Tippex wrote: » I genuinely think it is a combination of the first two. We have no idea of her specific situation and would not expect to but would expect some level of proactiveness from the school. Other teachers are brilliant but she is literally doing bare minimum as far as we can tell (not even correcting work or giving feedback). With this specific teacher there has been issues with other students in the class (earliler on in the school year) where my son has said she has flately refused to answer questions when students have been struggling and effectively she has sat in the class reading or on her phone and refused to teach there is a total of 8 students in her pass maths class.
jrosen wrote: » Have you a direct email for the teacher?
History Queen wrote: » She could be lazy. She could be useless. She could be in hospital. She could have no/limited internet access. She cpuld be struggling to mind children athime and be priorising leaving certs. Does she or a family member have Covid? Has your son contacted her directly (through email/teams etc). If so absolutely raise issue with school. Zoom is not the be all and end all of education. I don't use it but put up daily posts on Teams for my classes. Teacher effort/access can be an issue but similarly student effort/access is an issue. Average student engagement at the moment is less than 10% for my leaving certs (2 students have legitimate reasons). Average student engagement for my first years is 80%
Tippex wrote: » It's not even that no 2 schools are the same but teachers in the same school are not working the same way. My son is in 5th year and he only subject he has an online zoom class for is DCG. Most of the teachers struggled initially with setting work on Google classroom. But the worst of them all is his maths teacher who in the weeks that he has been at home has set him 3 pieces of work and basically does not answer any queries the students have (it seems to me she just does not give a ****e). I have raised it with the school but nothing as of yet.
jrosen wrote: » Do you not think this requires thinking outside the box? No 2 schools are the same so how can one set of instructions be followed by all schools? That is my point? Do you not think as a teacher in your school you know your students best? that you know what would and wouldn't work within your classroom and your school? Surely now is the time for joined up thinking?
jrosen wrote: » Every other business is also dealing with the same pandemic and is working towards solutions. The education sector isn't alone in that.
addaword wrote: » Agreed. But then again is it surprising, when teachers get paid the same if schools are open or not?
Orchids wrote: » Y'know we're all just trying to figure this out, so lose the sarcasm, it's the lowest form of wit
khalessi wrote: » Teachers are well capable of thinking outside the box and will once the guidance comes down. No one is as thick as thinking one set of instructions will fit all schools, it will be jigged about with to suit the school, social distancing etc, not that you are implying that. So to be clear, you want joined up, outside the box, thinking on a set of instructions which you feel since no two schools are the same are not suitable. Got it.
jrosen wrote: » What I would like is some transparency on how this is going to impact my children and their education going forward. I would like to know what we are facing into come September. I dont think thats a lot to ask to be honest. We are being told not to worry about their education? How can a parent not worry when no one has any answers.
Orchids wrote: » Totally agree, what saddens me is that the schools sector doesnt seem to have the will to even try to reopen, other countries seem to have it very high up their list.
jrosen wrote: » The fact your school has identified local issues and are working through them is a plus. I would see that as proactive tbh
History Queen wrote: » I don't think I made myself very clear. It isn't that I'm not willing, there isn't a facility for teachers to do this in a formal way. I've had informal conversations with my principal about it but becasue we don't know what protocols we have to adhere to we can't start figuring out how to implement them. Eg. Will students now stay in classrooms and teachers move? What class sizes will be allowed? by current social distancing guidelines I can only fit 4 or 5 in my classroom, my first year English class has 29 students. Do we provide less curricular contact and I teach the same class to 4 or 5 different groups? This has knockon effects on the curriculum and timetable if so. Is every student in every day? Will we have to do away with lockers (impossible to social distance while using them). Do all classes need to be staggered to allow for canteen access? Do classrooms need to be cleaned between classes? How much timedo we need to allow for that? Local issues have already been identified and we (the school) are trying to fix them. We have an old building with narrow corridors, we are currently considering a one way system if needs be. Our toilet facilities are already lacking for our numbers and don't have hot running water. Do we use portakabins? (Hot water issue an easier fix I'm sure). Wecannot make definite decisions until we know what standards we have to meet. I'm not trying to be obstructionist. I'll gladly help where I can to think of ways we can implement guidance... but the guidance must be provided first.
Ballso wrote: » Solving problems is above their pay grade. It's the same all across the public sector.
History Queen wrote: » Speaking as a teacher generally we are not consulted en masse or if we are (rarely) our concerns are not taken on board. We'll be the last to know. I wouldn't read anything into us not being consulted. As usual a circular will issue telling us what to do and we will follow it. That is the way of things in the education sector. The Department must issue the instructions. Schools don't have the autonomy to act on a localised basis. But i do agree that instructions should be issued sooner rather than later
jrosen wrote: » As an outsider looking in the lack of proactiveness is concerning. Secondary schools will close the end of this month. So when exactly will the discussions happen? If all staff are off? Ive had numerous talks with my employer about our return to work. My husband the same and most of my friends are also getting communications from their employers outlining some "possible solutions" for their eventual return to work. Its odd to me the education sector seems to have no plan.
khalessi wrote: » But the attitude of NIMAN to say chidren are off, is not only untrue but irrpesponsible. .
jrosen wrote: » I never said it was your job as a teacher to decide when to re-open the school. But I am curious if principals and teachers are in communication about the logistics about returning to school. If not what happens in September? You can take guidance from the departments but ultimately each school is different and will face different challenges when returning to school. Im really perplexed why this isn't being discussed between principals and staff.
khalessi wrote: » It is not up to teachers or principals to reopen schools, that is a decision for NPHET and Department of Education because I dont know whether people realise there is actualy a pandemic and over the last fornight a study has been release by researchers in China along with Johns Hopkins Univeristy researchers showing children are just as likely as adults to catch Covid19 and spread it. That along with increasing numbers of children in AMerica and Europe being admitted to hospital with Kawasaki like illness associated with Covid19 would indicated caution is needed. I do realise this does not suit most peoples narratives but so be it.
