Sunday Times: Schools back in 3 Weeks

[Lumene]

Will post link

@BrrrIsland

I worry that the decision is being made for the wrong choices. The ‘schools must open this day regardless’ MPs make me angry. What is wrong with waiting just 1 or 2 weeks longer if the benefits of lockdown are going to be greater?

Agree. The Covid recovery group are fools.

Agree this is for political reasons and public pressure rather than based on the science

I hate the Covid Recovery Group. Like they’re something if national importance, but are in fact a bunch of white, male middle aged capitalist twats, who only care about their investments.

They can fuck right off.

Regardless of how GCSEs and A-levels end up being assessed, the children still need to learn the content to move on to higher courses. Can you imagine the difficulties facing A-level and degree providers faced with kids starting courses with big gaps in their learning? Different gaps for different kids too as schools teach things in different orders. It's not ok to give up now and say they don't have to go back, and it's also really bad for the work ethic of some, who will be doing nothing at home.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

I hate the Covid Recovery Group. Like they’re something if national importance, but are in fact a bunch of white, male middle aged capitalist twats, who only care about their investments.

They can fuck right off.

Hear hear 👏🏼

@Chollok

Agree this is for political reasons and public pressure rather than based on the science

And therein lies the problem and the reason we are stuffed and they have learnt nothing if they go ahead with all schools open on the 8th.

@littlemisslozza

Regardless of how GCSEs and A-levels end up being assessed, the children still need to learn the content to move on to higher courses. Can you imagine the difficulties facing A-level and degree providers faced with kids starting courses with big gaps in their learning? Different gaps for different kids too as schools teach things in different orders. It's not ok to give up now and say they don't have to go back, and it's also really bad for the work ethic of some, who will be doing nothing at home.

Quite. This situation is unsustainable, and the children squeezed in the middle of these political machinations will have to deal with the consequences for many years to come.

I don't have a solution, but the fact that this massive opportunity we have to re-think our antiquated education system, to rebuild it in a manner that will serve children best, based on sound pedagogy and a much clearer understanding of the science of how humans learn, well. It's infuriating and heart-breaking in equal measure.

Great news. The important thing will be not to open up everything else all at once. See how it goes with schools being open first. They are the most important thing to get open.

@RuleWithAWoodenFoot

Just saying 'enough is enough' doesn't make a highly transmissible pandemic virus go away because it's inconvenient.

Vaccinating 14 million of those most at risk of requiring long stays in hospital and dying does though.

@Chollok

Agree this is for political reasons and public pressure rather than based on the science

What ‘political reasons’?

This phrase always intrigues me. Can you clarify?

Genuine question, asked in curiosity: Those of you who have said they will not send your children back when their class returns, what kind of provision would you expect from their school? With their teacher teaching in person again, I mean.

I’m thinking about primary children in particular here, where the teacher does not necessarily teach from the board, and in secondaries for more practical subjects - so therefore joining a lesson virtually is not possible, even if the tech/parental permissions were in place.

I’m not casting aspersions on anyone’s decisions here, just curious - as a teacher whose school has been trying to figure this issue out since the constant self isolations began in October.

Regardless of how GCSEs and A-levels end up being assessed, the children still need to learn the content to move on to higher courses. Can you imagine the difficulties facing A-level and degree providers faced with kids starting courses with big gaps in their learning? Different gaps for different kids too as schools teach things in different orders

I’m a secondary school teacher and have been for 25 years. I’ve taught kids arriving as refugees with no English, kids who’ve missed a year or so due to illness, kids who’ve missed time for other reasons. The majority go onto degrees including medical science.

‘Gaps’are where children aren’t achieving governmental imposed targets. Not particularly gaps in learning. Gaps or ‘ catching up’is just rhetoric by those who aren’t actually at the chalk face. Most teachers think it’s taking the pressure of kids and are hoping for a much neededreset of education.

They’ve missed lots of governmental prescribed shit. These are the ‘gaps’

They will be fine.

