I live and work in Melbourne. We are going into a snap lockdown for the fifth time in 2021. The announcement came later in the day, way after the end of the school day, and after a lot of speculations and wonderings. Without the official press conference release, we could not prepare our students and staff to be ready for online learning. After all, this is our first week of the term.
But as always, the teachers have taken this in their stride and have immediately put plans into action to continue their support for their students. Somehow, many parents and definitely the politicians do not see the stress, the extra time and effort, and mostly the strength of educators in just stepping into and out of the long lockdowns last year and the ongoing circuit breakers since the beginning of this year.
Whenever we publicly share our fears of being forced into the potentially life threatening environments of closed classrooms with no space for social distancing and air flow, we are often accused of being lazy and not wanting to go back into the classrooms. Politicians make decisions about our lives and livelihoods. They lie about schools being safe places. Parents think we do not care about the education of their children. Believe us when we say that we would rather be face-to-face with our students. Online teaching is double the workload and half the satisfaction.
I am a witness and a victim of this constant disrespect towards the noblest of jobs. Teachers are beginning to show signs of fatigue and stress. We are tired and we are are sometimes shocked at how badly we are being treated. We are not in this for the money, we are in this because we care. So please let us do what we know best. And please understand that our lives and the lives of our families matter too.
Boney's Beats 