheet is an acceptable level of education for any child. Most children need discussion, sharing of ideas, visual examples, opportunities to get it wrong, opportunities to see 'correct' examples, opportunities to use manipulatives or the chance to talk about their learning and have someone appreciate it. A you tube video and a worksheet provides none of that. I don't think there's a child in the U.K. getting an what you think your child is missing out on at present, despite the very best efforts of schools and teaching staff.

Of course our kids are missing out. It's bloody terrible.

How entitled can you be OP?
Give your head a wobble and look at the bigger picture.

How is it fair that teachers are put in a position where they are surrounded by 30 other people with no PPE or vaccine just to, as you put it, provide childcare? The risk to their own and their families lives is too great a risk.

Home schooling is hard and I am also finding it tough.

I am a key worker and have not sent my children to school. I am working in a care home where residents are positive for covid and I will not send my children to school when there is a risk they can pass it on.

It's a shame others don't have the same attitude.

You could argue why some teachers decrease to die so your child can have this face to face education. If your DC were teachers or in hospital on a ventilator like DDs 40 odd year old deputy head, I’m sure you’d feel differently.
Surely you usually do homework with different aged siblings and you weren’t a teacher then either? How old are your children? Are they unable to do any independent learning?

Deserve to die *

Possibly the most selfish post I've ever seen on here

Posters have failed to realise that they are not getting the same as at school if they are ensuring they do the tasks at home. Children of non keyworker working parents, unless they have other arrangements, are probably not managing to do all of the learning because their parents have to work and can’t magically homeschool at the same time because it’s called WORKING from home. A lot of people on mumsnet think working from home does not equal working.....I can assure you employers still expect you to do all the work (and often overtime if you are in that sort of job - I can’t just not do my work as seems to be the assumption, nor is anyone allowed to be furloughed)

@noitsachicken

I am aware of the crisis. But children are being treated unfairly, all children should be treated the same. Childcare should be provided for those who really need it

but you don't need it - you're at home with your children, well able to educate them.

There's a trend at the moment. Everyone feels
They're worse off than everyone else: it's not a
Competition. It's crap for all kids. And adults

@noitsachicken

I am aware of the crisis. But children are being treated unfairly, all children should be treated the same. Childcare should be provided for those who really need it

Just out of curiosity how would you balance treating all schools the same with freeing up people who are needed to fight covid, alongside making sure schools are as empty as possible so as not to aid community transmission?

I can understand you frustration.

My child’s teacher is in school teaching the key worker/vulnerable children whilst the teacher of the second year group class is teaching from home.

We’re muddling through. I refuse to have my kids at a disadvantage so I will take my mental health to the brink to make sure I do everything I can to do all the work with them. It’s extremely stressful though as I am not a teacher.

Stop thinking so selfishly and be grateful your children are at home safe/ if you think your kids aren't doing great then you or your partner do better! Thousands of parents are on the front line everyday risking their lives for people like you to be safe!

How is that fair? My young children used says this to me regularly. Adults should be able to think about things a bit more deeply.

Why am I entitled for wanting my children to be treated the same as others?
I am not blind to the situation, I understand what is going on, I understand everyone’s situation is different.
There are lots of threads and news stories with schools with 50% and more of children in, people aren’t keeping their children home, parents are sending them given the chance.
Schools aren’t properly closed.

OK. So you accept that these are unusual times.
You want all children treated the same. Agree that would be nice.
Would you rather have all kids at home resulting in key workers staying home to look after their children (health care workers, teachers, food distributors etc)
Or
Would you rather have all kids in school where the transmission rate is high, bubbles busting all over the place, teachers will 300% greater chance of getting seriously ill, increased risk to parents, grandparents, communities...

Last time school provided childcare for children to keep studying. The curriculum wasn't suspended. My kids worked 9-2 m-f on work set by schools. Did you not do this last time?
My y6 did it from home whilst I sat upstairs running NHS clinics. My y3 was in school because he has additional needs and couldn't access the work without support. I tried working from home but patients not fully on board with clinics 4-midnight.

With over 1000 deaths yesterday maybe be glad you can keep your children at home where they are safer 🤷‍♀️

If we are talking about "deserve", then keyworkers' children deserve to have a reasonable expectation that their parents will survive their working environment, and come home to them. If they are working in healthcare, then it's entirely possible that they won't get this.

It's ludicrous to talk about "deserve" in the current circumstances.

I get that you are exhausted and frustrated and all the rest of it. You are not alone in this, and it's OK to vent. But this weird jealousy of other people's children is really a distraction.

Life is really tough for everyone right now. Should we make everyone's life as awful as it is for the worst affected so its 'fair'?
Perhaps you'd like some life saving surgery cancelled, or some of your relatives to die?
Would that make you feel like it's more fair? Rather than saying you are grateful, try actually being grateful.

Education has never been fair.

In normal times there are huge disparities in education: private and state, grammar and comprehensive, private tuition, those who can afford enrichment activities etc. It has always been thus.

Now that we 'feel' it, maybe when this is over we will change it.

I think the OP has had some harsh replies, over on another educational thread, most people saying in their schools teachers are in teaching the children with places. One person asked why their school could not just live stream the lesson and was told it was not possible for the teacher to have a video recording them as they were too busy teaching the class.
So many parents reporting getting no more than an hour of live online lessons while the teacher then carries on in school teaching those present.
So yes I think the op has every right to question the situation, and every right to feel concerned for her children.
The government said that schools must move online.. I read that to mean teachers would actually be teaching online.
Many schools are doing this so it's not impossible

those children are in school with their teachers and peers being taught as normal

No, they're not being taught as 'normal' where on earth are you getting this claptrap from? Your original post is so tone deaf it's embarrassing.

Also my friend is currently working as frontline nhs staff as is her husband (she feels and I agree) that those of us who get to keep our children safe at home, thus minimising the risk of them becoming poorly or transmitting covid to someone else in the family, should feel fairly lucky.

I saw my kids so much during the last lockdown that I was sick of the sight of them and never wanted to home school again; she never stopped working and had to send her kids into school and wraparound care every single day. We're all going through the shit right now but no good will come from trying to find people you think have it slightly better.

@noitsachicken

Why am I entitled for wanting my children to be treated the same as others? I am not blind to the situation, I understand what is going on, I understand everyone’s situation is different. There are lots of threads and news stories with schools with 50% and more of children in, people aren’t keeping their children home, parents are sending them given the chance. Schools aren’t properly closed.

And with many schools now being too full to manage the small bubbles needed to TRY to keep children safe, staff are really really worried about safety. For themselves and for the children. When it’s only a small number of KEY WORKER’S children in they can cope. When selfish idiots send their kids in because they can it becomes unsustainable.