Like many a professional you will find
Not sure the Unions would get support if they opposed a plan that might for eg provide for
Schools to shut until early to mid Feb but with no Feb half term / one week hol at Easter and two week less over the summer
Seems a no brainer to me
Teaching is still taking place. Apart from Monday which has been changed to an INSET to try to work out what the hell we are supposed to be doing after Gavin Williamson's inept comments and so called guidance.
My Headteacher was working on Track and Trace effectively doing Sercos job but doing it right till 8 o clock on Christmas Eve after an influx of new cases. He had Christmas Day and Boxing Day off and then started up again trying to make some semblance of sense to the Government's directives. I have watched a brilliant leader age what seems like ten years over the last year and know he wonders how much longer he can go on. He works most days in the holidays anyway so extending the terms would not free up any extra time, actually reduce his time as he would then have the day to day issues that crop up when over a 1000 students are in school to add to his workload.
Many teachers including myself have often been preparing two lessons instead of one for each class since September, one for the students in the room and another for the students self isolating (sometimes they match but when the in class lesson is a practical for example this has to be a complete separate set of instructions.)
Yes we might moan about it sometimes in the same way everyone moans about their job sometimes but we have done everything asked of us during this pandemic. We have put in extra work already for the benefit of our students, adjusted to new systems, taught without masks in rooms with inadequate ventilation, (my room is a great teaching lab but only 3 of the 8 windows actually open and then only by a couple of inches, two of which have to be propped open with blocks of wood.
Saying extend the terms would have merit only if lessons were suspended.
Lastly students need breaks too. Our students have worked incredibly hard this last year. I have been incredibly impressed with the resilience and fortitude they have shown, and the efforts they have made to catch up. Believe me, by Christmas it was not just the teachers that were exhausted, the students were shattered and desperately needed the break. Extended the school year would not have a commensurate effect on their learning as their exhaustion would dramatically reduce any effectiveness, not something ever considered in the argument to punish so called "lazy" teachers.
If extra time is needed then it should be put into the start of the next academic year. A mid August start would allow a reasonable length of term to recuperate and if the government had any level of forward thinking they could look at using this as an opportunity to introduce the long touted 4 term year. Unfortunately we don't have any level of forward thinking in the most ignorant and incompetent education secretary to have held the position in the 30 years I have been teaching.
Anyway, back to the marking.
We need to avoid education becoming an ideological battleground and remember that its implementation is about pupils and staff, teaching and health. We can argue our political views till doomsday, but teaching and keeping everyone safe is far more important.
