Head recommending wearing masks in school

[rainyinscotland]

So DC has been back at school full time for a bit (Scotland). Secondary school. All pupils in and no masks. The Headteacher has now written to parents that it's not possible to socially distance, so he/she is recommending that pupils and teachers wear masks. Recommending, not requiring.

YABU - the Head was wrong to do that.
YANBU - the Head was right to do that.

I think masks are the only way to have kids back at school and reduce infection...

amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/21/coronavirus-iurope-dozens-schools-report-infections-berlin-germany-spain?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_b-gdnnews&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&__twitter_impression=true

@Osirus, everyone over age 2 is required to wear a mask here (US state). Responsible parents have explained why masks must be worn. Sesame Street did an episode on masks.

Compliance has been great all throughout the return of warm weather in the spring and the long, hot, humid summer which is still far from over.

Personally I don’t want mask wearing in school to be compulsory but wouldn’t mind it for certain lessons - if a teacher was vulnerable, for example.

I hate wearing masks and can’t even imagine how horrible it would be for mine to wear them from getting on the bus at 7.45am til they get home at 4.30pm. That’s a long time and I don’t believe for a moment any of the children will wear them properly all day because they will get hot and want to breathe. Also I wouldn’t be able to afford the number of masks required for two children daily. The cloth ones are expensive and the disposable ones add to pollution.

I work in early years and I’m constantly coughed on, climbed on, deal with bodily fluids and yet none of us have been poorly yet and we worked through lockdown too with high risk key worker children. I don’t feel the risk is massively high in a class where the teacher can socially distance enough not to be climbed on!

In my opinion youngsters at school should not be required to wear them as learning would be severely impaired.

Curious as to how masks impair learning.
Really curious.

Mathanxiety - teaching and learning is about communication. As mask wearing makes communication more difficult it is therefore detrimental to learning. Mask wearing makes socialising more difficult too. Pupils don’t just learn from teachers within lessons; they learn throughout the school day from their interactions with each other and a wide range of adults. That’s why closing schools and having home learning instead has been so detrimental to many.

I'm in the UAE. Kids 6+ have to wear masks in school. We're told to provide a reusable mask or two disposable a day plus hand sanitizer. They've been off school since 12 March. I'll take pretty much anything to get them back in and they have no real objections if it means they get to see their friends.

Bit concerning because I for one partially lip read, didn't realise how much until masks became a thing! Plus I'm in pain from wearing one almost immediately, even the thought makes my skin tingle. I'm managing to "comply" using a silk scarf which still hurts a bit where it touches me. What about these kids, will they be denied education or bullied for not wearing one?

@minnieok

Bit concerning because I for one partially lip read, didn't realise how much until masks became a thing! Plus I'm in pain from wearing one almost immediately, even the thought makes my skin tingle. I'm managing to "comply" using a silk scarf which still hurts a bit where it touches me. What about these kids, will they be denied education or bullied for not wearing one?

You are probably exempt.

My ds is autistic. He honestly tried but it got to the point he was getting so anxious at the thought of wearing one we had to stop.

For some people they really aren't tolerable.

But we need high compliance for them to work which is the theory behind getting as many from different age groups wearing them that can.

Where I am any parent has the option of distance learning instead of sending a child to school and there is the possibility of exceptions for children with disabilities, based on a risk assessment.

It’s very interesting hearing about so many other schools where masks have to be worn in schools and also where blended learning is working.

It will be interesting to compare what happens in our schools and those countries over the coming months. I strongly suspect that the schools in those countries will still be functioning as they are, and ours will not be.

Have there been studies to show the impact of wearing masks as a factor of time? Naively, I am wondering that if a cloth masks stops 80% of aerosols then that is equivalent of spending 5 minutes time with someone masked to 1 minute unmasked. Given the school day is 6 hours I am thinking that everyone is going to breath in each other's aerosols anyway. And that is disregarding the fact the number of people I have seen wearing a mask who are constantly readjusting them and touching them. A better strategy for schools / office / shops might be to try and increase ventilation by having more windows open & not sure this message is getting over strong enough and I guess is not always practicable.

@OneInEight many schools have very poorly ventilated classrooms.

Some windows don’t open very far for safety reasons. One local school I work with has very old draughty windows. They can’t afford to replace them or properly repair them, so the cheap option is to glue them shut. Stops the draughts but not so great for COVID.

Hats off to the head, very sensible approach for pupil and staff protection.

better strategy for schools / office / shops might be to try and increase ventilation by having more windows open & not sure this message is getting over strong enough and I guess is not always practicable

If you have read any of the threads by teachers over the last few weeks, you will know the message about ventilation has got through loud and clear.

