AIBU in agreeing with the NASUWT that masks should be worn in schools by over 11s?

[DomDoesWotHeWants]

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/28/unions-call-for-teachers-in-england-to-be-able-to-wear-face-masks

Given that they have to be worn almost everywhere else indoors by over 11s it would be the right thing to do. Adults working in schools have as much right to be protected as bus drivers and shop workers.

So AIBU in agreeing with the NASUWT that masks should be worn in schools by over 11s?

@Fallulah if you felt a bit hot and uncomfortable in the shop, have you tried wearing them for a days work and teaching at the same time? It's bloody hard work and not in the same league at all. People need to actually try what they are advocating first. This is completely different.

@Rosewhite12 My DS (6) loves his Spider-Man mask. I’m sure he would be more damaged if I caught the virus at work and became seriously ill.

Please don't use 'take the knee' in this way, I think that is impolite to the people who actually take the knee for specific reasons.

Your chances of catching the virus and becoming so ill you require hospitalisation are 1%. You probably are at more risk getting in your car every day.

My DS was back at school for 6 weeks before the end of term. Not one of them caught Coronavirus so YABU. I don't agree with them wearing masks at school.

Was the whole school back?

Nurses and doctors wear them for much longer than that. As do dentists, hairdressers, shop workers (from choice). Waiting staff, bar staff, need I go on?

Yes we do, and every single one of us bitches about it. It's uncomfortable, hot, your face gets sweaty and spotty, you're lips are dry. I drink ridiculous amounts of water when at work.
I've nearly fainted and been lightheaded when the temperatures were in the high 20's a few weeks back, I wasn't the only one.

Do I expect my 11 year old to do that?
Do I fuck.

Take a knee is a protest against the unfair treatment of Black Americans - but has now become a globalised symbol of fighting racism.

(overweight so more at risk) teacher here...
And it hadn't occurred to you to reduce your own avoidable risk factor? How selfish to inflict an obligation on the children rather that exerting some effort yourself.

Why do you think a teacher should have to sit in a stuffy room with 30 different teenagers 5 times a day who aren’t wearing masks?

What the fuck? If people are demanding students wear them, why shouldn't teachers have to?

@Rosewhite12

Your chances of catching the virus and becoming so ill you require hospitalisation are 1%. You probably are at more risk getting in your car every day.

This is not correct. One variable factor is the rate of transmission and transmission in schools could be considerable due to no distancing - meaning risk of pupils, parents and teachers catching it could increase rapidly.

Plus everyone's risk from the virus is different.

Plus there are serious long lasting effects in many people who are not hospitalised, and who are younger.

[quote hayfeverhellish]@DomDoesWotHeWants with respect then, you have no idea what you are talking about. You have no idea what you are expecting of children. I think if you wore one for 7 hours, you wouldn't be posting this. [/quote]
I do talk to other people. I'm not in isolation. I have friends and relatives who wear one for up to 10 hours. They say it isn't pleasant but they manage because it's the right thing to do.

UK children are no different from children in every other country. And in nearly every other country those over 11 wear masks in school and elsewhere.

It's just silly and hysterical to say it's damaging.

Also, each child would need at least 3/4 masks each day. If we're going to do this properly.

Who's paying for those?
Who's paying to dispose of them correctly?

And in nearly every other country those over 11 wear masks in school and elsewhere

How many countries equates to "nearly every other"

No. I absolutely don't think children should have to wear masks all day.

People don't need to wear masks at work so I don't see why we should inflict them on children either.

@Randomnessembraced

Wearing masks for 6 hours a day is much harder than for short periods of time. If children and teenagers have to wear them and it becomes mandatory, then everyone will have to wear them at work too, including in offices, all day long. I think teachers should be given screens and visors, maybe even a microphone. How can you talk properly and teach in a mask all day long!

But in offices that are back up and running, I would imagine there is social distancing or screens, or reduced numbers so something is being done to mitigate the risk to those workers. No office workers I know are back in the actual office at all.

None of those safety measures are possible for schools under the government guidance which is why people are asking for masks to mitigate their risks.

