Teachers under pressure during pandemic
When this thing started teachers were using online platform combined with Zoom and emails to deliver content and face to face lessons and students were getting comfortable. Suddenly they are given a new platform as a standard… which I understand why. They did as requested, then suddenly another platform was added and another… So now they expected to uproot the kids who are already in unfamiliar waters and get them and themselves used to three new platforms and the expectation is that ALL students MUST be present.
If they are not present teachers should call all 100 of their students (at the beginning or during class, because by the end of the day it no longer makes sense) and get them online. So now teachers are in a video class teaching and distracted because they are also calling students to either wake them up or listen to the struggles of a parent for 15 minutes.
Throughout all of this some students’ contact information has to be updated, students have to be tracked, lessons have to be planned, work has to be marked, students have to be taught how to use the new software, students who missed out have to be accommodated (within school hours because of the new health and safety guidelines), teachers must sign in every single period they are teaching and remember to brush their teeth and eat properly and, most importantly, remember their own kids who are home schooling as well.
All while having to do manual registration because the info management system is on “holiday”, battling with devices on the verge of crashing (my wife’s crashes so often while in video lessons she has to hop on the platform on her work phone), and parents who do not engage in the process period.
No one was prepared for this and it’s no fault of the teachers, parents or students. I want my wife back.
No one here seems to appreciate the tremendous effort and personal time teachers put into teaching, and before you anyone says it is their job, try to remember when was the last time you had to sit up until 11pm working. For teachers this happens almost every night.
If summer school actually happens, I’ll be encouraging my wife to take no-pay leave. We can afford it and she deserves it.
This comment was made in response to: Home learning unequal, report finds
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Which other country in the world assessed their teachers during the pandemic? It’s a shame! Way to go in putting more mental stress on your teachers! Although I hear private schools have their day coming . And guess when they will be assessed at the end of the school term when most teaching is done and teachers winding down. So instead of having a break from a term’s toil teachers now have continue teaching so they can be assessed.
Are those carrying out these mandates educators? It’s a shame, shame, shame!
Oh yes summer school would be a great idea. So teachers get ready to work, work, work some more who cares right? You drop dead , someone else is hired!
Teaching is the best paid part time job going.
13+weeks paid holiday a year
School trips, yeah its optional to go, but it is subsidized by the paying students.
Those that can. DO, those that CANT Teach.
All of the above is from an ex teacher of 32 years…… at the same school, which was once best school in the country before merger after merger becoming one of the worst.
This person warned me about becoming a teacher and thank the great (peace be upon him) Mohammed.
I’ve seen CRAP teachers at a posh school last for years, and excellent teacher gert turned over in a more deprived school.
How long ago did you leave the field? Sounds like you’re out of touch with all the new policies and requirements.
1. If you think teaching is a part time job with massive vacation time, you must have been a crap teacher. Ineffective, unproductive and a huge disservice to your students. So sad that the profession is muddied by “teachers” like you who only do the bare minimum while others go above and beyond the call of duty only to get compared to lazy “teachers” like you.
2. There are plenty of teachers who DO lots of projects on the side. IT teachers who create programs, building tech teachers who make and sell furnitures, english teachers who write novels and plenty other teachers that write all the text books used in schools. Not because you can’t do anything and was never versed in your subject matter doesn’t mean all teachers are the same.
Picture all the stress of being a teacher during this time while also taking a huge pay cut. Thats what private school teachers are going through right now.
THIS! I don’t like paying any fees while not receiving a service (because with 3 kids of different ages and my husbands job taking priority I can’t effectively join any zoom classes, I’ve tried) but the teachers are living off less of an even crappy salary so we will continue to pay as we are fortunate enough to do so.
Just to let the public know. A teachers job is a revolving door. They get to work at at sometimes 6am and have to go as far as waking students up and reminding them they need to get to school. The lesson plans, marking of numerous books, this folder that folder that the principals and ministry request is unbelievable. I know for a fact that many students had access to internet and devices and still didn’t log onto onto classes. Parents could have at least ensured that their child was logged onto to class. For this, teachers were also blamed. What were teachers expected to do, go to their homes and log them on? Cayman pretents to value its teachers but its all a lie. When you value someone thats not how they are treated.How can one survive working 5 days aweek from 6 am to sometimes midnight? Those are the hours it takes to get everything done that is required. Remember in Cayman teachers dont have a voice, no union, no one speaks for them. Many are on contract and dont wont to loose their job. I know a teacher that started working here 10 years ago and is receiving a lower salary than less qualified teachers who just came into the system two years ago. The government has to do a better job compensating teachers. Teachers have no idea how there salary is calculated. Teachers need to be respected. Teachers are underpaid, unappreciated and disrespected by parents- and nothing is done . Teachers in this country wont speak up, because if they do no contract renewal for them. Cayman will continue to loose its experienced educators if things do change drastically.
