Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) Tweeted: I have written to Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of schools, to express concern that many schools are not providing adequate online learning & support during the crisis.
@Ofstednews has a key role to play in monitoring schools & highlighting good & poor practice https://twitter.com/Andrew_Adonis/status/1255894541514739716?s=20
As a teacher, I just want to try and post a bit of rebuttal to this tweet. I know I'm late to the party on this one but I've got some things I really want to say:
We had TWO days warning that schools were shutting. Had we had more notice, we could, perhaps, have set up online learning platforms in school and trained students on using them. Many schools were already partially closed during this time as well, so we couldn't even prepare some students face to face. There was no time to train staff.
Nonetheless, we all adapted as quickly as we could to online provision. We spent the Easter holidays, not just going into school to care for the children of keyworkers, but also rewriting schemes of work to adapt them for home learning. We made brand new resources. We had meetings to discuss this, and how we would grade GCSE and A-level students. And we did all of this unpaid.
We also have to be aware that some students have hugely limited access to IT. My school is luckily able to lend laptops to those who need them, but this has been a slow process as we weren't able to coordinate this in advance of the school closing. Lots of middle class parents think that live lessons on zoom should be the gold standard (never mind the safeguarding risks) - but what about the kids who would be left behind, unable to access this?
Not that we did it for thanks, but all we have got in return is a kicking in the press. God forbid teachers should be nervous about catching a potentially fatal illness. God forbid we point out that opening schools too early would be bad for the country. God forbid we not be willing to sacrifice our lives on the altar of the economy. God forbid our unions do their job and actually stand up for us a little bit.
Teaching and education in this country is already in crisis. In my opinion, good quality teaching is a huge tool for social mobility. At some point, I do think there may be a teacher strike over lack of PPE or safety concerns, or the erosion of our working conditions. So, can I ask in advance for a bit of solidarity, rather than everyone sticking the knife in?
