No More Tiers (Enough is Enough)

[WaxOnFeckOff]

Here it is - thread 365 - was getting too twitchy....

Got lots of making up to do with teachers after gaslighting them for Six months. I am not particularly political and tend to do my reading/research when elections are taking place and look at the aspects which matter to me and my family and look at poverty linked issues. But I have card carrying SNP colleagues who have ripped up their membership and looking to the Greens.

Thanks @blowinahoolie, know you’ve been finding it tough, too. It’s the lack of plan to get them back that’s the worst. If they’d just have more of a timeline. Trying to think positive thoughts for the week ahead!

I’ve decided just to work on the premise they won’t be back till august. The hoping is too much so I’m just resigning myself to this

@Iwillneverbesatisfied

I was wondering because the job I've accepted (until I hopefully get dream job - funding dependent) is in a university. Its in a practical department where the students can't learn from home, but I'm not in a teaching role so I'm at a loss whether I would be WFH or not.

Don't really want to ask when I've not even started yet. I'm vulnerable though so I've highlighted that. I hope they are not now thinking FFS why did we hire her

Urgh... tricky... Personally, I think most unis will go fully online, or with the option of occasional face to face workshops or something for those that want (this is how DHs science dept worked last term) til next year. I think they are all frightened of the September thing happening again, where students moved en masse to shared housing, and, surprise surprise, cases exploded. DHs dept are quite relaxed this year about students missing out on lab work etc, as they can generally catch up next year...(he deals mainly with 1st year undergrads, and PhD students who could carry on mostly, as they are solitary beings in the main). However, if it does carry on post September they are getting twitchy that there may not be time to catch up - and this is a 5 year course - so shorter courses/ masters may need different treatment.

Not sure about how your job would interact with the students, but even if they are in, and you can do your interaction with them online, you should be able to WFH. I'm sure the "WFH if you can" edict will remain for some time yet. The adminny people in DHs dept are all at home, with occasional trips in to deal with physical paper etc, though most work is submitted online, so not much need for that so far (not sure if that is the kind of thing you'd be doing). DH only went in where his meeting schedule required a better Internet connection or a quieter environment than we have! I'm sure they won't mind you asking, though. (Bummer about your dream job BTW, but hopefully they do get more funding as pp suggested!)

@NotAnActualSheep thanks for that reassurance. Ideally I'd like to WFH forever but obv there aren't many jobs offering that. Which uni is your DH at? I'm also wondering if there will be another spike in uni cases in Feb/March when (if?) lockdown ends.

Aviva have announced that they are happy for staff to work from home on a permanent basis and I imagine that other companies will follow suit, so there may be a lot more availability for wfh in the near future.

Please trust me @rookiemere - we don't grade based on how much we like a pupil. Yes, the ones who pull it out of the bag for exams may not have that opportunity but trust me, if there's any chance of them getting a certain grade, we will be doing our darnedest to ensure that's what they're awarded.

See from @Wax list were topping up the bottom.
Just checked the vaccine calculator. Going by last seven days numbers who have been vaccinated, I’ve been moved back 2 months.

I'm just hoping they are scaling up. Too optimistic?

Thanks @icanboogieboogiewoogie that's reassuring.

@WaxOnFeckOff

Aviva have announced that they are happy for staff to work from home on a permanent basis and I imagine that other companies will follow suit, so there may be a lot more availability for wfh in the near future.

I think this will be the start of the big financial companies doing it. Once one does it puts pressure on the others to follow

Vaccinations seem to have settled at about 23k ish per day which would put them on track for their revised figure of 500k by end Jan.

We are still lagging behind everyone else though and I don't know what their targets are .

I think this will be the start of the big financial companies doing it. Once one does it puts pressure on the others to follow

My company had a policy of no homeworking other than for specific purposes - e.g. the odd day here and there.

We've been asked our preference and I believe they are currently writing an actual homeworking policy. I expect given their previous stance that this might not be full time wfh but some element of blended as it saves them a lot of money and it's all about the ££ though they pretend otherwise. Financial services already have a number of firms allowing a lot of flexibility.

