Schools still a covid shitshow

[noblegiraffe]

"Schools have been forced to send year groups home this week because of "rapidly rising" Covid rates among staff and an inability to find supply teachers, it has emerged.

The removal of the need for Covid testing among staff and pupils was making the situation worse, with some schools now experiencing their worst absence levels of the pandemic, a headteachers' leader told Tes.

Heads warn that some schools are having to send year groups home on a rota or combine class groups in an attempt to protect exam year groups from more disruption."

www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/covid-schools-absence-send-year-groups-home-cases-spike

Some will claim that getting rid of testing would improve the situation, but clearly a situation where lots of teachers are getting ill and requiring a few days off school to recover, regardless of isolation rules, is not 'getting back to normal'.

The teachers that I know who have had covid recently would have required a few days off school despite it being 'mild' even without isolation guidance, even though teachers are well-known for dosing on Lemsip and turning up to school regardless of illness because setting cover work is worse.

Still, the covid catch-up effort has basically fizzled out, and it's looking like zero effort will be made by the government to support children in recovering their education from the impact of absences and lack of teachers.

Exams start in a couple of months for kids who are having an extremely disruptive time. The government has fixed the exam grades so that they will come out with better results than the 2019 cohort, this will basically cover up the impact on educational standards. How this will play out down the line at uni/college/sixth form is anyone's guess.

It’s just my opinion. I think the problem is covid policies within schools causing huge disruption not covid itself.

Eyedrop, a field based post probably carries very low personal risk to yourself. It also means, despite various claims to insider knowledge you know very very little about what schools are like in reality.

Well if non teachers can’t have an opinion maybe this post is best suited to being on the staff room?

I won’t even have teacher knowledge but I’ve worked in schools directly in pastoral roles. Im not completely clueless either.

I worked as a support worker during the midst of covid (pre vaccine). Me personally I have no problem with “exposing myself”. Like I said I’ve worked all over the public sector and have now settled in the charity sector.

We can still have opinions.

Opinions yes. But maybe also a modicum of acknowledgement that teachers do understand the situation on the ground.

I haven’t said that it’s not a shit show.

It is, I’ve said the reasons in my opinion it is a shit show is due to unnecessary isolations. Goes for other sectors too.

But its not isolations that are causing problems in school it's staff actually being ill (although in your opinion it's people miking the system) @Eyedropeyeflop. Not sure how pastoral you were with attitudes like that

"the reasons in my opinion it is a shit show is due to unnecessary isolations"
And what about the opinions of those of us at, you know, the ACTUAL chalk-face who are TELLING you that the shit show is not just about unnecessary isolations, but about staff absence due to BEING ILL WITH COVID. Which they've most likely caught because people (students) are NOT isolating, even when positive.

Covid: Fewer children missing school because of virus www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-60998010 It says in the link that absences in pupils starting to go down, but mentions last Thursday as the date. In my area schools had broken up by then - anyone know if it's referring to open schools only?

@toomuchlaundry

Very pastoral actually. For some crazy reason they (SLT) put me in charge of teachers health (during the school day) and it really was crazy considering I only had a first aid certificate at the time.

Nevertheless they had to come to me to ask to go home if they were sick. Again, how embarrassing for them and also for me (I mean it’s not as though I was qualified enough to be the judge on this).

Anyhow of course I said they could go home with whatever ailment they were suffering with (which they were) but I spoke to a lot of teachers who didn’t come in to school because they were at breaking point in general (and this was pre covid) and I always covered for them.

Do I think teachers would stay at home with a positive covid test despite feeling well? Yes
Would I blame them ? No
Do they still set work from home ? Yes but their workload is still reduced.

I just don’t think the whole shit show that is Ed can be blamed on covid alone and it goes for healthcare too.

It was just the final straw that broke the camels back and now all we here is the default “covid disruption”.

@BeenToldComputerSaysNo

Covid: Fewer children missing school because of virus www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-60998010 It says in the link that absences in pupils starting to go down, but mentions last Thursday as the date. In my area schools had broken up by then - anyone know if it's referring to open schools only?

And the numbers will go down now with a) the Easter holidays and b) the drastic reduction in testing.

Numbers being high before a holiday/fire break = high chance of school staff being ill over the holiday

Call out from the BBC on Twitter - what’s happening with Covid staffing at your school?

Why now Branwen? How has it taken them so long to believe headteachers??!

