AIBU No going back to school I’m furious.

No, no sign of OP Callistemon! Don't you just hate pupils who ask a question but then can't be bothered to explore the issue further or at least come back and show gratitude for the input?!

He tries to set himself up as some sort of H&S expert

Whilst I may disagree with Grandad on many of the issues regarding the return to school and the fact that he thinks teachers are idling these weeks away (they are not), I do believe that that is exactly what he is, a Health and Safety expert.

R rates higher in the north than in the south - the southwest (Weston, Taunton,etc) is not the south.

I blame the teaching unions. ?

With the 2metre distancing, it is near on impossible to have all of the children at school at one time, especially with an older school where classrooms are often smaller.
I have a great niece that when she heard she would not be going to school until September apparently sobbed her heart out - because she thought that her friends would have forgotten her!
Luckily her mum can work from home and her dad is a truck driver who has spent most of the last few months delivering PPE to various parts of the NHS.

I've seen a few mistakes in posts -^"the calendar [the last few weeks of term] is full of trips, visits, sports days, productions, concerts, prize giving, speech days, induction days etc."^ not if pupils are to stay 2 metres apart, avoid being crowded together in transport, etc etc. These jollies are out this term. What teachers are trying to do in these few last weeks of term is to get pupils used to the rhythm and patterns of being together at school again, while finding out how much of the work that was sent home to them by internet, or delivered laboriously by hand, has actually sunk in, and how many children have successfully escaped completing any of it. (One in three, according to one source I read)

Ellianne

Reading up on this R rate business, yes there were 2 localised blips. The one in Weston I'd heard about but apparently in Taunton the testing machine was faulty and registered dozens of positive results erroneously until they switched to a different machine. Just shows how skewed everything is.
By the way, whilst we are all busy dissecting every scrap, where is the furious OP?

Ah yes, the Taunton blip.
I wonder just how reliable the R rate is as a guide to planning unless it remains low for several weeks.

Did the OP come back at all?

Whenever do teachers have time to organise insurrections???? Hearing about the tutoring is great but it shows once again the lack of understanding about why children sometimes fail to make progress. It's not just the literacy and numeracy. It's also the lack of social skills and emotional and social development and as others have said it would be good to see some effort to organise summer schemes that deal with those.

I was a teacher for nearly 30 years. I’m relieved to be retired and not teaching through this crisis. But I’m afraid that the suggestion that teachers form some kind of pressure group in order to effect a change in thinking by the authorities is cloud cookoo land. Teachers are too busy teaching, in schools or online, and helping to reorganise their schools to meet new criteria for social distancing, whilst complying fully with all the usual safeguarding measures, and contributing to Zoom meetings in order to be fully briefed on the ever changing situation.
Schools and nursery settings are unique. They are not like any other workplace. No other workplace faces the same challenges of operating with large numbers of children, who by their very nature, present challenges in normal times. There is a reason why the tongue in cheek saying ‘Never work with children or animals’ is well known.

Again, Grandad1943, in the UK, I don't even get to plan my own lessons! The topic, the focus, the texts, the actual lesson plan, were ALL organised by people who didn't even work in my school.

Teachers do not count. We are not valued or allowed to make decisions. Any teacher demanding the changes you're suggesting would not have their contract renewed.

Nothing there is going to change under this government. They have a vested interested in deskilling and undervaluing teachers.

Grandad1943

GagaJo, in your post of 08:25 today you reference the point I have been making throughout this thread very well.

In that post, you state that "Teachers don't make these decisions. School administrations do. Under government guidelines.

In the above, I have been stating throughout that teachers need to organise to challenge those that they see as not acting in the best interests of education, parents and children in this crisis.

The failure to carry through such organisation can only be taken as affirmation by all outside the " Education Establishment" as complicity by teachers with those not acting in the best interests of education.

Anyway, I am once again off to the office, so, see you later.

