Government flip flops / school closures

Str8outtaWuhan · 07-01-2021 5:44pm

Pursefan wrote: »

Staff meeting on Zoom. Total waste of time. Looking at LCs in tues,wed,Thursday. Face to face teaching with new timetables for them. You also have to post work for other classes as per your timetable. Assigned Classrooms again to facilitate online teaching. Possibly reduced lunchtime.
Hopefully this will not come to pass. Madness.
Stay safe everyone.

I thought teachers were on holidays til monday? I have a auto response on all my work emails over the christmas holidays, if clients or my boss want me , tough. Will i lose my job or my clients, not a chance. They need me more than i need them and they know it . Its looking like teachers won't be getting many holidays in 2021, wtf would you agree to work on a day off?

Weepsie · 07-01-2021 5:45pm

Should've been the year they took a serious look at continuous assessment for grading rather than hoping all would be we'll come June and everyone would be okay.

Investment from the DoE in Moodle/Turnitin and such and having some good , well thought out and rigid enough marking scheme / rubric etc would help. Maybe the. Allow for shortened exam papers. It would be more like the experience at third level, and the leaving cert has long needed a shakeup.

inbetweentea · 07-01-2021 5:52pm

Weepsie wrote: »

Should've been the year they took a serious look at continuous assessment for grading rather than hoping all would be we'll come June and everyone would be okay.

Investment from the DoE in Moodle/Turnitin and such and having some good , well thought out and rigid enough marking scheme / rubric etc would help. Maybe the. Allow for shortened exam papers. It would be more like the experience at third level, and the leaving cert has long needed a shakeup.

Yes. Completely agree. I can't understand why they are clinging to the Leaving Certificate in its current form. It can't be guaranteed when exactly we will be out of Covid- so it's hard to imagine an examination seamlessly taking place all over the country on the same day/week when presumably Covid would still be a risk.. (unless I'm missing something on a scientific level)

Random sample · 07-01-2021 5:54pm

I saw someone rather dramatically pointing out on Twitter that they can go into a room with 30 people next week no problem, but if they contract covid and die, only 10 people could attend the funeral...

babybuilder · 07-01-2021 5:54pm

Pursefan wrote: »

Staff meeting on Zoom. Total waste of time. Looking at LCs in tues,wed,Thursday. Face to face teaching with new timetables for them. You also have to post work for other classes as per your timetable. Assigned Classrooms again to facilitate online teaching. Possibly reduced lunchtime.
Hopefully this will not come to pass. Madness.
Stay safe everyone.

Are you in a union? If so, it was ill advised to attend a meeting. A senior TUI official has advised no meetings of any kind during the holidays particularily in relation to the goveernment edict

mirrorwall14 · 07-01-2021 5:55pm

Normal timetable here just three days of it rotating weekly. Absolute madness. Coming into school for single 40 minute periods

mirrorwall14 · 07-01-2021 5:56pm

babybuilder wrote: »

Are you in a union? If so, it was ill advised to attend a meeting. A senior TUI official has advised no meetings of any kind during the holidays particularily in relation to the goveernment edict

Where? Our school has been having meetings all day

Icyseanfitz · 07-01-2021 5:56pm

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Normal timetable here just three days of it rotating weekly. Absolute madness. Coming into school for single 40 minute periods

what the actual **** are these people thinking

mirrorwall14 · 07-01-2021 6:01pm

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

what the actual **** are these people thinking

Apparently it would have too much impact on other subjects and options would lose out if they were to block it. I don’t know enough about timetabling to say if that’s true

Icyseanfitz · 07-01-2021 6:07pm

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Apparently it would have too much impact on other subjects and options would lose out if they were to block it. I don’t know enough about timetabling to say if that’s true

I take it you can do your 40minutes and leave if you choose?
Or are they forcing all staff to stay in the building at the same time as all 6th years?

mirrorwall14 · 07-01-2021 6:09pm

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

I take it you can do your 40minutes and leave if you choose?
Or are they forcing all staff to stay in the building at the same time as all 6th years?

Apparently (and this is second hand info) you aren’t allowed stay. Maybe for one class it might be facilitated but you are meant to come in, teach and get out. Because you know, it’s not safe to teach in an empty room I guess.....

BonsaiKitten · 07-01-2021 6:12pm

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Apparently (and this is second hand info) you aren’t allowed stay. Maybe for one class it might be facilitated but you are meant to come in, teach and get out. Because you know, it’s not safe to teach in an empty room I guess.....

But let's say you had other years just before or after a 6th year lesson, as many people do...are you meant to teach these other classes outside of your work hours then? Or are they just given nothing while you commute?

Ridiculous decision by the school.

amacca · 07-01-2021 6:17pm

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Apparently (and this is second hand info) you aren’t allowed stay. Maybe for one class it might be facilitated but you are meant to come in, teach and get out. Because you know, it’s not safe to teach in an empty room I guess.....

If true that's the best yet.....this "plan" has more holes in it than an aero bar ....

They really haven't thought this out too well beyond trying to save their hides and attempt to put unions/teachers in a no win situation so they can have cover later

If they were actually planning for this they would have come up with better, I'm sure there woukd still be the usual marshmallows complaining about stress but it would have been somewhat workable...

Icyseanfitz · 07-01-2021 6:18pm

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Apparently (and this is second hand info) you aren’t allowed stay. Maybe for one class it might be facilitated but you are meant to come in, teach and get out. Because you know, it’s not safe to teach in an empty room I guess.....

