How are teachers feeling now?

[ssd]

I've got an awful lot of sympathy for teachers in all this, I feel they've been hung out to dry. But hopefully the vaccine news and cases coming down will make them feel a bit better.
My kids have left school so I've got a general interest. .no bone to grind.

Sick because I've now caught covid.

So... have come into school to be met with a list of more than 10 students in the sixth form who have tested positive. Apparently this is not an outbreak and we are to limp on regardless.

This has also taken out six members of staff.

“The shit will really hit the fan once students and parents decide to challenge their grades. They need to be able to do this before grades are submitted but we have a shockingly short window between the end of our non-exam exams and the submission date.”

A couple of my teacher friends have said that parents are already sharpening their elbows and contacting school to complain that their kids are being tested in all subjects. I’m not sure what they expected instead, and how they thought the teachers would come up with a fair grade given the fact that our mocks didn’t happen.

Being in the nhs, I don’t think you can compare the two jobs and their stresses at all, I’m pretty sure they’re equally stressful in different ways...

@Whenthesunshines

The shit will really hit the fan once students and parents decide to challenge their grades. They need to be able to do this before grades are submitted but we have a shockingly short window between the end of our non-exam exams and the submission date. They will have the option to re-sit in November if they don’t agree with their grade.

In my experience from last year, sitting exams in the Autumn was a complete farce though.

No one wanted to sit the autumn exams and parents argued and demanded (and in 9 cases for our school, got the lawyers in) that their child’s grades were changed and all refused to sit the exams on offer in November.

There was even a special ‘Us4Them’ type Facebook group that was encouraging hundreds of thousands of parents to do just that.

I don’t see it being any different this year sadly.

The DforE literally said one day last August ‘ignore the algorithm then, we wash our hands of this’ and left schools to flounder and suffer.

As such, my school is demanding so much more in terms of data, paperwork etc that it is definitely more stressful than last year.

Judging by threads on Mumsnet too, that stress is being passed on the pupils and parents when this could have been avoided if the DforE sorted itself out and did the job it was paid for.

Yep, definitely a lot of stress, worry and extra work on teachers of Year 11 and 13.

I feel a great deal of sympathy for teachers too. I feel they have been thrown to the wolves. Some of the posts on here - gaslighting them and expecting them to prioritise other people's children over their own lives and families, as though they should accept they themselves don't matter at all - have horrified me.

@BlueBlancmange

I feel a great deal of sympathy for teachers too. I feel they have been thrown to the wolves. Some of the posts on here - gaslighting them and expecting them to prioritise other people's children over their own lives and families, as though they should accept they themselves don't matter at all - have horrified me.

It’s interesting isn’t it? I wonder how many of these people put their own jobs above the welfare and safety of their family? Some people do and there are many people who have throughout this pandemic. NHS staff, care home staff, supermarket workers... I bet they are not the ones on here slating teachers though.

My school have put lots of safety in. I feel as safe as I can in a room full of 30 people with windows that only open and inch or two. But I am so happy to be back with my y11s.

But I feel exhausted. End of term exhausted. We have staff who are CEV who are online teaching. We still need staff to supervise the room. I have never known it this busy in 15 years.

It's possible to love your job and simultaneously find it overwhelming and exhausting. Teaching really is like that. It's awesome. I dance around the hall with my class, paint with them, we get excited when someone's tooth falls out. They call me mummy sometimes. I look after them when they're hurt or worried or sad. Every morning I greet them all with a huge smile and I'm genuinely excited to spend the day with them.

That doesn't mean it's not difficult. The children (and my colleagues) are the reason I get up every morning happy to go into work. The pointless assessments, school politics, learning walks, box ticking, pointless meetings, red tape, form filling etc is what makes it hard.

Most teachers are very tired. The end

I went full time again just after a year ago after 10 years part time. Really pickedy moment to do that 😂 but no regrets, it's been brilliant on the whole. But I really resent some of the public's attitudes to teachers. It looks so easy from the outside. It's really not and good teachers are constantly trying to improve. It's a hard job.

I also feel very, very sorry for the school teachers in this country.

Just imagine you are late 40s with vulnerabilities left out of gp6... just awful.

Then to add insult to injury, school teachers have been priotised in several EU countries, so vaccinated already despite the slower vaccine process over there.

School teachers in the UK, I absolutely feel for you. It isn't right to expose you to classes full of kids without enough protection at school or from the vaccine.

I've often wondered what the hell I'd have done if I was a school teacher.

@Spottyphonecase

My school have put lots of safety in. I feel as safe as I can in a room full of 30 people with windows that only open and inch or two. But I am so happy to be back with my y11s.

But I feel exhausted. End of term exhausted. We have staff who are CEV who are online teaching. We still need staff to supervise the room. I have never known it this busy in 15 years.

CEV shielding finishes 1 April though...

From not being allowed out of your house, straight into a class full of unmasked kids ?