??? Is Grandad suggesting some kind of insurrection by rank and file teachers ?
Possibly not a great help but it’s an idea..

Ellianne

growstuff maybe "no knowledge" would be a better choice of word. You may have no knowledge about another's job but you can have an understanding.

Errrmm ... in this case, I think "no understanding" is appropriate for some comments.

Of course.

I loved school all those years ago and have fond memories of my teachers. I was quite naughty and reckless, I can't mention some of the things I got up to. I was infuriatingly successful at my work without trying very hard and this allowed for plenty of time to be mischievous. How I got to be Head Girl was a complete mystery to me. I am grateful for the fun we had, the happiness we shared, the encouragement we were given and the entrepreneurial flair we were allowed to exhibit. I really can't remember much about sitting at the desk learning!

Just wondering from some of these posts if the writer had a bad experience themselves in school 60+ years ago. If so then that is sad and education has moved move greatly in the intervening years.

Ellianne I am not a teacher. I do not work for the mythical educational establishment. However on this thread teachers have been called every name under the sun. It is deeply unpleasant.
Is it not putting people down to suggest that there has been no planning for the change to the 5 weeks of trips etc.
I am also interested in other peoples points its why I asked about transition visits and how they are being done within the guidelines.

growstuff maybe "no knowledge" would be a better choice of word. You may have no knowledge about another's job but you can have an understanding.

GagaJo, in your post of 08:25 today you reference the point I have been making throughout this thread very well.

In that post, you state that "Teachers don't make these decisions. School administrations do. Under government guidelines.

In the above, I have been stating throughout that teachers need to organise to challenge those that they see as not acting in the best interests of education, parents and children in this crisis.

The failure to carry through such organisation can only be taken as affirmation by all outside the " Education Establishment" as complicity by teachers with those not acting in the best interests of education.

Anyway, I am once again off to the office, so, see you later.

Ellianne

Oh dear, the waggy fingers are really out today and being very strict. I'm guessing "you don't know what you're talking about and you have no understanding" are stock teacher comments when they can't come up with any real empathy and substance. I am always willing to praise a good point made and am prepared to look at comments from a different perspective, but some here can't wait to put others down straightaway in a very condescending school ma'am way. However, I will carry on listening and learning and just ignore the rest.

Unfortunately, it is absolutely obvious that some comments show no understanding. You don't need to be a teacher to see that.

Good point at the end Galaxy. How are we going to get the balance right introducing the academic learning along the fun activities and socialising? I would want my child's soul to be restored as well as their brain.

Oh dear, the waggy fingers are really out today and being very strict. I'm guessing "you don't know what you're talking about and you have no understanding" are stock teacher comments when they can't come up with any real empathy and substance. I am always willing to praise a good point made and am prepared to look at comments from a different perspective, but some here can't wait to put others down straightaway in a very condescending school ma'am way. However, I will carry on listening and learning and just ignore the rest.

..nor..

Never mentioned the word establishment Grandad, neither with or without a capital letter (or more inexplicably in speech marks??). That seems to be your bogey word.

Transition in my area are all done remotely and work set to facilitate this. Are they doing transition visits when schools have children in because that wouldn't fit in with government guidelines? I am not doubting you I am just curious how that meets the current guidelines? All lessons/timetable have had to be changed because of the current situation, so teachers have used innovation to tackle this, it is why in a lot of schools they are focusing on outdoor learning.So the changes to the expected timetable- trips etc have been planned for. I think we also have to be careful about focussing just on academic progress, children have had very different experiences of lockdown, for some it will have been very traumatic, schools are also looking at activities which support childrens mental health etc.

Grandad1943. I've said it before and I'll say it again.

Teachers don't make these decisions. School administrations do. Under government guidelines.

Go to those who CAN make changes. The Head Teachers. School Business Managers. The LEA. The Secretary for Education.

Teachers have ZERO control over what happens. The above groups decide and teacher implement their decisions.

You have very little understanding of education if you don't understand the above.