My partner is also a teacher in government schools. Thank you for taking the time to write this article. My experience over the last 5 years or so (without any lockdowns) is that the school has an inspection. Recommendations that fall to the ministry are not acted upon. The next inspection is arranged. Ministry barks instructions to principals and teachers to remedy the actions that were overlooked by the ministry, or to cover up on the ministry’s behalf. This happens with minimal notice. Teachers workload and stress levels increase even more. Education levels drop. Inspection results in even more recommendations. Rinse and repeat. Teachers afraid to speak out or they just quit. How many people are employed at the ministry and what do they actually do? Including their boss, who is once again on the missing list. If they decide to have summer classes or extend school hours then perhaps those at the ministry should carry out the extra classes themselves. It would do them the world of good to get down to grass roots level and understand how difficult and stressful it can be to spend most of your day with 20 or more kids. Also when the schools go back why don’t they employ out of work locals/parents as playground monitors for lunchtimes – rather than teachers – so the teacher can actually have a break. The only time my partner gets to themselves is when they use the restroom. They earn their vacation more than most and decreasing that would see some teachers leaving. My perception is the ministry won’t blink, they’ll just fly some more suckers over to do the job while continuing to wonder why their education system is broken.
Welcome to the real world, not having to work part time hours of 745 while 315 coupled with 3.5 months vacation per annum. At least now we might get proper parent evenings so those parents who work normal hours can attend.
You obviously have no understanding of what a teacher actually does as part of their job outside the classroom when the kids go home. They are certainly not sipping pina coladas at happy hour. They are still in their classrooms, or at home, marking, planning lessons, completing reports or doing foolishness for the ministry.They have continued to do this throughout lockdown using their own internet and electricity without a desk to work from in some cases. Besides even if those were their hours, most people would go crazy spending that amount of time with 25 children or more.
Very well said about the internet and the electricity it is actually scandalous, All Companies have their overheads covered with their revenue.
ITS ABSOLUTELY BONKERS THAT MORE PEOPLE HAVE NOT SPARKED OFF AT THEIR EMPLOYERS ABOUT INCREASES TO COVER COMPANY OVERHEADS AS WORKING FROM HOME. Do you contribute to your company bill? electric(who increased their rates recently?) maybe got hidden under the Corona news a bit. water used at work? the cleaners who clean your office.
I would like to guess that most of the big offices have not even turned down their AC just one degree. Where as now I have to pay even more on my bill to power my pathetic company laptop and the monitor for longer hours. How much money after three months on your ohm bill?
Fortunately, my housemate and I are tight, unless it is to Party, so we don’t put the AC on, Wouldn’t surprise me it it was against elf ‘amp’ safety to work in this heat. I Know That Is What Is Truly Bonkers. Its JUNE.
For anyone who wants to comment on the money I have saved from not commuting to work each day. Watt I can tell you is that working from home has negatively impacted productivity, While working more hours. AND I don’t’ drive or get the bus to work, and my work don’t buy us all lunch ever.
Soldering on and sorry for the puns, but it is a serious point in principle.
Parent evening is held in the evening, 5:30 -7 or 7:30 in government schools. I’m sure that’s a proper time which allows all parents to be in attendance. Maybe if you were a bit interested you would have known this. Sounds like you dont even attend these meetings. While teachers wait for parents evening to start they remain at school preparing for classes the next day. And when parent evening is over some teachers remain behind to finish prepping lessons, mark papers/SBA/homework/books. The so called “vacation” time you think teachers get is spent in the following ways:
October half term (1 week) – marking scripts, planning lessons, marking books, creating additional resources, doing finishing touches on term 2 SOW, reviewing students SBA
December Christmas break (2 weeks) – finalizing reports, marking mock exams, marking end of term exams, marking SBA progress and putting it in pretty spreadsheets so that students can track their progress, prepping the learning spaces (taking down old work/data, redefining some areas, for a primary school teacher this proably happens every week)
February half term break (1 week) – finalizing SBA for 75 students (for some it’s more/less students), marking exams, finalizing reports, planning, adjusting SOW, and others. Bear in mind while most subject have one SBA document which is usually a research project, subjects like EDPM, IT, Bio, Art and Building Tech have multiple components. EDPM alone has four components with one of the component having a further 10 subsections….multiple that by 50 students and tell me what you get.
