COVID-19 and Education

[J_Rho]

So as a result of Covid-19, my workplace has been closed as per the local governments directive. All staff were informed the day that the centre was to close which i find ridiculous - Thursday we were joking about being told to social distance (1.5m) from students and how that meant we had to let the kids that couldn't swim drown and the next day at midday "The local government is shutting the centre at 5 pm today"
Which is irritating cause now i, amongst about 50 others have no income and we were talking about the centre not closing because swimming lessons are classified as an 'essential service' like could they not just close the pool to the general public and only allow swimming lessons to run? Or at least give us notice because i know some ladies who's partners are unemployed and they rely on that income and then BAM you have 5 hours to figure out how you are going to pay for food and bills.

And out of all the teachers, I'm the lucky one. 

So heres my question:

should i not get new work and go ham on school

OR

should i get a new job with (potentially) same or less hours than before?

______________________________

What is everyone's schools doing in response to the virus? Have you or are you transitioning to online learning yet and what are you using?

My school has said that they don't know when the school will close (like most) but are beginning to discuss what will happen if it does. For Maths, we are using google hangouts video calling to ask our teachers questions and for legal we are just going to be following lesson plans and send our teacher an email if we are unsure about anything. Online learning hasn't been discussed for my other subjects though.
Call me selfish but tbh, i don't want my school to close because school is a great getaway from home and online learning will most likely be difficult in the sense of not having the teacher right there

[whys]

UPDATE
The government will increase the school holidays by 2 days in order for teachers to plan the course of online teaching and learning. School holidays will now be extended by 1 day at the start and 1 day at the end. There is still no talk about the complete closure of all schools anywhere in Australia despite the continuous escalation of the virus.

My school has said that they don't know when the school will close (like most) but are beginning to discuss what will happen if it does.
Call me selfish but tbh, i don't want my school to close because school is a great getaway from home and online learning will most likely be difficult in the sense of not having the teacher right there

I also agree. I don't want schools to close, but I understand the future need to activate level 3 or 4 lockdown throughout the country, and their reasoning for prolonging school closure despite the negative effects we are already seeing. Many students are now staying at home anyway, with the exception of the majority of VCE students. Teachers are also increasingly worried about their health, and rightfully so. I wouldn't want to be surrounded by a bunch of young kids coughing and sneezing all over me... Online learning really isn't a substitute for in-class teaching but there is nothing else we can do.

I'm also really curious to know if the GAT will also be cancelled, similar to NAPLAN, even though it serves a more important function for students when compared to NAPLAN (which is almost useless since it isn't a good indicator of school performance anyway).

[brothanathan]

So heres my question:

should i not get new work and go ham on school

OR

should i get a new job with (potentially) same or less hours than before?

What is everyone's schools doing in response to the virus? Have you or are you transitioning to online learning yet and what are you using?

My school has said that they don't know when the school will close (like most) but are beginning to discuss what will happen if it does. For Maths, we are using google hangouts video.

Definitely get new work if income is a major burden. Considering you have access to internet, there's plenty of online jobs (keep in mind that by law, income received through Paypal needs to be included on one's tax return). If you're not interested in filling out contracts, the content creation market is somewhere to explore. Hourwise, take advantage of this situation (I know the irony of this) and structure your day if possible, in allocating periods where you strictly complete study and potentially work.

My school is literally doing what Virtual School Victoria (Distance Ed) does but of course with zero experience which is slightly concerning.

[brothanathan]

As an eLearning Leader and teacher, now is my "prime time" for obvious reasons (if a shutdown were to happen)......... it is a real possibility and all students should prepare for this scenario in the event it does happen. My school is making plans already and yours probably are too. It is a very unique situation we are facing at the moment where there is a real risk of closure for an unknown period of time.... important to note that no response is going to be perfect.

As a teacher, what are your thoughts on the possibility of Year 13 and the likelihood of subsidies being granted to students who possibly can't afford another investment-heavy year?

[Aaron]

As a teacher, what are your thoughts on the possibility of Year 13 and the likelihood of subsidies being granted to students who possibly can't afford another investment-heavy year?

Not sure, haven't heard about this or what you're referring to. Feel free to link if you'd like.
My understanding is that for Yr 12's the year continues and VCAA will provide additional supports to ensure nobody is disadvantaged.

From a uni perspective, it's interesting because you pay for tuition and if you aren't getting that face-to-face time it would warrant a case for reimbursement or at least reduction in fees. I suppose that'd be up to the unis to decide, though.

[brothanathan]

Not sure, haven't heard about this or what you're referring to. Feel free to link if you'd like.

We've seen the UK goverment cancel A-level and GCSE exams only hours ago and that's more than a minor alarm.

