The Forty Sixth Republic - online learning has killed the 'snow day'

[Staffdontblowitnow]

You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. It is meant for school staff only – a sort of room of requirement. Baiters, haters, goaders, 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 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

Do not give the staffroom password just in case it attracts the wrong sort

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 booze is stashed - Thirsty Tuesdays, Fizz Fridays now in operation.

If you come with a stick to goad us then that is not allowed in the staffroom and you will receive a detention

@Frlrlrubert

It's truly dire, I was in with Keyworkers in about week two of this and sorted one out who had forgotten his homework login and didn't know how to check his school emails.

Most of my issues are that their tech at home it's just awful. I've just had one now say she couldn't hear me but she thinks it probably her phone. I've seen their phones, they all have smashed in screens, no wonder some of them are struggling.

I know the homework app doesn't show attachments to comments on my phone - and my phone is fairly new.

They sign up for the homework apps with their mums hotmail instead of their school email - and then they can't reset their password if they forget it, they set their passwords to stupid stuff they'll never remember. It drives me batty.

We really really need to get ours set up properly on the system from day one - but it just never happens. I suggest it every single year. This year we weren't even allowed to book IT rooms because COVID, so I couldn't even sort my own classes out.

Yes, same!

Every week when I'm in school it takes about 30 minutes to get students logged on because they have forgotten passwords, don't know how to reset them- some struggle to access their emails!

And then saving files, attaching them, and uploading them is a whole separate battle- if they can't submit it by a photo on their phone, it's beyond them.

Some don't even know how to open a new tab on a browser!

These are Y7 students, but if they can't do it now, I'm not sure when they will learn. This stuff isn't intuitive and they are using actual computers less than previous generations because so much is done via their phones. Not that I think the function of education is to turn out people who will be good at office admin- but it is a bit of a problem if some people will leave school and have none of the IT skills needed in LOTS of jobs these days.

How did you all miss the Ebacc? Responsible for the cutting of arts, music, drama and tech provision in schools due to forcing kids to take ‘proper’ subjects.

Also a constant bone of contention on MN with posters resenting their kids being forced to take French when they are shit at it in order to boost a school’s performance.

I figured they were going to have to abandon the govt Ebacc targets due to a lack of language take-up, really surprised to see them being brought up again.

It is actually a badge of honour in my school that we have traditionally eschewed EBacc. And then Ofsted came and praised our curriculum to boot!

Other than the core, nothing is compulsory.

Yes the Ebacc. Grrr. It's decimated my subject for nationwide take up of GCSE and A level.

@RuleWithAWoodenFoot

as long as they make it clear by 27 Feb so I can resign on 28th!

Same!!

Here's a question. I've found a masters course I'd like to do at Oxford uni. It costs a shed load, but I could get a loan. When I say shed load, I mean £40k. It's about social policy because I'm beginning to realise that I hate so much about how stuff is run these days, and I feel I need to 'do' something really fundamental instead of shouting about on the interwebs.

Am I being nuts? I mean, it's an extreme way of getting out of teaching, isn't it!

I feel the same. I'm increasingly looking at getting into politics. Maybe we need our own "Mums and teachers" party 😉

When ICT was compulsory in KS4, at least most people came out with a useful set of transferable skills and some understanding of computer systems. Then it wasn’t compulsory and only about half of them did. Then Gove insisted that proficiency the standard packages used in most business and commerce, including those for web design, along with an understanding of the organisations they might be used in, was worthless and made everyone do Computing, which was hated by many children as being boring and difficult.
Now we find that many of our FE learners have minimal ICT skills and flounder in the workplace. They’re very keen on their phones, though, and think their use of What’sApp makes them techie whizz kids.

Am pretty sure civil society means 'anyone who'll do it for free' when used in that context.

I used to work for a very civil society-focussed organisation, Common Purpose. Was wondering the other day whether any of you have ever come across it?

Is civil society like Cameron’s Big Society?

Like getting people to donate to food banks instead of giving people enough money to live on.

Sorry just caught up.
Hate ebacc.
Hate everything right now tbh though

Victory for today: managed to get the 7yo out of the onsie she has lived in for the past 3 days...