March/april east break (1week) – having exams classes/marathon classes with students, marking test papers, doing reports, working out timetables for the new school year,
Summer break (6 weeks) – keeping in touch with department members to plan for the upcoming school year (which is done so blindingly as we never know information on the students we will be getting so that we can plan for them), finding/creating new resources, adjusting SOW, attend all the mandated PDs and welcome back meeting the ministry insists on when most teachers would prefer to get the relevant information so that they can plan properly and not some televised welcome back show.
All this in addition to the daily planning and administrative tasks and school events that teachers do on a daily basis. You thought that some external company is hired to plan and execute graduation, careers evening, transition evening, achievement evening, heritage day plus others? Nope, all teachers and school leaders. Plus take care of their own family and themselves.
Next time you want to belittle the work of teachers go work as a teacher for 1 term or even a whole school year.
No one is blaming teachers. We are all doing the best we can. What I do not appreciate is schools and government blaming parents. Not everyone have the resources for at home learning. This fiasco should have been stopped in its early stages. Reduce pressure and stress on teachers and parents.
And everyone still paying fees? I will be submitting an invoice to the school.
And the company I work for is gonna be given my cuc bill.
A company has their overheads for an office. I’ve used my house for 3months. Why should I pay?
Good luck with that.
Try working from home and homeschooling. Electric bill, paper, ink , etc. All paid for by me. However, I’m happy to see what my child is doing at school. His grades should be better as I was here to make sure that all was completed. I say that because I went to a reporting session only to find out that my son wasn’t completing assignments and the teacher didn’t say anything to me. I was very upset because if I had known I would have did something about it. I agree that the majority of teachers work hard. My son only had one that wasn’t doing much. The others were very engaging.
If any summer school happens it should be optional for teachers to take part and they should be compensated appropriately.
Compensated, yes. Optional? Seriously? Professionals with a calling to educate the next generation are free to demand their 10 weeks off during a global crisis, in which those able to work remotely have often been working without a single day off for the last 3 months, and thousands of children’s futures are at stake?
Ha I don’t know why more don’t agree with u. It’s right.
The inspection report that was commissioned for online learning is flawed. Once again, teachers are supposed to pay for the failure of the system. Lengthen the school day and school year? I hope government has the money to compensate teachers if they go that route or face a massive exodus of teachers.
Also, teachers received no help or compensation for the personal internet/phone bills they’ve used to do their jobs.
My thoughts exactly!!!
Thank you for recognizing the efforts of our teachers in all our schools. And to add insult to injury the Inspector of Education felt it was absolutely necessary to cause more pressure and stress, after the minister for education asked about inspections. At this time when teachers are trying their best to teach, record and grade, report to exam board for high schools in the british system, and general keep themselves safe,healthy and sane…it was unconscionable to order any type of inspection for public or private schools. there is obviously no care for teachers or the students being effected
all the education officials should reconsider and lead properly.
Meanwhile the education minister is missing in action – or hiding out in Cayman brac. She should at least zoom in once per week with some kind word of encouragement to the teachers! This is a new norm, and teachers are doing the best they can for their students. I am not a teacher but I do have teachers in my family and truly appreciate what they do on a daily basis. This Minister is the most inept one we have had I believe.
Press briefing today:
Premier: The Minister of Education won’t be able to come on and I can’t say much about education right now.
You can Mr. Premier! Hold your minister accountable for doing nothing except running to the Brac to hide from COVID-19! Let’s see who’s going to vote for her next year!
I said it. Premier would have nothing to say about education and the Minister wouldn’t be on.
I don’t think he’ll have an answer next week either Wendee. I read all 49 pages in under 2 hours and they couldn’t in 12+ hours, says a lot about our government; keep them uneducated, keep them blinded. That’s their plan!
There comes time when one has to choose between a job and living. Because what you describe is existing, not living. Don’t forget that eventually one starts having health problems. From dysautonomia and autoimmune conditions to cancer and neurological issues. And if you divide compensation by hours worked, she might end up making minimum wage.
I’d say screw that kind of job, everyone will forget her fast once she becomes ill..
