Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[Neiler]

 

[allezlesbleus]

Yeah I've already had that pointed out to me mate. You can tell I've not been inside a.classroom for 40 years

Spotted that after I had thrown in my tuppence worth!

 

[peteblue]

Fair play to the U.K. that’s a second consecutive sustained drop in horrible figures today, hopefully we keep seeing them drop.

Flatten those curves.

Obviously it will go up tomorrow as per every other week, but it is encouraging......

 

[Shevin Keedy]

Cummins referred to teachers as the blob precisely because of their inability to adapt or be creative. Do by all means show the evidence to refute that during the pandemic.

Do you not think that teachers have adapted to giving lessons online?

 

[LinekersLegs]

What a great and articulate kid.

 

[LouReedwalkonthewildside]

You aint no wife material lol

I also have problems breathing through my noselol

 

[Mozza1987]

No offence taken at all. I don't wish to be critical of schools, but they have known this time would come for 10 weeks and all we hear at the moment is that what seems to work in other countries won't work here and we're practically sending every teacher to the firing squad.

Cummins referred to teachers as the blob precisely because of their inability to adapt or be creative. Do by all means show the evidence to refute that during the pandemic. We know that new lessons haven't been taught, and the perception is very much that no steps have been taken to prepare for full reopening.

It's popular in these threads to have a pop at the government for their apparent failures, and many of those pops are justified. What have the schools been doing to not justify such scrutiny?

The schools wait for government instructions mate so you could plan everything you like then it be thrown in the bin when they tell you this is what you now should be doing.

Schools have been adapting from the start with hardly any government guidance. With limited staff we have been going in each week for the key workers children, sending home weekly basic skills, Maths, English and some foundation subject work, weekly newsletter for the children to keep in touch. Also we are phoning the parents and speaking to the children to make sure they are all ok and if they need anything, dropping off food to families who need it, helping them through work with regular emails, online training for the staff etc. I could go on but people seem to think we are on holiday or something. All this isn't what a normal school week looks like.

When you say no new stuff has been taught, what are you honestly expecting? And please don't say online sessions on Zoom etc. For starters there are massive safe guarding issues. Then how do you know all children in your class has access to their own laptop to get onto it? What if the parent is working from home so needs that laptop in the day and they don't have another? What if there are siblings and they share the one laptop how are you going to work out timings for your class slot? What if children are too embarrassed to go onto it? Many parents I spoke to said they wouldn't want their kids on it anyway so what would you do then? Do you do something for the other children and they miss out on the new learning. I could go on mate. And don't say the school should provide all these children with laptops as unless you are in a rich school, how do you get money for all these? All online lessons would do is push them vulnerable kids further behind the class in my honest opinion as they likely wouldn't or couldn't take part. So it isn't simple like you seem to be making out on here. We are doing our best in a awful situation as are all the parents who are trying everything they can to help their kids.

With reopening what do you honestly want schools to do mate? We have set up the classrooms and the most tables and chairs you will get in the class is 10 following the government guidelines and socially distancing and I would say we have bigger classrooms than your average primary school. We are at capacity with the staff we have left so how do you propose to get all these other kids back with classrooms like this? You building new classrooms somewhere? Who is teaching them? Once in a 'class pod' they are calling them, the staff aren't even allowed to come across each other in the school as with the kids with other classes. So staff can't switch classes. If staff become ill the whole pod can't come in because of this. It's not even normal teaching anyway as we can't even go next to their table to help them with anything. All we can do from the guidelines is walk from the back to the front glancing at their work and give quick suggestions. We can then try and help them from the board at the front but if Y1 children then still can't grasp it we can't go to their desk to give them the help they will need like we would normally do. How are you expecting Reception children to sit on a chair at a table by themselves for most of the day when their learning is the complete opposite to this?

People need to realise that it isn't proper education they are going back to at all. The economy does need to get back moving but when you hear the government saying the kids need to get back in schools for their education, it's a bit of a joke to be honest in the current situation. We will do our best with what we have and the guidelines and it's annoying reading people on here who have no clue about schools criticising.

 

[Jimmy James]

My partner teaches primary (Year 2). All of that post ^^^ by Mozza is spot on.

The govt and right wing media putting the spotlight on the teaching staff is classic 'divide and rule' stuff. A little bit of solidarity would be nice.

 

[mrb85]

My partner teaches primary (Year 2). All of that post ^^^ by Mozza is spot on.

The govt and right wing media putting the spotlight on the teaching staff is classic 'divide and rule' stuff. A little bit of solidarity would be nice.

Where is the solidarity exactly in actions which put teachers' needs, and the risks to themselves, ahead of the education of our children and the need for parents to get back to work and revive their income levels. The nurses and doctors haven't prioritised their own needs. Nor have every other sector where economic activity has been continued. Sorry JJ ,and Mozza, the profession has brought the criticism upon itself.

 

[Jimmy James]

Private schools aren't currently returning until September, maybe you'd like to campaign for them to return as well? I'm sure the smaller class sizes and better facilities would make them a great test bed (this is sarcarm btw).

Oh, and as far as nurses and doctors go here's a bit of that solidarity I mentioned earlier:

Doctors back teachers’ fears over schools reopening

BMA backs NEU’s call for 5 tests to be met before schools reopen, saying infection rate must be much lower

www.tes.com

 

[Number_25]

My understanding is that private schools have adopted video lessons at a far higher scale than state schools, so perhaps there is less need to be on campus?