Those of you who have said they will not send your children back when their class returns, what kind of provision would you expect from their school?

Nothing at all!

What ‘political reasons’?

Pressure from backbench Tory MPs. Not that difficult to work out surely?

@Remmy123

Yes just primary and secondary will follow shortly after.

And they should be open.. these kids have missed out so much!! Nearly a year of disrupted schooling.

Enough is enough

You do know there’s a pandemic? That children transmit? That children get non covid? That the government were told about the catastrophe that opening would bring but ignored it. That they don’t want to spend any money on making schools safer and providing children with the same protection as adults???

*long

CountessFrog
Can’t believe anyone with half a brain would support secondary remaining closed to y11 (and sixth form) when they are about to ‘sit’ GCSEs.

Being as exams are cancelled, you would have thought that it would be worth letting the teachers know what was going on before having the pupils back.

@Chollok

Those of you who have said they will not send your children back when their class returns, what kind of provision would you expect from their school?

Nothing at all!

Our school just provided an order of topics - meant I could do things in the right order for their return. As a teacher on a stay at home break I can tell you that I’d have been more than happy to do this for parents.

There is a lot of pointless red tape in teaching, I wouldn’t see supporting people learn safely at home as being in this category.

We haven't really used any of the stuff the school provided us with tbh, have done our own thing.

Anti-lockdown campaign groups like the Tory Covid Recovery lot and Us4Them are pushing massively for schools to reopen as soon as possible (even before March 8th) because Boris said that schools would be first to open so they can’t dismantle the rest of lockdown until then.

That’s why we’re seeing increasingly desperate posts and news articles about schools re-opening, about lost education, about children’s mental health, from areas and publications that do not generally give a shit, pushing ‘schools open’ as the cure for these problems.

It makes more sense if you read ‘we must open schools’ as ‘we must lift lockdown’. Because that’s their real goal.

Exactly noble - funny how the media didn't give a shit that some kids spent three quarters of last term isolating rather than in school due to constant positive cases in their year groups. Far more disrupting to their education than the situation we're in now but schools were open so who cares hey!

Yep, Canta and they don’t seem to be pushing for more funding for mental health support for kids (a service devastated by Tory cuts) or social services (ditto) to support vulnerable kids. It’s all about the schools opening.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow I was also a teacher for 17 years until relatively recently but I don't agree with everything you've said. It totally depends what you plan on going on to study. Science A-levels and degrees have a huge amount of content, you can't move on easily to some concepts without the grounding in it. Totally different from many essay based subjects for example where you are transferring skills.

FWIW I think it's time to move to a baccalaureate type qualification at 18.

@Chollok

What ‘political reasons’?

Pressure from backbench Tory MPs. Not that difficult to work out surely?

What are their motivations? Based on what? Self interest? The greater good? Economic concerns? Spiralling waiting lists? Collusion with big pharma? Cover ups from China? Hatred of teachers? Concerns about childrens mental health?

‘Political pressure/‘not that hard to work out’ comments mean nothing.

I've found homeschooling my 5 & 7 year old so challenging and draining (I also work FT from home) and the stress of it all has brought me to my knees. But I would support waiting until Easter, however painful it might be, if it helps ensure we don't have to close schools again. I'm very concerned March 8th is too early.

Also agree with PP below (a teacher) that a lot of these 'gaps' in education children are apparently enduring are government imposed milestones and tick box exercises. There is a lot of unnecessary panic generally over what children are missing out on academically and socially. Missing school for a few months will not destroy the education of an entire generation of children. Of course kids miss playing with their school friends but this brief shitshow isn't going to scar them for life. I read an article in the Guardian in which mother of a 10 month old was blaming Covid restrictions on the child's "lack of social skills". A 10mo doesn't have social skills. The baby cries when strangers approach and mum thinks this is because she hasn't been around enough people. No, it's called stranger anxiety and is a completely normal developmental stage for a baby of that age