Covid in Schools

solerina

Mrsmum wrote: »

Very likely imo. If they do sit exams next year, it will have to be a very easy exam because they are far more disadvantaged than last year's cohort already.

Considering we are all back in full classrooms for the past 8 weeks I can’t see any reason why they won’t be sitting their exam, and as for disadvantage, I do t think so, we have plenty of time to work with them before next June. If they are willing to work they will be fine.

Bobtheman

They have already made adjustments in many subjects for the loss time. Personally I think they should have done more. If there is another lock down then more adjustments will be made.

Mrsmum

solerina wrote: »

Considering we are all back in full classrooms for the past 8 weeks I can’t see any reason why they won’t be sitting their exam, and as for disadvantage, I do t think so, we have plenty of time to work with them before next June. If they are willing to work they will be fine.

My kids went back on the 7th Sept so that''s 6 weeks to date by my maths. It doesn't comfort me to know other kids have got two weeks extra learning ! They lost all that time last Spring/ Summer, many of them have been out individually or as a class with Covid, they at some point likely be back to remote learning so yes I would say they are far more disadvantaged than last year's students who must have had the full course done before any disruption.

km79

deiseindublin wrote: »

I've an LC in the house and it's horrendous the amount of pressure being put on them for tests by a few teachers, one subject has it's third test within 2 weeks planned for during class time this week.

Apart from the student pressure and the teacher workload, I don't think it's fair to keep testing them. Surely teaching them is more of a priority if one thinks another school closure is possible.

This is as a direct results to the predicted grades fiasco .......getting ready for next summers predicted grade

shesty

Yes, they could literally be building a solid body of evidence to allow them to give a fair grade on.

mirrorwall14

A lot of schools do 6th year reports at this time too. I know mine do. So there’s always a glut of testing because it’s so early

Bobtheman

It's shocking that the de facto employer of teachers won't
Meet their employees union over serious health concerns.
The Asti has asked for a meeting for weeks but been told to fxxx off.
I hope the ballot tells the government to **** off and threatens strike action.

Posh Dave

Bobtheman wrote: »

It's shocking that the de facto employer of teachers won't
Meet their employees union over serious health concerns.
The Asti has asked for a meeting for weeks but been told to fxxx off.
I hope the ballot tells the government to **** off and threatens strike action.

It’s probably because they know the union has not the balls to call for a strike in the current climate

solerina

Mrsmum wrote: »

My kids went back on the 7th Sept so that''s 6 weeks to date by my maths. It doesn't comfort me to know other kids have got two weeks extra learning ! They lost all that time last Spring/ Summer, many of them have been out individually or as a class with Covid, they at some point likely be back to remote learning so yes I would say they are far more disadvantaged than last year's students who must have had the full course done before any disruption.

Fair enough for your kids but my school were fully back on Sept 2nd, LC came back the previous Friday so for my students they will have 8 full weeks by mid term. None of our class groups have missed time due to COVID and I sent and corrected work every week during lockdown, so I feel they are almost as well prepared as most groups I have at this stage of sixth year. I can only speak for the Students I teach

ByTheSea2019

There needs to be a serious plan for the exams. What if someone tests positive on day one of the leaving cert. Is that all the exams gone for everyone because they have to self isolate. What if that year group includes people who were already repeating because they were not happy with last years predicted grades.

In my opinion, they need to have a congingency set of leaving cert exams ready to go a month later, because it will happen in some school. They could also think about paying more invigilators and splitting them up more in the school when they're doing it. maybe using classrooms instead of large halls.

Smacruairi

ByTheSea2019 wrote: »

There needs to be a serious plan for the exams. What if someone tests positive on day one of the leaving cert. Is that all the exams gone for everyone because they have to self isolate. What if that year group includes people who were already repeating because they were not happy with last years predicted grades.

In my opinion, they need to have a congingency set of leaving cert exams ready to go a month later, because it will happen in some school. They could also think about paying more invigilators and splitting them up more in the school when they're doing it. maybe using classrooms instead of large halls.

Your last point is the only solution. More invigilators means you could have the whole school in use for exams. 10 per class say. Highly doubt they will do that however. They'll ask teachers to do it for free and then decry us as lazy when we don't give up a month of holidays fam without pay.

jrosen

Learning time is being lost, there is no doubt. There are schools having closures, or sending classes home. Then students staying home if feeling anyway unwell which is what they should be doing but means they are missing that class time. Then teachers also being out.
There is no way exam students this year will not be at a disadvantage.

Rosita

ByTheSea2019 wrote: »

There needs to be a serious plan for the exams. What if someone tests positive on day one of the leaving cert. Is that all the exams gone for everyone because they have to self isolate.

