The government was asking them to go into an environment of what would be mostly asymptomatic carriers who are at the best of times difficult to instruct. Requesting reasonable improvements to the normal set up is the least that should have been considered acceptable.

One thing I think we can probably guess from this discussion is that Sal's retention rates are poor - he's an absolute sociopath.

Did you want the teachers to hand back their salaries ?
Was it they who put the country in lockdown and closed the schools ?

Are they now teaching in what is deemed a "safe" environment ?

And, lets not forget that, for most of the summer, many schools were told and trying to work out just how they could operate with 2 METRE SAFE DISTANCING (later reduced to 1 metre) - again, this was government advice

As I said, east target for right wing Boris lovers.

You need to take aim at those "running" the country and changing the rules twice a week.

I agree that the teachers had an easy time of it, along with millions of other workers that were forced to stay at home.
Just like the rest of the world, the good ones will have used their time wisely and done the right prep and in the teachers case, kept in touch and taught the more vulnerable kids. There will be others right accross the range who tossed it off as much as they could.
It's hard to teach when the school is closed.

I agree with you the government's handling of Covid has been shambolic at best a dereliction of duty at worst. It seems they have learned nothing - they are going introduce further restrictions which have proved in other areas not to work - its bonkers.

You can't compare teachers to say retail hospitality workers - even with schools closed teaching was still possible not easy to work in a shop/bar/restaurant/theatre that has been ordered to close

Sal, if he schools are closed and pupils and teachers sent home, who do you expect the teachers to teach ?
Some did carry on working, on a rota system to look after the vulnerable kids and those of "essential workers" but, apart from prep and remembering that the summer break was just around the corner, what did you want/expect them to do ?

Instead of their parents trying to home school them - surely teachers could have either prepared work and either been on line to answer queries or even better have zoom lessons or you tube lessons if they were too afraid of the behaviour of the children away from the classroom. There was a lot more that could/should have been done - look at the private school education delivery and compare that to the public sector delivery?

I'm sure that you've seen the VT of kids having to huddle around mobile phones to have any internet access.
You are falling into the trap of believing everyone is as privileged as you and no, not everyone spends their income on fag, booze and loose women either - thought I'd get that one in before you replied.

People have to live their lives as they feel fit - personally my kids where the most important element and they got first dibs on the money - the fact others choose to do differently is their choice - as the saying goes "walk a mile in someone else's shoes". You can get the internet for £15/month? if your child's education would benefit from that spend is that too expensive for 99% of most households?

I can't tell if you're being serious or just on a wind-up. I honestly can't.

£15 a month for internet sounds great, but you also need a phone line and a device to access the internet. And considering £15 in some households will be more than the weekly food budget...!

Maybe it's you who needs to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. In fact, I'd suggest a lot more than a mile.

Bloody well said KSC

They could always try to use the food bank twice a week and lets not forget that during this time 1000's of people that were laid off had no money coming in whatsoever, apart from maybe child benefit.
Sal doesn't know or want to know about those less well off than him, mind you he probably thinks it's "their" own fault

Maybe Corbyn's plan for free internet for everyone wasn't such a bad idea after all ?
Do you think that he knew something