So shouldn't enabling that be the focus, as opposed to endangering millions of school children?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Do you not think that teachers have adapted to giving lessons online?

The evidence suggests that many have not.

 

[LinekersLegs]

 

[blue1948]

You are missing something mate. Brain cells if you really believe that the Finnish government sent that kid back to school so he could infect his mates. They didn't know he had the virus. He and his schoolmates aren't guineapigs.

At the moment he hasn't infected anyone. But the Finns can use this situation to see whether he does infect others so they can learn something from it. That doesn't make them Nazis.

It seems we are both on different planets ,who said he hasn't infected anyone ,it is a contagious disease and he been in contact with quite a few people ! Yes we will learn more after the incubation period .
I never said anything of the sort about him being sent back to infect others ,so don't put words in my mouth .
I simply said that they had gone back to school and it has been shown to be foolhardy ,therefore the same would apply to football.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

The schools wait for government instructions mate so you could plan everything you like then it be thrown in the bin when they tell you this is what you now should be doing.

Firstly, thank you for such a thorough and interesting post mate. I would like to reiterate that I'm not laying the blame solely at the feet of teachers or schools, but everyone that has a hand in this, including the unions, the local authorities, and the department of education.

Schools have been adapting from the start with hardly any government guidance. With limited staff we have been going in each week for the key workers children, sending home weekly basic skills, Maths, English and some foundation subject work, weekly newsletter for the children to keep in touch. Also we are phoning the parents and speaking to the children to make sure they are all ok and if they need anything, dropping off food to families who need it, helping them through work with regular emails, online training for the staff etc. I could go on but people seem to think we are on holiday or something. All this isn't what a normal school week looks like.

I wouldn't ever suggest that teachers have been sat on their hands, but to reiterate, the evidence we have suggests that hours are down. This is a difficult time for all employees that have to work from home, especially if they have children there and they are essentially homeschooling as well as working. It's a challenging time for everyone, not just teachers.

When you say no new stuff has been taught, what are you honestly expecting? And please don't say online sessions on Zoom etc. For starters there are massive safe guarding issues. Then how do you know all children in your class has access to their own laptop to get onto it? What if the parent is working from home so needs that laptop in the day and they don't have another? What if there are siblings and they share the one laptop how are you going to work out timings for your class slot? What if children are too embarrassed to go onto it? Many parents I spoke to said they wouldn't want their kids on it anyway so what would you do then? Do you do something for the other children and they miss out on the new learning. I could go on mate. And don't say the school should provide all these children with laptops as unless you are in a rich school, how do you get money for all these? All online lessons would do is push them vulnerable kids further behind the class in my honest opinion as they likely wouldn't or couldn't take part. So it isn't simple like you seem to be making out on here. We are doing our best in a awful situation as are all the parents who are trying everything they can to help their kids.

I agree that virtual lessons are challenging, and have shared a number of articles and studies saying as much. I get it, and even in boroughs like ours that send out devices to disadvantaged pupils, many will have no workspace or a generally insufficient environment to work in. That's all the reason to get kids back into schools, not to cease all learning for them entirely. This is doing damage that will last them a lifetime.

With reopening what do you honestly want schools to do mate? We have set up the classrooms and the most tables and chairs you will get in the class is 10 following the government guidelines and socially distancing and I would say we have bigger classrooms than your average primary school. We are at capacity with the staff we have left so how do you propose to get all these other kids back with classrooms like this? You building new classrooms somewhere? Who is teaching them? Once in a 'class pod' they are calling them, the staff aren't even allowed to come across each other in the school as with the kids with other classes. So staff can't switch classes. If staff become ill the whole pod can't come in because of this. It's not even normal teaching anyway as we can't even go next to their table to help them with anything. All we can do from the guidelines is walk from the back to the front glancing at their work and give quick suggestions. We can then try and help them from the board at the front but if Y1 children then still can't grasp it we can't go to their desk to give them the help they will need like we would normally do. How are you expecting Reception children to sit on a chair at a table by themselves for most of the day when their learning is the complete opposite to this?

Schools are, as you say, limited by the space they have, but there are numerous other facilities that are currently mothballed. Council run leisure centres are likely to be shut for the foreseeable future. Universities and colleges are likely to be shut until September. If social distancing is an issue, could these facilities be commissioned? We've had completely new hospitals requisitioned over night to deal with the crisis so it doesn't seem too much of a stretch if the will is there.

Similarly, if social distancing is the barrier, could more be done to ascertain the health of the child as they enter the building, as seems to be the case in Asia? If you're doing your best to determine the child is healthy, then the requirement to abide by restrictive social distancing would surely decrease?

People need to realise that it isn't proper education they are going back to at all. The economy does need to get back moving but when you hear the government saying the kids need to get back in schools for their education, it's a bit of a joke to be honest in the current situation. We will do our best with what we have and the guidelines and it's annoying reading people on here who have no clue about schools criticising.

Please don't think I'm tin eared to the challenges faced by the sector, as this has tipped pretty much everyone upside down and shaken them around. I get that, and would like to thank you for your considered and thoughtful post. I've probably learned more from it than any official communication on this matter, so do appreciate it. Hopefully now that attention has been truly focused the collective minds of the sector will figure something out. Healthcare has understandably taken most of the attention in the initial months of this pandemic, but it's perhaps educations turn in the spotlight now, so hopefully that focus will enable meaningful change to occur to satisfy all parties.