How will schools be able to go back in September?

Zahir Bitter Cellist

Zahir Bitter Cellist wrote: »

It varied widely really and that's the issue.

Overall 3 or 4 didn't do much of what I would consider work but equally the same number put their heart and soul into it (and believe me it really made a difference and was very much appreciated).

The rest did just what was needed and again that was fine.

I don't know whether it comes down to lack of direction or leadership but I think it would be important to have a more uniform approach.

That would manage expectations of parents and ensure that teachers know exactly what's required. While extra effort is great its not right that a teacher should be overwhelmed and spending day and night doing their job either.

Do you think having a back up plan such as an online version of how the main core curriculum subjects are taught would be useful or would it just be a waste of time/money?

Hopefully not something we will need to have but better to have a plan.

Fair play for getting back to me. And that's a very fair response.

But it's human nature that some people will do their best and a few (3 or 4 out of 20) don't. I would imagine that's par for the course across most industries.

I have a neighbour who is an ambulance driver and is hard at work on the front line!, though in reality I know that he refused to upskill when his job was made redundant and has been doing nothing in a made up job that involves little or more than dropping off a few packages to bases around the county for the last 20 years.

But he's a hero according to the binary narrative of the moment and I'm a dosser, even though was up at 5.30 am each morning during lockdown getting my work done before my toddler and newborn woke and then while they napped or were asleep at night.

We don't treat people in any other industries as some homogenous glob so I don't see why we do the same with teachers.

The primary curriculum and teaching guidelines are all available online.

I'm happy to hop the ball, but honestly I don't think you are being fair or reasonable.

redmgar

The simple fact is schools will be back full time due to the economic reason of childcare. There will is not enough available to cover every child, and parents cannot stay off work any longer due to economic recovery.

ChelseaRentBoy

My friend drives a mini bus taking kids to school and he's just been informed by Bus Eirieen that they aren't issuing contracts until January 2021 at the earliest for his school.

He literally has no work now because all the concert, outings, day trips etc..are all gone also. They said they cant tell him if the school will be opening or not but it doesn't sound good.

deiseindublin

After a few months of whinging on about underperforming teachers it turns out 80 - 85% of them did what they needed to do and lots more on top, you couldn't make it up.

Sounds like most sectors to me, a few lazy ones, majority up to scratch and a few dingers.

combat14

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53539015

Coronavirus: Spain drives fears of European 'second wave'

Looks like blended learning for september at this rate..

ChelseaRentBoy

deiseindublin wrote: »

After a few months of whinging on about underperforming teachers it turns out 80 - 85% of them did what they needed to do and lots more on top, you couldn't make it up.

Sounds like most sectors to me, a few lazy ones, majority up to scratch and a few dingers.

Just like every other walk of life.

deiseindublin

ChelseaRentBoy wrote: »

My friend drives a mini bus taking kids to school and he's just been informed by Bus Eirieen that they aren't issuing contracts until January 2021 at the earliest for his school.

He literally has no work now because all the concert, outings, day trips etc..are all gone also. They said they cant tell him if the school will be opening or not but it doesn't sound good.

Is the bus service primary or second level or mixed?

That's a tough blow.

ChelseaRentBoy

deiseindublin wrote: »

Is the bus service primary or second level or mixed?

That's a tough blow.

It's a secondary school based in South Dublin. The department pay Bus Eireann a fee to do the work and they sub contract the work out to the drivers. He knows most of the other drivers as they run 8 mini buses every day and they all received the same email.

I don't think Bus Eireann even know what the department is at but either they've decided social distancing isn't possible on the mini buses or the school isn't opening.

abacus120

Has anyone else heard anything about private bus companies that bring there kids to school?

Boggles

abacus120 wrote: »

Has anyone else heard anything about private bus companies that bring there kids to school?

They sure do and private taxis.

teachinggal123

deiseindublin wrote: »

After a few months of whinging on about underperforming teachers it turns out 80 - 85% of them did what they needed to do and lots more on top, you couldn't make it up.

Sounds like most sectors to me, a few lazy ones, majority up to scratch and a few dingers.

Where did you get that statistic?

teachinggal123

The passive-aggressive nature of the posts from teachers on here does the profession no credit. Some of them are downright disgraceful.

I personally know of many, many teachers who did next to nothing since 12 March. I can point to posts from teachers on here saying this and giving absurd reasons as to why they couldn’t work.

Also, a family member with kids in primary got one email each Monday morning with the kids work for the week. No support, no online classes, no correction and no way to contact the teacher. This was the entire school strategy for 100’s of kids.

So let’s be honest here. Many teachers have effectively done nothing and it’s dishonest to say otherwise.

FishOnABike

Hubertj wrote: »

This is mad stuff altogether. How do teachers associate themselves with these type of people? The lad is now a QS, cost accountant and public health expert? LAst i checked he is a teacher and nothing else. The negative confrontational attitude is disgusting. Last paragraph says it all.... its just about pay increases.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/asti-warns-that-funding-to-reopen-schools-is-insufficient-1.4312813

The article says nothing about pay increases.

newuser99999

teachinggal123 wrote: »

Also, a family member with kids in primary got one email each Monday morning with the kids work for the week. No support, no online classes, no correction and no way to contact the teacher. This was the entire school strategy for 100’s of kids.