I had complete career burnout working 85+ hour weeks, all weekends, bank holidays for 5 years was promoted up the chain fast. My ego basically became entwined with my job completely.
Then one day didn’t have the energy to get out of bed, couldn’t think, short term memory was gone. Took 18 months to recover with therapy.
Everyone is different with this, I can only imagine what nurses, doctors and teachers are going through and there is guaranteed to be a lot of them burning out with the emotional and physical stress.
Teachers, try and spare 15 mins at midday to sit outside in the sun, if you can go outside to watch the sunrise and sunset, and doing breathing exercises frequently.
Everyone is replaceable..Once you become chronically ill, everyone gradually will forget about your existence, including family. They will get tired of you being always unwell.
So initially it looks good to make $100к tax free working crazy hours in artificial environment seeing no daylight or sunlight. Until you suddenly develop chronic fatigue syndrome, anxiety, panic attacks and won’t know why. You continue pushing yourself but realize that you can’t keep up any longer, brain fog, memory issues, then you have no choice but to quit, hoping to recover fast. Some do recover, some don’t.. And nobody understands what is wrong with you since you’re young and look good.
And the money you saved go to pay doctors who have know idea what is wrong with you. Is it worth it? A
I am a teacher and it is not an easy road. While I was reading the inspection report I cried and as I read these comments the tears are rolling down my cheeks. Teaching has never been an easy job but that’s my passion and I enjoy doing it. Before school closed in March, teachers were already working overtime just to meet the demands of their jobs such as planning lessons, preparing activities added to the mandatory paper work on a daily basis. Sometimes we are at school from as early as 6:30am to sometimes 9pm or later at nights just because we needed to get things done.
When we transitioned to the virtual learning platform it was so stressful but we found creative ways of reaching our students. When I heard that schools would be inspected during this time I was baffled. I wondered, ‘have they no bowels of compassion?’ Nevertheless, the show must go on because most teachers are expats and are working on contracts that must be renewed we are afraid to speak out and so we go with the flow. In distress but yet still we get up, dress up and show up for our students. Who really care that some of us have our own kids at home to take care of? Who really care that most of us were not trained to effectively use an online learning platform? Who really cares that we work beyond the call of duty? Who really cares when we get burnt out and can’t perform our duties optimally? I can clearly recall that during the process of reaching all the students that my principal went on a bus with other members of staff to deliver food and vouchers to needy students but who really cares about that? I remembered how the PTA reached out after a plea from my principal and bought and donated tablets to students who needed to get into the online classes. But who really cares? I can attest to the fact that the teachers at my school were teaching online long before we heard about inspection but who really cares? We worked hard, we pushed, we persevered BUT after reading the inspection report I became depressed and overwhelmed with the thought that no one cares about teachers. With tears rolling down my cheeks I will say no more at this time….
7:22 am
I feel your pain and share your sentiments regarding this ordeal. From going online March 16th to this report. Late night meetings, collaboration, training parents, etc.
I know you think expat teachers can’t speak up but Caymanian teachers can’t either. If you speak or ask questions, you become public enemy number 1 on staff, your SSIO will know about you, everyone in the Ministry, etc.
At the end of the day, I endure for my students.
I’m a parent, well said! Finally the voice of reason! And well done you for sticking up for the working women!
There is no way summer school is happening, don’t stress.
If summer school is happening, teachers should be compensated by doubling their salaries monthly. Not that the money can be substituted for the time the teachers spend teaching. It is a lot of work and is not appreciated by many parents. Parents MUST play their role in the proper development of their children!!!
Ministry staff should teach these classes. After all they are the experts! A bit of solidarity and leadership from them would be refreshing.
In truth, they are all failed teachers.
Come to think it. Being a teacher really takes a special person. As a mother, it’s bad enough u have to put up with ur own kids. Imagine other people kids. And the reason y u put up with ur kids is because they are urs. Hats off to all the teachers. One thing teachers will teach parents about their own kids is what they go through on a daily basis with their children. Some children are well behaved and some are not. And for those parents who never believe when the teacher say ur kid is not behaving, will learn today!!! I have respect for teachers big time!! I’ve always made my children’s teachers job easier by discipline my children at home. But not all parents like me, as the teachers use to say and although my kids r still discipline and grown, their teachers still say this everytime. Keep up the good work teachers. Parents like me has always appreciate u. Keep doing what u do best. I’ll give u some encouraging words my father always says to me ‘ they can pay u for ur job, but they can’t pay u for the person that u r!’