But that's at odds with what's happening in schools. I had a Second Year student in my class who tested positive last week and not a single person, student or teacher, had to self-isolate as a result.

Not clear why that should be different if it happens in the Leaving Cert.

byhookorbycrook

Primary but re learning time : we are starting ten minutes early and finishing ten minutes later to allow for staggered starts / departures. School swimming / GAA/Rugby etc coaches are cancelled .
At lunch time the children eat in their rooms and get 20 minutes on the yard ( Meaning teachers lose 10 mins of their break and do extra supervision morning , evening and at lunchtime .)This means staff members only see the same handful of staff and lose the time that was often used for informal consultation with the previous class teacher or time to ask the SEN team for a few strategies .


No visitors to the schools for things like SPHE/ no tree day trips/ book fair visits etc. etc. So “ learning time” in the 3 R sense has been maximised, but so much has been lost in the enrichment sense .

Simple things like the Halloween dress up, where parents also got involved in dressing up and classes got the chance to see all the other classes are gone .
It’s “ school “ but it’s a shadow of its former self .

Posh Dave

Bobtheman wrote: »

It's shocking that the de facto employer of teachers won't
Meet their employees union over serious health concerns.
The Asti has asked for a meeting for weeks but been told to fxxx off.
I hope the ballot tells the government to **** off and threatens strike action.

Would not think that the teachers would not have the balls either to go on strike also

Mrsmum

[QUOTE=byhookorbycrook;114 So “ learning time” in the 3 R sense has been maximised, but so much has been lost in the enrichment sense .

Simple things like the Halloween dress up, where parents also got involved in dressing up and classes got the chance to see all the other classes are gone .
It’s “ school “ but it’s a shadow of its former self .[/QUOTE]

I don' t mean this as a contradiction to what your saying, more that you put it into my mind but I was talking to a teacher last week and she was saying there is a lovely calmness and kindness from the children these days. She said there isn't half the aggro between groups and that there is a lack of mean competitiveness. She was putting it down to children not having their heads melted with all sorts of after-school activities and big bday parties, other trips and events etc these days. That their lives have got quieter and they are enjoying simple family time and pleasures at home. She is quite oldstyle though so maybe just her impression.

thebronze14

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Primary but re learning time : we are starting ten minutes early and finishing ten minutes later to allow for staggered starts / departures. School swimming / GAA/Rugby etc coaches are cancelled .
At lunch time the children eat in their rooms and get 20 minutes on the yard ( Meaning teachers lose 10 mins of their break and do extra supervision morning , evening and at lunchtime .)This means staff members only see the same handful of staff and lose the time that was often used for informal consultation with the previous class teacher or time to ask the SEN team for a few strategies .


No visitors to the schools for things like SPHE/ no tree day trips/ book fair visits etc. etc. So “ learning time” in the 3 R sense has been maximised, but so much has been lost in the enrichment sense .

Simple things like the Halloween dress up, where parents also got involved in dressing up and classes got the chance to see all the other classes are gone .
It’s “ school “ but it’s a shadow of its former self .

My thoughts exactly...Most of the enjoyable things that can be done aren't there this year sadly. Between all the cleaning there is little time to do much more than the 3 core subjects. I feel for the kids tbh and I'm trying to make it as exciting as possible for them but it's defo a shadow of it's former self.

khalessi

thebronze14 wrote: »

My thoughts exactly...Most of the enjoyable things that can be done aren't there this year sadly. Between all the cleaning there is little time to do much more than the 3 core subjects. I feel for the kids tbh and I'm trying to make it as exciting as possible for them but it's defo a shadow of it's former self.

Yeah the craic is gone at the moment, but we are doing dress up next week, I think they need it and deserve it.

deiseindublin

jrosen wrote: »

There is no way exam students this year will not be at a disadvantage.

The only 'good' thing is that if the bell curve is implemented correctly, the difficulty of the paper should not impact on the spread of results. I'm presuming 2020 results won't be part of this curve though, so 2020 students will have a distinct advantage if applying for CAO again.

Treppen

deiseindublin wrote: »

I've an LC in the house and it's horrendous the amount of pressure being put on them for tests by a few teachers, one subject has it's third test within 2 weeks planned for during class time this week.

Apart from the student pressure and the teacher workload, I don't think it's fair to keep testing them. Surely teaching them is more of a priority if one thinks another school closure is possible.

We've changed to monthly tests now across the board. Getting ready for predictive grades again I imagine.