The tone of your post isn’t much better really! What do you mean no way to contact the teacher? I’d imagine parents have the teachers email no?

teachinggal123

newuser99999 wrote: »

The tone of your post isn’t much better really! What do you mean no way to contact the teacher? I’d imagine parents have the teachers email no?

No. There was one school email address which was very hit and miss.

The same situation also applied in a few other primary schools I know of.

combat14

ChelseaRentBoy wrote: »

My friend drives a mini bus taking kids to school and he's just been informed by Bus Eirieen that they aren't issuing contracts until January 2021 at the earliest for his school.

He literally has no work now because all the concert, outings, day trips etc..are all gone also. They said they cant tell him if the school will be opening or not but it doesn't sound good.

well getting buses to work (with social distancing) will be vital for rural schools to get back and up and running ...

mirrorwall14

I think everyone is applying their own anecdotal experiences and then trying to extrapolate from that. You have one experience. Here’s mine for example

Our school ran the full timetable and I and my friends on staff broke ourselves trying to provide good learning experiences from recording our own specific videos (I recorded my maths lens), giving live classes where possible, designing resources, corrections etc all online. At least three other secondary schools I have knowledge of were exactly the same. We were all under more pressure than ever before and with daily staff meetings to boot.

My sons primary school ran on class dojo. His junior infant teacher was amazing. She sent a weekly summary email, a daily breakdown of that summary and uploaded 4-5 personally recorded videos a day plus providing YouTube links etc as well as running a padlet wall for the group.

So my experience as a mum and a teacher was overwhelming positive.

Do I know that every teacher in my school gave it their all? No. Do I know that the other teachers in my sons school did this much? No. But equally I have no experience to say that they didn’t.

We’ve all had different experiences. We all had different issues.

Through my own experience I know two teacher that got COVID and were out of action for weeks. I know another two where family members got it which also knocked them out of action. I know many of my colleagues (like all other industries had no childcare) and it was incredibly difficult to do that job. I know many staff and students whose broadband or access to devices was rubbish and made it very difficult.

If someone wasn’t pulling their weight then that is managements job to deal with. And there’s a bigger issue for the school if management aren’t pulling their weight
Why are we having a row about who did and didn’t do their job? It doesn’t matter and is incredibly biased by our experiences and our expectations. I thought the Junior infant teacher went above and beyond. Another parent probably thought she could have done more. We are all different.

teachinggal123

teachinggal123 wrote: »

The passive-aggressive nature of the posts from teachers on here does the profession no credit. Some of them are downright disgraceful.

I personally know of many, many teachers who did next to nothing since 12 March. I can point to posts from teachers on here saying this and giving absurd reasons as to why they couldn’t work.

Also, a family member with kids in primary got one email each Monday morning with the kids work for the week. No support, no online classes, no correction and no way to contact the teacher. This was the entire school strategy for 100’s of kids.

So let’s be honest here. Many teachers have effectively done nothing and it’s dishonest to say otherwise.

You make some fair points. I think the teachers on here probably do value they work and are very serious about it and probably take the criticism a bit harder than others. I know how hard I worked and as a result I do find the constant crap I have to listen to quite upsetting at times.

Perhaps, too, this is an easier place to put up a defence as I find in real life, especially in groups, if I put up a defence of my profession or my work I just get accused of being a whinger or it ends up in a row so most of the time I just say nothing.

History Queen

teachinggal123 wrote: »

The passive-aggressive nature of the posts from teachers on here does the profession no credit. Some of them are downright disgraceful.

I personally know of many, many teachers who did next to nothing since 12 March. I can point to posts from teachers on here saying this and giving absurd reasons as to why they couldn’t work.

Also, a family member with kids in primary got one email each Monday morning with the kids work for the week. No support, no online classes, no correction and no way to contact the teacher. This was the entire school strategy for 100’s of kids.

So let’s be honest here. Many teachers have effectively done nothing and it’s dishonest to say otherwise.

Teachers like you who admit to not bothering to make an effort during all of this do the profession no credit. To then come on forums like this and pontificate about what other teachers have or haven't done is hypocrisy at best...



https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...&postcount=359


https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...&postcount=411

teachinggal123

History Queen wrote: »

Teachers like you who admit to not bothering to make an effort during all of this do the profession no credit. To then come on forums like this and pontificate about what other teachers have or haven't done is hypocrisy at best...

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...&postcount=359

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...&postcount=411

I’m not pontificating and I have not been hypocritical.

The fact is that many teachers have done nothing since 12 March. You know that, I know that, We all know that. I’m not sure why some teachers on here are fighting so hard to deny it!!?!?!??

Alex86Eire

teachinggal123 wrote: »

I’m not pontificating and I have not been hypocritical. I did start with good intentions but I came under pressure from many of my older and more influential colleagues who had decided to do as little as possible after 12 March. It’s difficult to resist that when you are young and starting a career, but what I saw and experienced was a disgrace to the profession.

