When teachers found out how to work on the new school year, teachers were shocked – some are already planning to leave

However, on June 1. At the meeting between President Gitan Nausėda and Education Minister Jurgita Šiugždinienė, it was announced that the position on the new school year is clear: all children must return to school. Politicians also felt that the new school year should start in the fall without mandatory testing of students for COVID-19, and this should remain just a recommendation.

However, the Lithuanian Trade and Science Union (LŠMPS) still does not trust those languages ​​and says it does not see a clear political decision. It also cuts that hybrid education can only be used in exceptional cases of student illness and this must be confirmed by a doctor.

“If the epidemiological situation is not very bad, contact education should be done for everyone without exception, if it is deficient, distance training should be done after setting a limit by experts. Everything should not depend solely on the wishes of the parents, “said Egidijus Milešinas, president of the union, in Delfi.

He added that if there is no intention to abandon hybrid teaching due to the coronavirus situation, teachers will have to be paid extra.

The teacher shortage in Lithuanian schools will be felt soon, but it is possible that such an uncertain situation could further deter teachers from leaving the education system.

According to them, the hybrid training workload has almost doubled, and it turns out that those in control are still not going to pay for overtime.

“Such an offer arises when it is necessary to take into account that due to age and fatigue, teachers leave those jobs anyway,” social networks reassured teachers.

They acknowledge that while they have made it a priority to get vaccinated first, they hoped it would actually be a way to get back to work in contact.

“It was rumored everywhere that the teachers had not been vaccinated, the children could not return. Who came out? The children still cannot return because the parents do not agree to take the test. I don’t regret getting vaccinated, but I’m mad at the lineage masters, but we ourselves are the biggest hostages.

At the end of the day, teachers can and should do everything and, however, God forbid, they are going to demand a reward for their work, so he is a scoundrel who has no right to walk the earth, “he complained. one of the educators on social media.

Lost in terms

E. Milešinas, president of the Lithuanian Education and Science Union, agreed with Delfi in explaining the difference between coeducation and hybrid education and why the second model is very irritating for teachers.

“When the Prime Minister announced that from September there will be mixed training, there was a lot of talk about hybrid training. A blended learning approach is when students learn by contact one week and by distance learning the next and switch. This is a mixed form.

The hybrid approach is when the lessons take place at the same time for part of the students and in the classroom, and at the same time, remotely. This means that the teacher works with the students in the classroom and at the same time transmits the lesson to those at home ”.

Based on what Ingrida Šimonytė said, says the union president, there was talk of hybrid training.

However, the hybrid model is not yet regulated in any legislation. We, the unions, after a series of responses from teachers who are already working on it, on May 12. We turn to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education to answer three questions. “

According to E. Milešinas, these questions were the following: 1. When and how will hybrid training be regulated? 2. How much money will be allocated to the infrastructure and how many hybrid cabinets will be installed? 3. How much money will teachers be provided to pay extra for increased workload?

“Because it is definitely not contact training and it is definitely not non-contact training. On the third day, we received a response from the ministry that hybrid training is pretty much the same as contact training. Consequently, the workload of teachers is not increasing and the Ministry has not provided additional funds.

More than 3 million will be allocated to infrastructure. and it plans to install thousands of such so-called classes throughout Lithuania by September. We are not satisfied with such things and have therefore expressed our outrage. We understand the situation, we understand these innovations and innovations in education, we are not against hybrid training, but it must be applied in exceptional cases ”.

An example, he says, could be when a student needs to recover from a certain injury, or something like that. and family counseling is assigned at the discretion of the physician.

“To avoid teachers having to go home with him, you can apply hybrid training. Let’s say the whole class works in the classroom and one or two students work from home due to illness, but it really can’t be the way it is. now in Lithuania.

When it comes to parental wishes, lust, “I want to leave, I do not want to let a child go to school”, and the teachers should split into two at that time and they have to teach everyone, and they don’t pay something extra for that. There should be no such thing. “

He agreed that if they could not bear such burdens, the teachers would voluntarily withdraw from the education system and the collective agreement provided for severance pay.

