1/ Thread

Earlier I made a misleading statement about the DfE.

I said they'd taken down their propoganda on Facebook...

I was wrong

Apparently we have smaller class sizes and social distancing in secondary classrooms.
m.facebook.com/watch/?v=63359…
2/ The lies and disinformation has gone on right from the start, the video even begins with the statement that DfE worked closely with the professions to draw up the guidence, blatant lie.

From the start of the crisis the government have refused to engage
theteacherist.com/2020/05/17/whe…
3/ Lost count of how many evidence based questions ive worked on that have been sent to Johnson and Williamson on half of half a million education workers without receiving a reply.

This government has no idea of the meaning of consultation, look how they have treated so many
4/ They don't consult with the police or NHS before announcing new rules, the current imposition on the north, changes to flight quarantine without warning, everything they do is one way communication, they don't listen they just pronounce decrees.
5/ For a cabinet and PM that banged on about the Sovereignty of Parliament most the time they cant even be bothered to consult with the house of commons.

The only consultants they care about are corporate types from the likes of Deloitte at ridiculous expense
7/ In the past I described the governments approach to leadership as just dropping rocks and watching the lines of ants scatter and reform.
Definitely still feels like this is the approach.

Why aren't they willing to listen to anyone?
8/ So I would like to start
#BubblesAreBollocks, everyone is posting examples of why bubbles aren't an effective measure, just add the hashtag at the end.After listening to @TomSwarbrick1 on @LBC I realise many believe whole bubbles always isolate including staff when cases occur
9/ Lets raise awareness, hopefully this will do better than my other hashtag attempts, still disappointed the #TuftonStreetHydra for opaquely funded think tanks didn't take off.

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More from @karamballes

20 Oct
1/ Thread: Nick Gibb and the Education Select Committee

Masks
Tiers
Infections
Isolations

Very little clarification and a lot more confusion, plus the usual head in the sand over the DfEs inadequacies
2/ Nick got confused about masks.

The issue is national restrictions are based on a 3 Tier system, while the specific measures for schools laid out in the Containment Framework is a 4 Tier system.

tes.com/news/school-fa…
3/ So he said all schools were in Tier 1 of the containment meaning masks should be worn in communal areas,however all schools are in Tier 1 or higher of the 3 tier restrictions

Schools minister doesn't appear to understand the rules, does he think all schools should have masks?
Read 12 tweets
13 Oct
1/ Thread: Going through the latest SAGE releases, some interesting bits to tease out of it, will write this in bursts over the next day.

The main meeting which begins with saying the effect of education settings opening has only just begun, suggests more impact to come
2/ Lots of people already highlighting things from the main meeting, instead I'm going to focus on the paper on Further Education a there isn't one on schools snd these are the same age students in secondary 6th forms

gov.uk/government/pub…
3/ At various points it does reference previous documents on secondaries, and some comments generalise education settings.

Begins by stating outbreaks in FE are highly likely and risk amplifying local transmission due to creating connectivity,as schools do between homes and work
Read 30 tweets
10 Oct
1/ Thread: Don't mean to join the tin foil hat brigade but I have concerns the rate of infections in schools is being suppressed from public knowledge.
In March the government made NHS bed capacity its key metric for success. This led to people being put into care homes without
2/ testing, and other measures to free up bed space while the Nightingales were prepared.
Ignoring the death toll, government ministers continue to cite their management of the first wave as a success due to the NHS not being overwhelmed.
3/ In the Summer under pressure from papers and some poor messaging from Labour "no ifs no buts" a full reopening of school became another metric of success that I have heard MPs mention as a sign of good governance.
Read 36 tweets
26 Sep
1/ Worth noting that Mark Lehain director of Campaign for Common Sense was also part of the launch of Grimes Reasoned UK, you know where Starkey said slavery can't have been a genocide because there's 'so many damn blacks'
2/ Mark was also in charge of the New Schools Network for a while. A "charity" created with the support of Michael Gove, using public money to support academisation and creation of free schools.
Many of those involved have financially benefitted from the academisation process.
3/ NSN was also led by Toby Young for a while when he was allowed to run schools with no relevant experience. Still stunned that Tories thought it fine to hand control of children's futures to a contrarian hack who has since written that Trump should learn from Belarus!
Read 14 tweets
26 Sep
1/ Thread: Lots of DfE updates this week.

First theres the Guidence for Covid app but its got a 16+ age limit, and turns out you can't log NHS tests on it. Schools and colleges will have to write a policy around this guidence. More about this later this weekend.
2/ RSE statutory guidence which says we have to talk about cancel culture and deplatforming while at the same point banning 'victim narratives' and a range of other things that seem odd to squeeze into RSE

A good outline of some concerns here
3/ Then there are changes to the remote learning guidence which have so far been eclipsed by concerns with the other guidence updates.

It appears the Government has ended the laptop offer for disadvantaged students
Read 7 tweets
15 Sep
1/ I have a lot of sympathy for heads and the vast majority are doing the best they can to keep people safe. However there are a few cases of incredibly dangerous and reckless behaviour.

The following account is one such example.
2/ Student tests positive, year group is told to isolate, as are the members of staff who had spent all day with them.

Today the staff got a call from the Head "How close did they get to the pupil, where were they sitting etc"
3/ Head finishes the call with "see you in school tomorrow" despite staff pointing out that they will have classed as close contacts according to DfE advice.
Member of staff calls NHS direct and is told that they definitely should continue isolating. They call DfE hotline.
Read 5 tweets

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