Government working on plan B for schools.

[itsgettingweird]

Finally!

Why it didn't occur to them back in March rather than 2 weeks before term started I don't know.

Maybe it's been forced because no one has fallen for their lies and blaming teachers and unions.

apple.news/Ajr8j038FRi6pZvHUWDdZbA

If I can deliver spoke therapy to the traumatised kids I work with in a mask, l assure you that a teacher can teach in a mask.

I am certain that adjustments will be made for lip reading kids.

I feel like the same narrative is being used for teachers as was used for nurses a few months back - basically that they are bad teachers if they want to be protected and for their own families to be protected. Teachers have every right to protect themselves.

It angers me SO much that in every other job, people can wear masks to protect themselves but teachers can't. Teaching is one of the highest viral load jobs, according to the ONS statistics brought out earlier on within the lockdown, but as soon as the government wanted to start reopening schools they magically stopped dis issuing viral load.

We have a right to be just as safe in our jobs as anyone else.

And that's another point.

It's a JOB.

I'm so fed up of it being painted as a vocation where teachers should go above and beyond, etc etc.

Nope. It's a JOB.

I want to keep safe so that when I go home, my family are kept safe." 👏👏👏

Pressed too soon but the above is exactly how I feel. I’m conscientious and hard working and I want the best for the kids but it is a job. Well said PP.

Thank you for those who have supported what I've said. Really appreciate it. We are being bullied by very prescriptive narrative that is pushing us into unsafe workplaces and, at the same time, setting us up to take the fall when outbreaks occur as 'those pesky teachers just didn't wear masks...' (massive paraphrase, I know!)

They are now actually trying to suggest that teachers should effectively curb their lives and interactions outside of school in order to protect their students.

I'd like to turn that on its head where I'd like to curb my life and intersections within school to protect the people that actually matter the most to me. My family. My elderly parents. My children.

It's just such a screwed up thing to demonise teachers when the government are throwing us under a massive bus.

@MrsHamlet

Let's hope plan b involves actually asking schools which students need a laptop and internet dongle AND LISTENING to the answer rather than just guessing a stupidly low number.

Yes agree.

In fact just listening to the stakeholders full stop.

A thought occurred to me overnight!

If government didn't think schools were highly infectious and would have high viral load.

Why did he shut them in the first place?

Because he's always maintained he's following the science. So the science must have been telling him something?

My friends in the US wear masks from kindergarten- classes are continuing and no complaints.

[quote underneaththeash]@morethanmeetstheeye how can it be a high viral load job? With older children who have the higher viral Load if infected, you’re not that close to them.
Yes, it’s a job and if you don’t want to do it properly then resign.[/quote]
I suggest with your lack of compassion, it might be you who should consider whether or not you're in the right job (I'm so sick of that ridiculous response on Mumsnet. Are you volunteering to pay extra tax into the benefit system?)

The whole idea of 'if you can't do your job properly then resign' is laughable (and also very rude and obnoxious)

1. Why should I resign from a job I love, am very good at (this is an objective statement as I have won an award and I also consistently produce very high traceable results) (( not that the award matters but I thought that the poster who made that inane comment might require some external validation...))

1. Teaching involves the imparting of information and the cultivating of minds, alongside the nurturing and encouragement of both a child's personal and academic developments and achievements. I'm sure I can do that whilst wearing a mask. Many teachers wear burkas and I know that they can teach very effectively.

1. When we all 'signed up to teach' (interesting phrase that I keep seeing banded around on media - very army-risqué) at no point was it stated that I would have to choose between my job and my health (in a 'you may actually die from talking inside a classroom' kind of way). That would have been, quite frankly, a contractual sticking point for me.

1. Why do teachers have to accept less safe working conditions that other jobs? Most jobs on a professional par with us get to employ masks/strict social distancing/good use of PPE. As we are unable to social distance and have higher viral loaded environments, it's very important we keep safe. Or should we work from home like most other highly-qualified professionals???

1. There's that sneaky little legal point of something called Section 44 of the Employment Act which states that we have the right to be safe at work and can refuse to do so if we believe that we are in imminent danger.

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/44

Army-esque!
Apologies for any typos. iPhones have a mind of their own