The fact is that many teachers have done nothing since 12 March. You know that, I know that, We all know that. I’m not sure why some teachers on here are fighting so hard to deny it!!?!?!??

You were on this thread months ago telling people how you were doing no work during lock down. You are the kind of teacher people here are giving out about. You give the rest of us a bad name.
So peer pressure is your excuse for doing nothing?? Its embarrassing to read. Your poor students.

It sounds like you're trying to make yourself feel better about doing nothing by convincing others that they didn't pull their weight either.

I worked my absolute ass off during lock down. I will be able to go back to school in September (hopefully) with a clear conscience knowing I did everything in my power to educate my students and keep them on track and up to date. I'm sorry that you will be facing into a different scenario.

Looks like you edited out your post since.

Jim_Hodge

teachinggal123 wrote: »

I’m not pontificating and I have not been hypocritical.

The fact is that many teachers have done nothing since 12 March. You know that, I know that, We all know that. I’m not sure why some teachers on here are fighting so hard to deny it!!?!?!??

I suppose we all have our own experience (as with all things in life) and I can only speak of what I have personally seen and experienced. I'm not a teacher BTW and have nothing but praise for teachers from the two schools (primary and secondary) I've experienced. Both went way beyond expectations. Daily connection with the pupils, an amazing amount of work done and great innovation in delivering lessons.

teachinggal123

Alex86Eire wrote: »

I worked my absolute ass off during lock down. I will be able to go back to school in September (hopefully) with a clear conscience knowing I did everything in my power to educate my students and keep them on track and up to date. I'm sorry that you will be facing into a different scenario.

Good for you.

Do you have any opinions on the primary school sending only one email a week with no follow up, correction or way to contact the teacher? Do you thank all the teachers and management in that school should have clear consciences?

lulublue22

teachinggal123 wrote: »

I’m not pontificating and I have not been hypocritical.

The fact is that many teachers have done nothing since 12 March. You know that, I know that, We all know that. I’m not sure why some teachers on here are fighting so hard to deny it!!?!?!??

I think you meant to post that I did nothing since the 12th of March a fact that you have repeated over and over again. Please stop confusing your actions and behaviour as representative of the majority of teachers. As with any profession there are those who took the proverbial and those who worked. As for your comment re coming under pressure from older more influential colleagues for gods sake you are an adult own your behaviour. You chose to do nothing thats on you.

am_zarathustra

Alex86Eire wrote: »

You were on this thread months ago telling people how you were doing no work during lock down. You are the kind of teacher people here are giving out about. You give the rest of us a bad name.
So peer pressure is your excuse for doing nothing?? Its embarrassing to read. Your poor students.

It sounds like you're trying to make yourself feel better about doing nothing by convincing others that they didn't pull their weight either.

I worked my absolute ass off during lock down. I will be able to go back to school in September (hopefully) with a clear conscience knowing I did everything in my power to educate my students and keep them on track and up to date. I'm sorry that you will be facing into a different scenario.

Looks like you edited out your post since.

The thing that stands out here is you, as an adult and a professional, allowed older teachers to bully you into not doing your work? This is shocking. I've been in schools where I've drawn the ire of older staff for extra work, taking kids after school, using new methodologies and eventually for promotion. I'm an adult. If people want to be angry or attempt to bully me for trying to do my best to help students then it's not me who needs to adjust my behaviour. As an adult I am more than capable of ignoring people whispering behind my back or making passive aggressive comments. My job was to teach the students as best I could during the lockdown and so was yours. I thankfully suspect, and it seems born out by the comments here, that there are more teachers like Alex86Eire and I than like you

Boggles

teachinggal123 wrote: »

The fact is that many teachers have done nothing since 12 March.

teachinggal123 wrote: »

Good for you.
Do you have any opinions on the primary school sending only one email a week

Which is it?

They sent work out by email or they did nothing. It can't be both.

Icantthinkof1

Boggles wrote: »

:
They sent work out by email or they did nothing. It can't be both.

To be fair someone sending one email a week surely would nearly qualify as doing nothing

Alex86Eire

am_zarathustra wrote: »

The thing that stands out here is you, as an adult and a professional, allowed older teachers to bully you into not doing your work? This is shocking. I've been in schools where I've drawn the ire of older staff for extra work, taking kids after school, using new methodologies and eventually for promotion. I'm an adult. If people want to be angry or attempt to bully me for trying to do my best to help students then it's not me who needs to adjust my behaviour. As an adult I am more than capable of ignoring people whispering behind my back or making passive aggressive comments. My job was to teach the students as best I could during the lockdown and so was yours. I thankfully suspect, and it seems born out by the comments here, that there are more teachers like Alex86Eire and I than like you

I presume you meant to quote teachingal here instead of me.

teachinggal123

The last few posts are the perfect example of how the teaching profession treat someone who points out laziness and wrongdoing of fellow teachers.

Jim_Hodge

Icantthinkof1 wrote: »

To be fair someone sending one email a week surely would nearly qualify as doing nothing

It depends on what the email included, surely?