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  • "Guys! We employed a bunch of people with consciences! We can get them to do a load of shit that they're not paid to do by leaning on their sense of morality! WAHEY!"

    The tories made the exact same arguments in the 1970s when they took free milk away from early years school children. But they didn't give a shit about teacher workload. They just wanted to make a political point and save a bit of money.

    The teachers incidentally were against the removal of free milk, despite the additional overhead it took out of their day to distribute it.

    I've a feeling if another leader came up with this policy you'd be in favour of it.

    EDIT: And let's not pretend teachers aren't already doing this. From the BDA:

    1. 83% of secondary teachers say they or their school have given
      students toothbrushes and toothpaste. 81% said there are children in
      their school who don't have regular access to supplies
    2. 40% said this leads to students being socially excluded by their
      peers because of oral hygiene issues. Half report children isolating
      themselves. One third have witnessed bullying directly
    3. 25% say children miss school because of poor oral hygiene. Three
      quarters (74%) said children who don't have regular access to oral
      health products have discoloured teeth. Half said children had
      noticeable tooth decay. 30% noted children in dental pain or
      suffering from halitosis
    4. Nearly a third (31%) of teachers who witness poverty in the
      classroom said it affected their mental health. 1 in 4 are kept
      awake at night worrying about their students' wellbeing. 38% report
      feeling helpless.


  • The teachers incidentally were against the removal of free milk, despite the additional overhead it took out of their day to distribute it.

    I think Teaching burden has changed in a lot of ways in the last 50 years

  • I think Teaching burden has changed in a lot of ways in the last 50 years

    I think there's a big difference in the burden placed on teachers in early years schools vs secondary schools - and this is an early years school policy.

    EDIT In fact now I google this, it applies to three- to five-year-olds so teachers would not be impacted.

    Here's the actual proposal:

    Labour will eliminate dental deserts and improve children’s oral health by:

    1. Delivering 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments per year, so more children can see a dentist when they really need to.
    2. Recruiting dentists to areas that need them with a targeted enhanced recruitment scheme.
    3. Introducing a targeted national supervised toothbrushing programme for 3–5-year-olds in our fully funded breakfast clubs.

    Difficult to disagree with that imo.

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