Bobtheman

Posh Dave wrote: »

Would not think that the teachers would not have the balls either to go on strike also

You had a valid point up to this week but I'd say a lot of people filling in the ballot now will say the government is indifferent to us. The logic of allowing a couple of hundred thousand people to move during a lockdown ( students) makes no sense. My employer won't meet my union so fxxx them.
Whatever about primary- at secondary you are practically teaching adults..
If you saw a picture of your average classroom you'd see exactly what teachers are concerned about.
However all this being said - I expect a compromise. A longer mid term with schools opening during level 5.
Because if schools are forced to open during a lockdown- about a third of kids won't come in anyway.

Posh Dave

Bobtheman wrote: »

You had a valid point up to this week but I'd say a lot of people filling in the ballot now will say the government is indifferent to us. The logic of allowing a couple of hundred thousand people to move during a lockdown ( students) makes no sense. My employer won't meet my union so fxxx them.
Whatever about primary- at secondary you are practically teaching adults..
If you saw a picture of your average classroom you'd see exactly what teachers are concerned about.
However all this being said - I expect a compromise. A longer mid term with schools opening during level 5.
Because if schools are forced to open during a lockdown- about a third of kids won't come in anyway.

Yet you expect shops, hospitals,petrol stations etc to still stay open when you sit at home. Does not seem fair to me. If the teachers go on strike there will be no public support. You will be allowed to strike unpaid until you come back to work.

khalessi

Posh Dave wrote: »

Yet you expect shops, hospitals,petrol stations etc to still stay open when you sit at home. Does not seem fair to me. If the teachers go on strike there will be no public support. You will be allowed to strike unpaid until you come back to work.

Interesting because a lot of parents on twitter and FB think how the HSE and Dept are treating schools is a disgrace.

km79

Posh Dave wrote: »

Yet you expect shops, hospitals,petrol stations etc to still stay open when you sit at home. Does not seem fair to me. If the teachers go on strike there will be no public support. You will be allowed to strike unpaid until you come back to work.

The numbers allowed on all this premises at any one time are being managed
So
Perhaps half in half out /week on week off blended learning is the compromise we are all searching for ?
7 months on and there is still no secondary school guidance from the dept on this

Bobtheman

Posh Dave wrote: »

Yet you expect shops, hospitals,petrol stations etc to still stay open when you sit at home. Does not seem fair to me. If the teachers go on strike there will be no public support. You will be allowed to strike unpaid until you come back to work.

You show a shocking ignorance of recent history.
Firstly it would never be a continuous strike. A few days here and there. Only the cops or nurses could risk that and get away with it. When the Asti last attempted an all out it collapsed after 2 days. They'd never do an all out again.
Secondly you too would expect food shops to remain open when everything else is closed . You did last time when presumably you sat on your arse at home.
As to public support- it's a complete fallacy to think you need public support to win any dispute. The idea is to piss the public off who then get on the blower to their politicians etc.
It's a sad state of affairs when you have to explain trade unionism to people..and then the same people scratch their heads and wonder why we have zero hour contracts!

Bobtheman

I think if schools remain open while everywhere else is closed - attendance will collapse.

iguana

Posh Dave wrote: »

Yet you expect shops, hospitals,petrol stations etc to still stay open when you sit at home. Does not seem fair to me. If the teachers go on strike there will be no public support. You will be allowed to strike unpaid until you come back to work.

I think you might be surprised on that one. While few people 'want' schools to close, more and more people feel it's probably necessary. And that as long as schools remain open in the way that they are, the worse this will be. The longer this lockdown will go on for.

Deaths from Covid tend to occur an average of 6 weeks after infection. The deaths we're seeing now are a reflection of our case numbers in the first and second weeks of September. In another 5-6 weeks we'll most likely be seeing deaths that reflect the case numbers we're seeing now. We're growing increasingly likely to see a second wave of deaths worse than the first because by the time things were this bad last time around, we were mostly locked down and schools were closed. An awful, awful lot of people have worked this out and would prefer we take every action we can to stop things getting worse than they already will. I don't want schools to close but they almost certainly need to. If it takes the teachers and the unions to make that happen, I for one support them 100%. And I'm not alone in that.

TheValeyard

Bobtheman wrote: »

I think if schools remain open while everywhere else is closed - attendance will collapse.

This. Remember people for some reason, went nuts and huge queues at tescos, Lidl, etc last time school shuts. If there is a level five, I'd say many parents will not bring kids to school, particularly at second level. Many a parent will work from home and expect online learning or something.

spurious

Please do not engage with people posting anti-teacher nonsense that is against the forum charter.
Put the poster on ignore and report please.
Thanks to those who reported recent posts.

spurious

Posh Dave banned for a week. Plenty, plenty other forums on boards where you can carry on your anti-teacher crusade.
Not here.