I've often wondered what the hell I'd have done if I was a school teacher.

Gone to work! And moaned about it!! Same as the rest of us.

@MrsKypp you have described me! 49, asthmatic, autoimmune but bumped off group 6 this time. Still in class all day and bricking it, frankly! We have bubbles popping all over the shop and a rate that has leapt from 50 per to 270 since we reopened.

[quote Chickoletta]@TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross - I would say that this opinion puts you in a serious minority.[/quote]
What, that exams shouldn't have been cancelled? All the teachers I know in RL think it was the worst outcome for the students, no question.

For those who like to read the law (rather than non binding guidance) the n ew law is out www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/364/pdfs/uksi_20210364_en.pdf Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Steps) (England) Regulations 2021

What's that got to do with the price of fish xenia??

I was coughed on at point blank range by a small child who was eventually sent home. I'm waiting to see if there are any repercussions...

I've already caught it at school once.

Schools are not covid safe.

I feel really glad to be teaching in person again - it has been lovely having the kids back. My school has been good with covid safety and I have no issues with that (but I am a fit anf healthy 34 year old!).

I am, however, completely exhausted. I am assistant head of a core subject, trying to navigate the minefield of teacher assessed grades and the absolute mountain of work that is bringing over the next 8 weeks. Trying to maintain standards of normal teaching for other years and ensure that events that can be run happen.

I am constantly trying to put on a brave face for my team who are just as exhausted as I am.

I will have to work some of the Easter holidays to avoid completely burning out next half term.

I am tired with a capital T.

CEV shielding finishes 1st April though

I don't think not shielding any more is the same as being allowed into work though. We have 3 CEV where I teach and they are allowed back into work until they've had both jabs. Nothing to do with shielding dates.

That in itself is farcical as it means we have worried, vulnerable staff who haven't been vaccinated but have to be in school alongside CEV vaccinated staff who are desperate to come back, feel perfectly safe after 1 dose yet aren't allowed to return. Crazy

*aren't allowed!

Very happy to be back teaching in the classroom. I've had the vaccine, as have all of my vulnerable colleagues. We aren't wearing masks and nor are the kids (secondary). Initially I was a bit panicked by this and wished SLT were a bit more supportive. Now I think school probably made the right call in not attempting to enforce masks.

I'm worried about assessing students for GCSE. The marking is going to be horrific and the kids are exhausted and demotivated so it's not necessarily going to be their best work. We're hoping that the assessments won't necessarily be the be all and end all but it's still unclear exactly how we'll work out the results. We've been working non stop to try and devise assessments and timetables.

I'm worried about the kids' mental health. We're dealing with more cases of burn out and depression than ever. We've had various suicide attempts, incidents of serious self harm and lots of behaviours worsened by anxiety (tics, stammers). Poverty is also an issue with more families than ever in temporary accommodation.

I'm also worried about colleagues. Some having treatment for cancers that were caught late due to lockdown. Others worn down by parenting small children with no clubs or activities to entertain them. Yet others fretting about their own teenagers feeling the pressure of GCSE and A levels. For some it's just the cognitive dissonance of working in a 'normal' mask free environment but going home to live alone in isolation from family and friends.

It's tough but I'm sure other professions feel the same.

Sad that a career I loved has become so impossible. Happy that I'm leaving and will have more time for my family and less chance of catching Covid.

And yes like others I'm 46 and right on the edge of being vulnerable medically but not quite vulnerable enough to be group 6. Have multiple friends working from home who have managed to be vaccinated for all sorts of weird and wonderful reasons. In real life every person I know is in disbelief that teachers have not been vaccinated. I've realised that I have given years of my life to a job I thought was valuable but that actually in the end has been treated as worthless and with active hatred online and in the media. Six teachers left at Christmas, four of us going at Easter and a lot more muttering about the summer. Lots of the rest openly envious and wishing they could afford to leave.

My advice to all teachers is always have a plan B and a plan C.

@AllDoneIn

Yes a lot of my friends work for private hospitals so have had the vaccine yet have worked from home since last March. Haven’t stepped foot inside the hospital since mid March!

I’m currently looking elsewhere but struggling as want to do max 4 days a week but everything is advertised for full time and so far none will budge with less than 5 days!

I’m a primary school leader and right now I feel tired, both physically and emotionally. The yo-yo-ing of Sept opening, then bubble closures, then lockdown, then full opening has been tiring. At every stage endless paperwork and lots of notifying of staff and parents, who respond in many different ways. Extremely grateful to not be in secondary and have to deal with teacher assessed grades.

I deal with safeguarding in a deprived area where we already had high levels of social services involvement. Now we have even more and this part of my job keeps on getting bigger and harder. We are trying to help so many families and stretched too thinly. For many families school is the only service currently open to them so we find ourselves dealing with a whole host of things outside our remit.

Thankfully I have had the vaccine, I became eligible as an unpaid carer for my disabled child.