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I don't know if its age, lack of sleep or just how endlessly busy education news is right now but waking up again on a Saturday morning feeling like the last few days are a blur . . However here is an attempt to thread my way back through it . . .
Today the @NEUnion holds a special conference. A new survey shows 84% of its members "do not trust Boris Johnson’s government" to keep schools safe, to protect workers, support disadvantaged children, or ensure exams are fit for purpose during Covid-19. https://www.tes.com/news/losing-faith-and-undermined-teachers-5-covid-fears
The @NEUnion will debate a motion today calling for heads to refuse to prepare for Sats in 2021. The union also wants Sats to be replaced with moderated teacher assessment because of the ongoing disruption being caused by Covid-19. https://www.tes.com/news/forget-sats-and-focus-covid-recovery-say-teachers
The @NEUnion 's joint general secretary @cyclingkev has called on the government to show the same urgency it did with Nightingale hospitals to create extra classroom space - to reduce class sizes rather than moving schools onto rotas. https://www.tes.com/news/coronanvirus-could-nightingale-classes-keep-schools-fully-open
And this is a really interesting story: the @NEUnion
has also created a new website which allows teachers and parents to see the Covid-19 rates around their schools. The union says it hopes it will help support public health messaging. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-how-check-covid-infection-rates-near-your-school
has also created a new website which allows teachers and parents to see the Covid-19 rates around their schools. The union says it hopes it will help support public health messaging. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-how-check-covid-infection-rates-near-your-school
Really pleased with three exclusives I have done this week . This one - done with the brilliant @tweetsbyames - shows one in five schools across 40 council areas have been hit by Covid-19. In some areas of the North its more than 50 per cent of schools. https://www.tes.com/news/exclusive-one-five-schools-has-covid-19-cases
Ofsted has admitted to unions that its new visits this term are a form of inspection. This came after the @NAHTnews began a legal challenge to establish the status of the visits which Amanda Spielman had told them were "unequivocally not inspections". https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-exclusive-autumn-term-visits-are-inspections-ofsted
And at the start of the week we revealed that the @NASUWT was calling on govt to "urgently explain how it is monitoring the transmission of Covid-19 in schools" after minister Nick Gibb admitted the DfE couldn't say many teachers had tested positive. https://www.tes.com/news/gibb-not-possible-know-teacher-covid-case-numbers
This week that the DfE has created a legal obligation on schools to provide remote education from later this month. The @NAHTnews 's general secretary @PaulWhiteman6 says this is a grave error which sends the message that DfE doesn't trust teachers. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-remote-learning-legal-order-grave-error-say-heads
Interestingly the @NAHTnews president Ruth Davies told MPs this week, before the DfE's legal move that online learning is usually little more than revision. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-online-learning-little-more-revision-say-heads
And we also had the news this week that a survey of business managers reveals the majority of schools do not have enough money in their budgets to cope with extra Covid costs. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-school-business-managers-most-schools-cant-afford-covid-costs-survey-finds
Covid-19 has meant everything is changing all the time and it does feel endless at times - and we are only writing about it - massive respect to all the leaders, teachers, school staff and governors who are living this. Thread over - have a nice weekend!
