The Sixteenth Republic - waiting on the GCSE results show!

[StaffAssociationRepresentative]

You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. It is meant for school staff. Baiters and bashers can jog on somewhere else.

If you are NOT staff and just have a general education query please start your own thread.

You can play here only if you are a member of one the following groups-

-ABBA - anti bashers and baiting association
-SWAB - school workers against bashers
-SWOT - school workers opposing teacherbashers
-STARS - schoolworkers together against ranting + slurs

Other requirements for staff room entry include the ability to find the staff room, the ability to find a clean mug in the staff room, knowledge of the photocopier codes, and the ability to sniff out where the toffee vodka is hidden.

If you are fed up with cakes and biscuits there is now a cheeseboard on offer

If you come with a stick to beat us with then please do so elsewhere and not in the staffroom

I hope it is ok, and we manage with local shutdowns only, but surely it's only good sense to plan in case that isn't the outcome. I'm so fed up of it all now. Also why do so many people claim the NHS has functioned as normal?

Because they’re healthy and lucky enough not to need it?

I had a colonoscopy at the start of March and was meant to be followed up within two weeks by my surgical team. My mum was supposed to have seen a consultant about a potentially urgent situation. Neither has happened.

My dad thank god had finished his chemo already and only has to have check ups and bloods every few months now.

They are oblivious

Because the NHS is either functioning as normal or totally broken and not functioning at all depending on what thread you are on.

Phone calls for gp appointments, extra time for prescriptions to be issued and filled and queues outside the chemist with one person allowed in at a time and staff behind screens with masks on.

Organised a haircut for ds for which he wore a mask and the hairdresser wore mask and shield.

Even in March when I went to the hospital it was social distancing, all staff in ppe, screen in front of lady at reception etc.

Nothing has been normal. It’s literally bonkers to expect school to be. Haven’t noticed anyone kicking off about doctors or hairdressers. It really isn’t rational is it?

There must be more to the beliefs about school than I’m understanding. For it to be expected to operate as normal in the context of every other business and institution not being normal must mean something that I haven’t grasped properly.

Need to put my anthropologist hat back on and maybe phone my eccentric but genius professor from pgce to get his take on it. It’ll turn out he’s working on an article about already probably lol

He publishes massively obscure books and really appreciated my dissertation on the resurgence of fundamentalism as a response to religious/cultural pluralism and globalisation. I’m actually going to try and call him. He’s about 180 and 95% blind but super sharp and funny and still writes me glowing recommendations when asked (I tried to get a phd scholarship not so long back).

I genuinely wonder what he makes of it all. It won’t be a political take because he sees democracy as the worst of populism and mob mentality (he said that in 2001 but it rings true now in a world where trump can be potus). I don’t disagree but can’t agree with his preference for benign theocracy after living in Egypt pre and post revolution but I get that the idea of running on morality and ethics rather than greed and populism is appealing. I just don’t trust religious leaders to be any less corrupt than politicians.

Sorry massively off topic tangent but getting kids thinking and questioning and having them getting me thinking and questioning was kind of what got me into teaching and kept me in originally.

Not flight paths and cags and league tables.

I liked giving working class kids the space to think and question and form wider perspectives on the world than what their dad quoted from the daily mail.

I will shhh. Bury my idealism in the back of the stockroom with all the spare maths specialists

[quote flumposie]@Ickabog* totally agree. I foolishly thought in March that people would appreciate what teachers did. I'm currently sat making revision booklets for Year 13. Doesn't quite fit the narrative of a lazy teacher doing sod all since March.@motherrunner* I've said similar twice now. And I wont be returning to work early with illness still like I usually do.[/quote]
Most parents do and there are huge amounts of support on a school-based level. Mumsnet is a very poor example, particularly with the invasion of U4T shills. Just remember that the toxicity that you see on some of these threads does not represent your school community: these are the 1% of parents who send the nasty emails about everything you do, not the 99% who appreciate every effort you put in to their children.

Yep and countering toxic narratives is what some of us went into teaching to do. The kids of those toxic simpletons need us more than most lol

really appreciated my dissertation on the resurgence of fundamentalism as a response to religious/cultural pluralism and globalisation

Oh god that sounds right up my street!

This is my issue with school. NOTHING IN THE WHOLE WORLD is operating normally. The whole fucking WORLD. Why should British schools? Why should anyone think that British schools should? That's what I don't get from the people voting A on that thread about 'what do you want for the future of education'. Why? WHY? Stupid.