I would personally go for half class sizes instead.

If we do nothing, open schools up as they were before (and please don’t think that the pitiful measures recommended for schools in the government guidance will do anything to prevent a spread of the virus), schools and classes will be closing at the last minute at extremely inconvenient times throughout the autumn term, if not the year.

Adults can't be trusted to wear them properly. Everytime I go out there are people with scarfs around their mouths as though it's just winter and they are trying to keep warm, and the amount of people wearing masks under their nose is laughable.

I feel very sorry for the schools that are doing this already

So I’m clear, you feel sorry for kids and staff having to wear masks which science seems to now agree will help slow the spread of Covid? Would you also feel sorry for my children if their mother died as a result of contracting Covid in her classroom? When teachers have started getting sick and deaths start to make the news, will it then be enough for you to support mask wearing? Or are you of a fixed mindset that it will never be necessary, even if science and the evidence seems to be showing otherwise?

Can I ask why you think staff in schools do not deserve the same attempt at protection as staff in every other workplace across the country?

I think it's a terrible idea. I work in a secondary school and couldn't cope with wearing a mask all day, certainly wouldn't expect any of my students to do it. As others have said, the younger students especially would do nothing but faff with them. I also think it would make getting to know new children very difficult, and make it hard to connect with those we've not seen for months.

And it hadn't occurred to you to reduce your own avoidable risk factor? How selfish to inflict an obligation on the children rather that exerting some effort yourself

Who says she hasn’t? Some of us have a long way to go. Doesn’t mean we’re not trying.

Must be lovely up there on your sanctimonious high ground. Do throw us down some dust to munch on, won’t you?

@Mia1415

No. I absolutely don't think children should have to wear masks all day.

People don't need to wear masks at work so I don't see why we should inflict them on children either.

A lot of people do have to wear masks at work. So your argument is spurious.

It would probably end up in teenagers passing out all the time, ds school is hotter than the surface of the sun all year round. Due to Covid, before the school closed, they were banned from using the water fountains, even to refill their bottles, they were banned from using the vending machines. They will need to carry with them at least a litre of water, a pack lunch new rules, out door PE kit no indoor PE, they have to walk or cycle to school as not enough room on school buses and carry all their books all the time as they have stopped the use of lockers!

Ds isn't a snowflake, he's looking forward to going back to school, he's been wearing his face mask to medical appointments, the barbers and shops.

@Mia1415

No. I absolutely don't think children should have to wear masks all day.

People don't need to wear masks at work so I don't see why we should inflict them on children either.

There is distancing at work.

There should be distancing at school.

I think it would take training, like everything else but it would be worth it.

Children are much quicker to catch on to things than adults. We police uniform, phones and behaviour already. Adding masks is not really an issue.

What would be an issue is having to close bubbles because a teacher is ill and there is no willing supply.

If parents want schools to offer consistent childcare (because everyone seems to have agreed that this is the main point of school) then they need to help protect teachers from getting the virus.

Our deputy fell ill the week after we closed. He was ill for nearly five weeks. It would only take a few staff to be this ill to make it impossible to have all year groups in school.

Protect teachers and your children’s education by training them to wear a mask.

@DomDoesWotHeWants oh well if you've spoken to other people than you must know what it's like 🙄🙄. We're talking about children, not adults making a living. Where is the evidence that wearing a mask 7 hours a day, 5 days a week doesn't affect social development, education development and mental health in children?

This is not a simple black or white situation. There are lots of variables at play. To say 'all kids should wear a mask' is incredibly naive.

@Iminaglasscaseofemotion What the fuck? If people are demanding students wear them, why shouldn't teachers have to?

Nobody said teachers shouldn't have to, as well as children. The more people who do (as we're all a vessel for the virus, adult or child, teacher or student), the better everyone is protected from harm.

The comment to which you're referring asks why teachers should have go to work to to teach large groups of other people, who aren't minimising transmission. Shop assistants don't have to serve customers who walk in without masks and breathe all over them.

But actually, if anyone is better taking masks off to support learning, it is the single teacher explaining something to a room of thirty, rather than the other way around.