Some posters will still stick their heads in the sand saying everything is okay in schools

I'm not sticking my head in the sand when I say that our school has had no disruption this term that I (as a parent) or my dc is aware of. He's not missed any lessons at all. Maybe we've just been lucky?

I just looked up that tweet some responses were 40% of staff were off, another was 25% off on a pretty much rolling basis. Schools in my area are pretty much the same. Year groups closing due to lack of staff. Think you might be lucky @Lilaclavenders

What you seem to be saying, Eyedrop is that previously, before covid, teachers were at 'breaking point' and were going home 'ill' but really just not coping, yet now teachers who are at breaking point and needing to be at home to recover from stress are waiting till they have a positive covid test to do so.

And the problem, therefore, is covid isolation policies? Not staff being at breaking point, or there being so much covid in schools that so many of them have a positive test in the first place? And definitely not that covid is making them genuinely ill?

@Lilaclavenders

I'm not sticking my head in the sand when I say that our school has had no disruption this term that I (as a parent) or my dc is aware of. He's not missed any lessons at all. Maybe we've just been lucky?

When you say 'not missed any lessons', you may have to be quite careful about what you really mean:

• has every lesson been taught by your dc's usual teacher in that subject?

• has every lesson been taught by a teacher of that subject?

• has every lesson been taught by a teacher?

• has every lesson had an adult who in normal times would take a full class (e.g. supply, cover supervisor, member of senior team)?

• has every lesson had an adult, or have some classes been combined in larger spaces to enable one adult to supervise several classes at once?

A lesson can be a VERY long way from 'teaching and learning as normal' and still not be 'missed'.

As a primary teacher, my class missed no lessons when I was ill. An adult stood in front of the class for every lesson. Sometimes that adult was a teacher. It still took at least 2 weeks after I got back to get the class back to anything like they were before I was off, and there remain gaps in their learning.

Schools aren't 'as normal' or 'shut'. There is a whole slippery slope of poorer and poorer learning experiences in between.

@Lilaclavenders

I'm not sticking my head in the sand when I say that our school has had no disruption this term that I (as a parent) or my dc is aware of. He's not missed any lessons at all. Maybe we've just been lucky?

None of our students have missed any lessons this term. They've been covered by - if they're in year 11 and incredibly lucky - teachers who happen to be free at the time (in their PPA). Y12/13 have been set "independent study". Everyone else had had cover from cover supervisors who they know as staff. The week we had 16 teachers off was hideous.

I would estimate our students have had at least one cover lesson per day since October. No exaggeration.

And cover lesson = doss lesson in secondary.

I think because in primary a cover teacher would be with the class all day and they would be (hopefully) experienced in primary, there's an expectation to actually teach them something and parents get the idea that a cover teacher would actually provide some continuity of education.

In secondary there's no expectation to teach because of lack of specialist subject knowledge, so it's just busy-work.

My DD has lost lots of lessons in Yr 13. Her teachers have been off sick, and the kids left work to complete on their own.

No study leave as the school wants them in class, but that risks kids getting Covid right up to exams.

It's a mess and I think Covid is going to be a massive issue during exams.

In secondary there's no expectation to teach because of lack of specialist subject knowledge, so it's just busy-work.
Ain't that the truth! I covered a whole load of lessons in my subject - in my PPA - so that y11 got taught. Had I not been available to do that, they'd have been death by worksheeted. Worksheets which would not have been marked.

Well if non teachers can’t have an opinion maybe this post is best suited to being on the staff room?

Why should this be moved to a niche area of MN that are already fully aware of how bad the situation is?

Does this situation not affect parents and carers?

Other support staff?

As you say, everyone is entitled to an opinion, but when you're arguing your point to experienced teachers at the coalface who are working in this environment (so to speak), and deliberately trying to undermine what's being said, it does make me a little suspicious.

Were you this critical of NHS staff who were on their knees at the beginning of this crisis?

@BastardtheCat

Well that was sort of the point. Being shut down because you have an opinion that differs from a teacher.

I believe that teaching is the sort of profession whereby you would hope for a positive covid test
so you wouldn’t need to go in. I don’t believe all teachers are ill all of the time.

I don’t believe teachers have the monopoly on repeated covid infections. Most people I know teachers and non teachers are on to their second covid infection.

Suspicious of what exactly? Someone having an opinion?

You can’t compare teaching as it is now, to NHS workers right at the beginning of this pandemic.
They were treating covid patients unvaccinated.
Teachers were at home.