Honestly, I think younger adults just need schools more than anything else. The absence of schools just hits harder every day.

I mean, I totally get that school is childcare. I'm actually fine with that being part of our role, but it doesn't mean that it's our responsibility to deliver it without government support.

@Hercwasonaroll

Oh gosh Salty you've started a war in AIBU!

I sort of intended to. I'm fucking sick of the blind insistence that schools will fully open, stay open, and if they don't it will be because teachers are lazy, workshy grabbers. It's a sort of test of my own emotional resilience because it really upset me earlier in the year. I'm glad to confirm I have developed a thicker skin!

There must be more to the beliefs about school than I’m understanding. For it to be expected to operate as normal in the context of every other business and institution not being normal must mean something that I haven’t grasped properly.

Yes! This, exactly!

@Saucery

There must be more to the beliefs about school than I’m understanding. For it to be expected to operate as normal in the context of every other business and institution not being normal must mean something that I haven’t grasped properly.

Yes! This, exactly!

Problem is, there isn't. It's just wilful ignorance. I want people to wake up and comprehend what they're asking us to do. Where the worst happens and schools staff die, I want the public clamouring for justice but they literally couldn't give a shit.

What I don’t get is the people who are arguing that if schools shut down they will lose their job and house. Given the high likelihood of disruption this term would those people not be better off lobbying for some sort of job protection rather than blaming teachers and schools?

@ohthegoats

This is my issue with school. NOTHING IN THE WHOLE WORLD is operating normally. The whole fucking WORLD. Why should British schools? Why should anyone think that British schools should? That's what I don't get from the people voting A on that thread about 'what do you want for the future of education'. Why? WHY? Stupid.

Precisely -old normal does not exist. Buildings have one way systems, we have enough hand gel to dip students in it twice a day, extra cleaners and all homework is to be submitted online.

Head flapped when a member of staff came in on results day not wearing a mask.

We are currently waiting on the head to publish a 30 page document on how school will operate. It will be a new normal.

Yes there are going to be a lot of redundancies as the economy is tanking. Companies are making tough decisions based upon people not spending not on schools being open/closed. The majority of the working population do not have childcare issues only those on mumsnet.

@RafaIsTheKingOfClay

What I don’t get is the people who are arguing that if schools shut down they will lose their job and house. Given the high likelihood of disruption this term would those people not be better off lobbying for some sort of job protection rather than blaming teachers and schools?

That seems to be a sensible suggestion to help mitigate any problems. Yet instead they continue to argue for schools open as normal. Surely they must realise that disruptive schooling will make it more likely that people will end up losing their jobs and facing financial hardship?

@Saucery

There must be more to the beliefs about school than I’m understanding. For it to be expected to operate as normal in the context of every other business and institution not being normal must mean something that I haven’t grasped properly.

Yes! This, exactly!

I think it’s fear mixed with a lack of understanding about relative levels of risk. It’s much easier to bury your head in the sand that way if you can convince yourself everything is going to be fine if xyz happens.

That seems to be a sensible suggestion to help mitigate any problems. Yet instead they continue to argue for schools open as normal.

Can you imagine the outrage that will be directed at teachers on here if schools do end up having to close?

@ohthegoats

This is my issue with school. NOTHING IN THE WHOLE WORLD is operating normally. The whole fucking WORLD. Why should British schools? Why should anyone think that British schools should? That's what I don't get from the people voting A on that thread about 'what do you want for the future of education'. Why? WHY? Stupid.

👏👏👏

Can you imagine the outrage that will be directed at teachers on here if schools do end up having to close?

I've imagine both scenarios, and we're the villains in both.

Schools close - How dare they. There are so few cases and children don't get ill. I know the risks and I choose to send my child to school. They're letting children suffer!

Schools remain open - How dare they. Cases are rising, children can catch it. I wasn't informed of the risk, or I wouldn't have sent my child to school. They're letting children suffer.

I’m afraid my only answer to that outrage is going to be ‘I told you so’.

I have sympathy for those that know it’s going to be a shitshow and can’t do anything about it. But anyone who wants schools to go back in full with very few protective measure and then gets annoyed when the inevitable happens can do one.

Most of the posters who are ‘bashing’ are probably going to be WFH for months and months. They just don’t want kids about whilst they WFH, pop out to gym etc. Granted it is tough WFH with kids about but plenty of teachers had to do it.

Pointless voting on the future school thread seeing as the results are rigged.

Just goes to show that pressure groups often start out with good intentions and then it goes all pear shaped