Seems very straightforward :rolleyes: god almighty i thought it couldn't get worse after the last semester, how wrong i was

greenbicycle · 07-01-2021 6:19pm

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Normal timetable here just three days of it rotating weekly. Absolute madness. Coming into school for single 40 minute periods

Same here, we have doubles though so 80 mins. Not sure of logistics around staying in, I have classes either side of my 6th years, will find out at staff meeting next week I suppose.

Also, no division of the classes, so 30 adults in a room with minimal distance or ventilation. Feel like no hope for me avoiding covid now :-(

Icyseanfitz · 07-01-2021 6:26pm

Statistically, what are the chances of someone having covid now? 1/30

Alqua · 07-01-2021 6:26pm

I noticed Foley mentioned 'staggering' 6th year students in her announcement yesterday. Of course this is unworkable from a timetable point of view, you'd have to repeat the same class all week? All adds to her 'easy' response when asked how teachers would manage teaching all of the other year groups online.

greenbicycle · 07-01-2021 6:30pm

Alqua wrote: »

I noticed Foley mentioned 'staggering' 6th year students in her announcement yesterday. Of course this is unworkable from a timetable point of view, you'd have to repeat the same class all week? All adds to her 'easy' response when asked how teachers would manage teaching all of the other year groups online.

She is taking through her hat, staggering isn't possible, if done it will be to the detriment of other classes as there isn't enough space in my timetable to teach the same class twice. Only choice my school has is to follow timetable as is.

acequion · 07-01-2021 6:31pm

greenbicycle wrote: »

Same here, we have doubles though so 80 mins. Not sure of logistics around staying in, I have classes either side of my 6th years, will find out at staff meeting next week I suppose.

Also, no division of the classes, so 30 adults in a room with minimal distance or ventilation. Feel like no hope for me avoiding covid now :-(

I'm sorry but I really don't know how you can say that so glibly. Is your job really more important to you than your health or the health or whoever you might spread it to?

I'm not trying to disrespect anybody but it really is inconceivable that people are already resigning themselves to this. There needs to be one hell of a fight put up and it needs to be stopped. Apart from the absolute certainty, with current numbers, that some of us will catch it and perhaps spread it with god knows what consequences, there is no hope of getting numbers back down to manageable levels and getting some semblance of normality back without a really strict lockdown for the next few weeks. It is a truly repugnant Govt decision and fair play to those few schools who are refusing to open.

greenbicycle · 07-01-2021 6:35pm

acequion wrote: »

I'm sorry but I really don't know how you can say that so glibly. Is your job really more important to you than your health or the health or whoever you might spread it to?

I'm not trying to disrespect anybody but it really is inconceivable that people are already resigning themselves to this. There needs to be one hell of a fight put up and it needs to be stopped. Apart from the absolute certainty, with current numbers, that some of us will catch it and perhaps spread it with god knows what consequences, there is no hope of getting numbers back down to manageable levels and getting some semblance of normality back without a really strict lockdown for the next few weeks. It is a truly repugnant Govt decision and fair play to those few schools who are refusing to open.

Everything you say is much easier said than done with little concession/Recognition for all the various positions people may be in. I get what you are saying and agree to an extent but I don't feel like I am in a position to just not turn up for school.

Bobtheman · 07-01-2021 6:38pm

acequion wrote: »

I'm sorry but I really don't know how you can say that so glibly. Is your job really more important to you than your health or the health or whoever you might spread it to?

I'm not trying to disrespect anybody but it really is inconceivable that people are already resigning themselves to this. There needs to be one hell of a fight put up and it needs to be stopped. Apart from the absolute certainty, with current numbers, that some of us will catch it and perhaps spread it with god knows what consequences, there is no hope of getting numbers back down to manageable levels and getting some semblance of normality back without a really strict lockdown for the next few weeks. It is a truly repugnant Govt decision and fair play to those few schools who are refusing to open.

Acqueion - always good to hear your perspective. I'm telling you all now this won't happen. Not next week. After that I can't say. Principals are coming out against it. They should be issuing a statement soon.
Norma either took bad advice or has been directed by Martin what to do. For those of us in less academic schools than the one Norma comes from, this will create chaos. We will go from a third not engaging online to 50 per cent and over not going into school. That's assuming teachers can get childminders . They are assuming that LC in school is going to work better than online in the middle of a pandemic. Massive erroneous assumptions.
I really really am beginning to doubt the inate intelligence of those who run the Department or they simply hate teachers and seize any opportunity to cause stress.
I'm not impressed with Norma so far. I had expected more.

TheValeyard · 07-01-2021 6:50pm

There seems to be a lot of push against schools openings now.

mirrorwall14 · 07-01-2021 7:00pm

To be honest I don’t think teachers, parents or students would have had any problem with this at all if they had said we will review on friday 15th bringing the 6th years in on Monday 18th three days a week

Either the **** will have hit the fan or things would have been improving. The schools would have had time to coordinate it. To make it useful. To maximise teaching and learning.

But Monday? Wtaf were they thinking? If at all

km79 · 07-01-2021 7:06pm

http://twitter.com/INTOnews/status/1347240215811936258

Excellent
Especially the last bit which is bulleted

am_zarathustra · 07-01-2021 7:12pm

Interested in whether NPHET will comment now, they will be asked about it. If they give any indication that they think it's a bad idea I think it'll be game over. Individual schools and teachers already refusing, hopefully they just call it now so we can focus on getting everything together to be online mondy instead of making arrangements for an insane idea that may not and shouldn't happen!

Very good from INTO, fair play