And can I have a little rant? Why is that when I'm not teaching I manage to get our kids fed, started on school work, little household jobs done (sweep the mud and crap up yet again, washing, washing up etc), while when I'm teaching and DH has the kids NOTHING extra gets done.....

@noblegiraffe

Is civil society like Cameron’s Big Society?

Like getting people to donate to food banks instead of giving people enough money to live on.

Sounds like it. Like the daily Mail claiming they’ve sorted out the nation’s laptops (no idea if they have or not, but they were saying they had) and Marcus Rashford on school dinners-all credit to him, but he shouldn’t bloody have to.

This will be the same-volunteers, guilt trips, on the cheap.

SEP for the government-it’s not their job apparently. They can call it a civic duty and just make it someone else’s problem.

Not sure about the whole article but the headline has a dammed good point.

Many kids just want to catch up with their mates. That's their catch up. That could actually be facilitated in school with lot of school clubs but that's not for everyone either.

Heads warn against 'grinding out hours' in summer catch up www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-55995939

There is some interesting stuff right now on FFT about decline and increase in GCSE and A level uptake. Will find link. It isn't as simple as EBacc . I think that contributes but is a small part of the uptake issue which I think is a) cult of STEM b) diminishing of the arts as fripperies and c) rhetoric around buggering facilitating subjects and Russell Group. Because remember - despite EBacc- French and German are dying.

The subjects with biggest rises , though, aren't STEM. It's sociology and politics iirc.

Can I clarify this line: diminishing of the arts as fripperies, do you mean the arts have been increasingly seen as fripperies and so are declining in gcse and a level?

Responsible for the cutting of arts, music, drama and tech provision in schools due to forcing kids to take ‘proper’ subjects.

I didn't know that. Fucksake.

One think I do know is that teachers, especially primary and Sen, are better teachers if they have a good grounding in the arts.

And that's not to say they can't be great at maths and sciences too. (To me the arts are sciences!)

Loss of the arts impacts our future teachers.

I'm a drama teacher and top set students much less likely to take my subject since ebacc as they have to take all ebacc subjects.

That's a massive shame.

results.ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/a-level/media-film-tv-studies.php?v=20200923&fbclid=IwAR0Daxyr_emOrV53l9V5TzuUKbd187U4fHoL4fVTj_Uj2JoSUT9wofOW1nw

You can navigate through all subjects.

I have spent 25 years insisting and trying to persuade that my highly academic arts subject is academic to fight for its survival. Christ it's in another language entirely, no different in my mind to MFL (which I also love and teach too).

It's halved in A level numbers since 2011... I've known my stats for years.

Yes warrior, I do. There is a thread in HE at the moment which is depressing. All about the growth of STEM at uni and one poster referred to history and something else (possibly English) as 'vanilla' subjects. It's as if society only needs , requires and thrives on science. I am quite glad for EBacc , perversely, because at least it still see the value of humanities and languages, although I would like it to include the arts.

I remember when I first started teaching everyone had to take a tech subject, an art , a hum and a language : that led to the backlash actually as people quite rightly pointed out that some children are just shit at art/textiles/ graphics/ music. Drama disproportionately ended up with lots of little shits who couldn't sing/ play instruments or draw.

Kev > Gav

schoolsweek.co.uk/sir-kevan-collins-qa-covid-innovations-can-drive-catch-up-challenge/ interview with schoolsweek.

What he's suggesting with summer schools sounds targeted, like a reading support camp for Y6 going into Y7 who won't be able to access the secondary curriculum.

I suspect that U4T types will moan about how their kids have missed out too and aren't getting that childcare. I mean support.

@EnemyOfEducationNo1

And can I have a little rant? Why is that when I'm not teaching I manage to get our kids fed, started on school work, little household jobs done (sweep the mud and crap up yet again, washing, washing up etc), while when I'm teaching and DH has the kids NOTHING extra gets done.....

I find this problem occurs in people with a penis. I can only assume that the penis gets in the way somehow

MsAwesome I am very envious of your ability to crochet. I’d love to be able to crochet and knit but can’t manage it. It looks like witchcraft. I can sew and embroider though badly

I read that too noble and it does read like a year 6 to 7 type thing. The poor lambs haven't got SATs bless em . We MUST catch them up.