[quote Iwillneverbesatisfied]@NotAnActualSheep thanks for that reassurance. Ideally I'd like to WFH forever but obv there aren't many jobs offering that. Which uni is your DH at? I'm also wondering if there will be another spike in uni cases in Feb/March when (if?) lockdown ends.[/quote]
He's at Edinburgh Uni... not sure if they have any secret info about elsewhere, though! They knew about Edin's plan a week or so before it was announced to students, but didn't really come as a surprise to anyone. I think most students who were going to travel will have done so in the new year. They were always allowed ("for education"), albeit discouraged, and many wouldn't necessarily have a suitable place to work at their parents or wherever (plus a term living away may make it stressful to be back under childhood rules!). Others will have decided to stay at their parents rather than move back to halls, or stayed in shared student housing over christmas anyway. It's hard for them, especially as they already have paid for uni accommodation and may have just started making friends... but I would think its more pleasant to work from a "proper" home with laundry and food on tap, for those it is available for, of course. Cant imagine anything grimmer than having to self isolate in my first year student room for a fortnight...

I'm loving the travelling tabby site BTW. I've only found it recently when the SG tableau one was being a pig to load, and it's so much nicer. Nearly half a million people across the UK got their vaccinations today (well, yesterday, I assume) which is incredible!

Isn't it. I discovered it through mn. I love the way the stats are presented. I think when we are able to draw breath and look back on all this we will still be absolutely amazed at the science and scientists.

iwillneverbesatisfied the admin staff where I work are definitely all working from home. I cannot see why you would need to be in an office even if it is a clinical or science department you are in. Well done on the job. Just ask the university HR what the arrangements are?

DD is applying for university this year. She has great choices away from home if she gets in, but I am definitely getting worried about large accommodation fees when she is getting very little, if anything, on campus. I really hope there is more direction next academic year in good time. I cannot see how things will be back to anything like normal.

@WaxOnFeckOff

Vaccinations seem to have settled at about 23k ish per day which would put them on track for their revised figure of 500k by end Jan.

We are still lagging behind everyone else though and I don't know what their targets are .

There are definitely more centres opening in the coming weeks: there are 11 opening in Fife starting from tomorrow so I guess the rate will speed up some.

There are definitely more centres opening in the coming weeks: there are 11 opening in Fife starting from tomorrow so I guess the rate will speed up some.

You would expect so.

Katysun
My niece has got half her accommodation money back. But I think students is the main reason they want all adults vaccinated before September.

@WaxOnFeckOff

I think this will be the start of the big financial companies doing it. Once one does it puts pressure on the others to follow

My company had a policy of no homeworking other than for specific purposes - e.g. the odd day here and there.

We've been asked our preference and I believe they are currently writing an actual homeworking policy. I expect given their previous stance that this might not be full time wfh but some element of blended as it saves them a lot of money and it's all about the ££ though they pretend otherwise. Financial services already have a number of firms allowing a lot of flexibility.

Mine are/were similar. They did have a flexi working policy but they never approved more than a day a week and even that was considered significant.

We moved out of town in August - I wasn't up for a daily commute but I'd seen the way the wind was blowing so submitted a formal request for 3 days a week at home and got it. They're still working on the formal plans for everyone but there's a fairly clear steer coming through that it won't be 5 days in the office, not even close.

"It’s the lack of plan to get them back that’s the worst. If they’d just have more of a timeline."

@iquitelikenormalityafterall Yes, this is what is getting to me the most!! I hate not knowing 😬😂

Lockdownbear thanks, that is good to know, and better than nothing, I guess. Fingers crossed for some certainty.

I believe we will be back by Easter at the latest. I imagine infants will be earlier but possibly blended learning. I know it’s not a popular opinion but I really do need two weeks notice to make this work properly. I’m currently teaching in school ft, running the online classrooms for the kids who are not in and now live teaching three times a week. It’ll take time to rejig our department for more kids coming in. We have been able to use play equipment that we haven’t had out all year. That’ll need packed up. And somewhere in and among it all I will need to plan for a whole class. I also imagine we will be trying to work out how we manage blended learning and checking the classes that took days to create in June when blended learning was the plan still work for families.

So swinney now saying we might have to wear special face masks

I mean ffs we all been wearing face masks since September.

What’s the reasoning and facts for this

And will they be sending them out to us or sending us money to buy them

Ffs it’s endless.