Hi!
Teacher from the UK here, reporting for comment.
It is a truly tough situation for everyone involved. A couple of days ago this Tweet went out… and there has been some interesting debates about it. Are we, as teachers, being FORCED to go into schools, with a higher chance of getting ill? How dare we be made to put our lives at risk?
I thought I’d respond in my own Ritu-style.
Yes, we are being asked to come into school to help with the care of key worker children. Key workers have been asked to try and arrange care at home, if they can, but the option is there for them to bring their child into school so they can go about the essential jobs, such as the medical profession, grocery and provision shop workers, delivery drivers, the emergency services, postal workers, pharmacists etc, all of whom have to keep going to try and keep this country running on a skeleton level at least.
Yes, it is childcare, rather than teaching – some may say glorified babysitting. But I’d rather do that and know that there are enough nurses and doctors out there to help with the huge influxes. I’d rather do that, than see people fighting for even less food because the delivery driver called in to say he or she couldn’t drive today because no one could look after their kids. I’d rather do my bit to allow these other key workers to do these things, so we still function, at some level, as normal (the new normal).
We have been told that the curriculum should not be being taught, at primary at least, as where is the fairness in a handful of children getting that education, when their peers are at home, not getting it? We have been asked to send home age appropriate learning, so the children can reinforce what they should already know and challenge them. We have been told to give parents ideas for other ways they can help their children still learn, while at home. The older ones are getting Google Classroom treatments, with regular lessons and activities posted online.
In school we are embracing the creative curriculum. Lots of arts, crafts, PE, music, reading, story time. (I’m still aching from joining in with t he kids. to. do the daily Joe Wicks work outs!)
No, we haven’t been forced into germ-ridden conditions, or at least, I know my school hasn’t ‘forced’ us to come in.
On the day of lockdown, it was requested that everyone come in on the Monday as no one knew exactly what would be happening. How many children would we be dealing with? Did we need to provide meals for those on the Free School Meal schemes?
During the course of that day, my head, and her Senior Leadership Team, who are doing amazing things in such a tough time, approached any members of staff with either old, vulnerable or young dependents. They were told they could go home and not come back until schools officially reopened. I could have been classed in this bracket but my kids are a little older, and more self-sufficient, and they have their dad at home as well.
The rest of us were put on a rota to be with the children that have been coming in.
No one is being forced to come in. Those of us who do, all want to do our bit to keep things going for all. My Head is in every day, regardless.
On Monday, I will be on duty with the kids who are coming in. This is probably the riskiest thing to be asked to do, as a teacher, as young children do not understand social distancing, as we have been told we need to maintain. How do you stop a four-year-old from wanting to hug you? How do you keep children two metres apart? The other days I have been in. I have been accessing and completing paperwork that I can’t do at home because of GDPR.
I am a mum too.
This is a tough decision for anyone to make.
The fear that you might just bring that virus back into your own home because you might be mixing with the child of a key worker who has been exposed to the virus.
My family know that when I come home, after a day at school at the moment, I will have been washing my hands constantly, and anti-baccing myself before coming into the house. I will shout a “Hello!” then head to the shower, wash and change into fresh clothes before seeing them.
I am a Key Worker, as a teacher, and as much as I can, I want to do what I can to help out, in this crisis, too.
Thank you, and good night.
But I Smile Anyway... 