[J_Rho]

Definitely get new work if income is a major burden. Considering you have access to internet, there's plenty of online jobs (keep in mind that by law, income received through Paypal needs to be included on one's tax return). If you're not interested in filling out contracts, the content creation market is somewhere to explore. Hourwise, take advantage of this situation (I know the irony of this) and structure your day if possible, in allocating periods where you strictly complete study and potentially work.

My school is literally doing what Virtual School Victoria (Distance Ed) does but of course with zero experience which is slightly concerning.

In the ideal coronavirus free world. I'd have been looking at buying a car in the near future which in light of recent events won't be happening if my phone bill etc is eating into my savings over the next 2 - 7 months and as my work has closed for an unspecified amount of time it could be open in 2 months (not much need for a new job in a small amount of time) or 7 months (need for a job to afford a car and moving out) so the uncertainty of it all is irritating

We've seen the UK goverment cancel A-level and GCSE exams only hours ago and that's more than a minor alarm.

Oh W O W
IMO cause Australia is an island and we are relatively far away from Europe, unless it gets really really bad here the government won't do anything drastic.

[brothanathan]

Oh W O W
IMO cause Australia is an island and we are relatively far away from Europe, unless it gets really really bad here the government won't do anything drastic.

Some UK schools are EVEN looking to introduce ungraded assessments, and that's something that IMO looks very unlikely to proceed.

[PhoenixxFire]

@J_Rho lots of the supermarkets are looking to hire casuals at the moment because of how hectic it's been. If you're wanting to get another job I'd just walk in and tell them you've lost your job because of the pandemic, have heard they're looking for staff, and ask how to go about applying (I suggest walking in rather than looking online because from what I hear they're doing a fair bit of their hiring through friends and family of existing staff).

[Specialist_maths]

As a teacher, what are your thoughts on the possibility of Year 13 and the likelihood of subsidies being granted to students who possibly can't afford another investment-heavy year?

If you're referring to current Year 12 students repeating Year 12 in 2021, I would consider that very unlikely (at this point in time). Schools will be getting another cohort of Prep students next year and won't have the space to support an extra cohort. While we've just finished a 'half-cohort' in Qld (Seniors of 2019), we certainly couldn't deal with a 'double'-cohort from 2021-2032.

Current Year 12 students in Queensland should expect the External Exams to go ahead and ATARs to be issued. With many schools about to complete IA2 before Easter, 50% of Year 12 assessment items will soon be done with scores to be 'confirmed' in April. Although teaching and learning over the next 6 months may be atypical - it'll be much the same everywhere, so rankings can still be reliably done at the end of year. Universities will still need a cohort of students for financial reasons - as will the general workforce.

[J_Rho]

@J_Rho lots of the supermarkets are looking to hire casuals at the moment because of how hectic it's been. If you're wanting to get another job I'd just walk in and tell them you've lost your job because of the pandemic, have heard they're looking for staff, and ask how to go about applying (I suggest walking in rather than looking online because from what I hear they're doing a fair bit of their hiring through friends and family of existing staff).

yeah the local Woolies is hiring but idk how long until the pool opens again like i feel like a new job just for 1 - 2 moths work isnt necessary but if its up to 7 months then i would need a job
and tbh i love swim teaching and the idea of working as at Woolies sounds awfully boring, but hey money is money I'll probably hand in my resume tomorrow

[Sine]

Going to be really interesting to see what happens to VCE students this year. I do really sympathise for those in year 12 right now, supposedly for many of you this would be "the most important year" of your education up to this point of your lives and having all this uncertainty must be really distracting and taxing.

I think it would be unlikely that this year would just be scrapped and students would need to finish year 12 in 2021 it would be really difficult for universities to basically have 1 full year of not producing a lot of students. I.e. Having no year 12 graduates this year would result in impact  3-6 years down the line when those students could be graduating- especially in those fields that having a university degree is necessary such as health.

[brothanathan]

I sympathise with 2020 peers that have just gone through bushfires and are facing this added calamity. We'll grow stronger from this!

[J_Rho]

2020's a bit fucked hey?
Interesting to see where we end up in 6 - 12 months

[ArtyDreams]

Going to be really interesting to see what happens to VCE students this year. I do really sympathise for those in year 12 right now, supposedly for many of you this would be "the most important year" of your education up to this point of your lives and having all this uncertainty must be really distracting and taxing.

100%. Im struggling so much with the feeling of not knowing whats going to happen next. I barely did any school work the last week because I was so distracted, but all the media news and stuff is really scaring me atm. Not to mention, I've also had some personal issues/worries arise, so my heads pretty much in a twirl right now. I managed to do some work today, but the fact that I didnt for most of last week was not good - 2 SACs next week...

Class of 2020, we will get through this.