Well, yes, but most sensible people arrived at this conclusion a long time ago. The Danes are generally quite sensible, and their schools were reopened over two months ago.
‘Most sensible people’ – i.e. not the unions or Labour.
Michael Dawson
3 years ago
The attitude of the National Education Union can be seen from its guidance to members teaching secondary school children about teaching during the lockdown. Here are some highlights:
“Live-streaming lessons from home should be handled very carefully. This is due mainly to safeguarding concerns, for the pupils and the teacher. Lessons on live video platforms such as Zoom give access into all pupils’ (and the teacher’s) homes for all participants on the call. Were there to be a safeguarding incident, this could place the teacher and the school in a very difficult position.”
“…no teacher should be expected to carry out any online teaching with which they feel uncomfortable, or in the absence of agreed protocols.”
“Some teachers have found that a safer way of delivering live lessons is to not appear in person on screen, but to give the lesson in the form of a narrated presentation. This method allows the teacher more privacy. Pupils should turn off their own cameras to avoid invasion of privacy.”
“At this time, teachers should not be expected to carry out routine grading of pupils’ work. To do so would be to disadvantage those who do not have the resources and support available at home.”
There is no sense of urgency and the need to work hard and imaginatively to minimise the impact on children’s education. Indeed, the general tenor seems to be to minimise work for teachers and, if they really have to do anything, ensure they could do it without actually getting out of bed. (Honestly, I have not made up these quotes.)
Many of these teachers who you suggest are still in bed are trying to home school their own children and manage their teaching remotely. Many work into the night after their own kids gave gone to bed to get through their workload. On top of that they are attempting to look after their students pastorally with phone calls home. This school I work in has done some amazing online teaching with students, with teachers being creative and imaginative, going way beyond what they are required to do. Your suggestion that they are being lazy is simply not true in my experience and the vast majority are working hard for the students who they genuinely care about.
david bewick
3 years ago
Only 2 deaths in the age range 1-14 according to ONS and both were girls not boys and I believe both with underlying health conditions. Risk is 0.006% for children. Report out yesterday puts the child risk at half the chance of being struck by lightning. Only one female primary school teacher has died from coronavirus. Schools with 2m distancing? It begs the question why? On a wider point I would suggest that if we had a media less inclined to got gotcha on everything and to be more supportive and positive we would be out of this a lot sooner. Some bunker mentality in the govt because of it I would suggest.
Adrian Smith
3 years ago
Sweden kept all schools for 16 and under fully open the whole time. I have not seen any evidence that children or teachers have been significantly adversely affected. There probably is a bit of an issue with going to see more elderly grand parents, but that is a small sacrifice any grand parent would happily make for the future well being of their grand children.
Well, yes, but most sensible people arrived at this conclusion a long time ago. The Danes are generally quite sensible, and their schools were reopened over two months ago.
‘Most sensible people’ – i.e. not the unions or Labour.
The attitude of the National Education Union can be seen from its guidance to members teaching secondary school children about teaching during the lockdown. Here are some highlights:
“Live-streaming lessons from home should be handled very carefully. This is due mainly to safeguarding concerns, for the pupils and the teacher. Lessons on live video platforms such as Zoom give access into all pupils’ (and the teacher’s) homes for all participants on the call. Were there to be a safeguarding incident, this could place the teacher and the school in a very difficult position.”
“…no teacher should be expected to carry out any online teaching with which they feel uncomfortable, or in the absence of agreed protocols.”
“Some teachers have found that a safer way of delivering live lessons is to not appear in person on screen, but to give the lesson in the form of a narrated presentation. This method allows the teacher more privacy. Pupils should turn off their own cameras to avoid invasion of privacy.”
“At this time, teachers should not be expected to carry out routine grading of pupils’ work. To do so would be to disadvantage those who do not have the resources and support available at home.”
There is no sense of urgency and the need to work hard and imaginatively to minimise the impact on children’s education. Indeed, the general tenor seems to be to minimise work for teachers and, if they really have to do anything, ensure they could do it without actually getting out of bed. (Honestly, I have not made up these quotes.)
Many of these teachers who you suggest are still in bed are trying to home school their own children and manage their teaching remotely. Many work into the night after their own kids gave gone to bed to get through their workload. On top of that they are attempting to look after their students pastorally with phone calls home. This school I work in has done some amazing online teaching with students, with teachers being creative and imaginative, going way beyond what they are required to do. Your suggestion that they are being lazy is simply not true in my experience and the vast majority are working hard for the students who they genuinely care about.
Only 2 deaths in the age range 1-14 according to ONS and both were girls not boys and I believe both with underlying health conditions. Risk is 0.006% for children. Report out yesterday puts the child risk at half the chance of being struck by lightning. Only one female primary school teacher has died from coronavirus. Schools with 2m distancing? It begs the question why? On a wider point I would suggest that if we had a media less inclined to got gotcha on everything and to be more supportive and positive we would be out of this a lot sooner. Some bunker mentality in the govt because of it I would suggest.
Sweden kept all schools for 16 and under fully open the whole time. I have not seen any evidence that children or teachers have been significantly adversely affected. There probably is a bit of an issue with going to see more elderly grand parents, but that is a small sacrifice any grand parent would happily make for the future well being of their grand children.
Get the children back to school.