“Teachers will continue to use severance pay this year, based on query numbers. It should definitely benefit no less than last year. About 1,000 teachers are likely to drop out of the education system. It will happen if the government does not fix this prevailing mess, when in education everyone who wants does it ”.

Suffer from parental wishes.

The union president was unhappy that it was only in April that he began to return to school, but allowing mayors to fend for themselves made the parents’ word decisive. Such a situation, he assured, bothers the teachers and even so far some elementary school children have not returned to work in a contact way, because the parents do not agree with the tests.

“And it demands that its children have the same opportunities or the same education as the students who work in contact.”

Speaking of the difficulties of hybrid training, E. Milesin said that first the load almost doubles.

“Working remotely alone has increased the workload, as it takes a lot of time to submit papers, evaluate them and prepare for lessons. But when you need to work in a hybrid way and prepare for the same lesson both in contact and in training, and involve those who are sitting in front of the screens, then it is really very difficult.

I understand the ministry’s statement that one lesson is being taught at a time, but even during the lesson, the teacher cannot be divided into two parts. So watch what the student does while sitting in the classroom and at the same time run to the computer and watch what he does while working from home. “

According to him, preparing for lessons also requires a lot of effort, because it is necessary to prepare assignments for those who will work at school, and before that send assignments for those who will study remotely.

“Let’s not forget the assessment, the editing of notebooks and all those other things. This means that you will have to do the work as a contact and then respond to all the emails you receive. Letters or messages to the Teams or Tamo systems . (…) Definitely, that load is more than double ”, said E. Milešinas.

The President also asked if a large number of hybrid classes would be prepared during the summer, as, to his knowledge, it was unlikely that the acquisition of the necessary equipment would begin.

“Think about whether you can leave for the summer.”

Expect not to apply en masse

Vaidas Bacys, director of the Dubysa High School, also supported the ideas expressed by the union, although he added that he does not believe that the hybrid method is applied in a massive way.

“It is really difficult for teachers to work because, first of all, the technological possibilities in schools are not adapted to that. However, I think that hybrid approach, if applied, will not be applied en masse.

These will be isolated cases. Of course, if these are just isolated cases, then it will be possible to control it. However, it is not even technologically possible to introduce a lot of hybrid training. “

He explained that due to the worst epidemiological situation or the children’s health ailments, there will definitely be some isolated cases.

“However, I think some clear criteria should be formulated and medical findings should be used. For example, if a student is required to study at home due to illness, then the legal framework should be adjusted so that teachers can receive an additional payment.

I believe, however, that it should be clearly regulated which children have the right and the opportunity to learn from home, ”he said.

Otherwise, Bacys added, schools are in a pretty tough spot because it’s as much about financial resources as it is about everything else.

“If a child has a health problem and the doctors provide homeschooling, the schools receive additional funding. So, of course, it is possible to motivate teachers financially and it is possible to appoint teacher assistants, look for other solutions, but it certainly doesn’t have to be a mass phenomenon ”, he concluded.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (MESM) commented that it would clearly define the cases and procedures for hybrid training in coordination with the social partners. He also believes that it will not be a mass phenomenon.

“We believe that hybrid teaching would apply if one or more students are isolated, it will not be a massive and permanent phenomenon. We are already preparing for the new school year, we are discussing with representatives of the educational community, we are planning various scenarios, from the most optimistic, when everyone attends schools without restrictions, to the pessimistic, when working remotely. However, we hope that this scenario is not necessary, that the majority of society is vaccinated for the new school year and that we have herd immunity to the disease.

Minister J. Šiugždinienė also later told LRT radio that it would be in the event of a coronavirus outbreak at the school and that hybrid classes would serve. According to her, hybrid classes, in particular, would be useful for the teacher and she emphasized that lessons in this way will be carried out only when necessary.