When your classroom windows only open an inch and the government won’t give schools a penny to make reopening safe, there is very little heads can do.

Finerumpus
Mathanxiety - teaching and learning is about communication. As mask wearing makes communication more difficult it is therefore detrimental to learning.
Really?
Students all over the world, including those in my local area in the US, are screwed this year then.
How do you think children learn in schools where teachers wear niqab?
How do people manage to communicate in hospitals with masks on?

Mask wearing makes socialising more difficult too. Pupils don’t just learn from teachers within lessons; they learn throughout the school day from their interactions with each other and a wide range of adults.
Also screwed are students in many Asian countries where masks are routinely worn.

That’s why closing schools and having home learning instead has been so detrimental to many.
Oh come on now. Are you seriously suggesting that schools should have stayed open?
Home learning has been problematic for exactly the same reason that the education system as currently set up is problematic and features a long tail of under-achievement, with up to one third of school leavers just about functionally literate.

Home learning has been a failure because many homes don't have the equipment or the broadband that effective home learning requires. Homes don't have these bells and whistles because of poverty. Poverty has been having a detrimental effect on educational attainment since the dawn of the modern education system.

Factors that impair learning:
Hunger;
Living in a cold/ mouldy/ overcrowded house with inadequate furniture, cooking facilities, telecom;
Chronic illness and stress caused by or exacerbated by factors related to poverty and living conditions;
Unstable address/ moving frequently/ homelessness;
Parents who have problems that go unaddressed - MH problems, addictions, illiteracy, chaotic relationships;
Domestic violence, child abuse;
Absence of resources and experiences in the home and family that enhance learning (books, wide vocabulary);
Absence of resources and experiences in the community that foster and enhance academic performance (libraries, reliable and affordable public transport, etc).

Even if masks hinder learning a bit it’s a whole lot less than shutting down schools for months, surely?

A better strategy for schools / office / shops might be to try and increase ventilation by having more windows open & not sure this message is getting over strong enough and I guess is not always practicable.

@oneineight having my windows open the few inches they will go is little use to me because my door has to be shut - there's another teaching space in constant use immediately outside.

I don’t think it’s right to tell children that they can only access their education if they wear a mask all day, so I’m glad this head teacher has had the sense to make it optional. As an adult I wouldn’t be happy at being required to wear a mask all day every day at work, but I have some element of choice. When the law requires kids to go to school, it would be incredibly unfair to make masks compulsory.

Shutting schools is not the alternative to having pupils wear masks.

@RaspberryRuff

Even if masks hinder learning a bit it’s a whole lot less than shutting down schools for months, surely?

I agree.

There is no perfect solution.

We need the best and safest to provide continuous education to all kids whoever they are and whatever their background.

Do those arguing that teachers and students should NOT be allowed to wear masks, feel the same way about the use of masks elsewhere? Shops, museums, public transport....?
Or is it just that teachers' safety in the workplace doesn't matter?
And many, many students will have to wear masks ANYWAY, on public transport, so their families will have to make sure that they have them. They will then have to take the masks OFF when they enter the school.
As for supplying masks, could schools buy in disposable masks for those who can't supply their own?
If masks are made compulsory in schools (which I don't believe will happen, as the government don't care about the safety of students and staff) then we will all adapt, as we have had to do in every other part of our lives this year.

The guidelines are to socially distance, not to wear a mask. If he can't figure out a way for people to socially distance at his school he needs to step down and let someone who can figure it out do the job.

Of course there is nothing stopping anyone wearing a mask at any time. It's just common sense.

@PoppySeedSaid maybe you can tell all the HTs how to organise effective social distancing in schools with the limited space schools have, as I am sure they will be all ears.

In the U.K. school children don’t routinely wear masks. What happens elsewhere may well be different yet that doesn’t mean that education in the U.K. won’t be damaged by making youngsters wear masks. As the value of wearing masks is very unclear, I think it is reckless to further damage the education of children in this way.
Poverty is an indicator of potential educational underachievement. That doesn’t mean that wearing masks won’t be detrimental to pupils.

Schools are being given NO extra money to deal with anything COVID related, so I don’t think they should be providing masks. If the school requires them to be worn, then of course they should provide them, but while it’s optional then it’s up to families to pay for them if they want them.

Wearing a mask on a half hour journey at the start and end of the day is not the same as being expected to wear them all day while you’re supposed to be working. But I think students should be allowed to wear them if they want to, as long as it’s not compulsory.

It’s not that I don’t care about teacher safety, I’m a TA in KS1 where we also can’t social distance, I just think expecting teenagers to wear masks all day in a place they are legally required to be is incredibly unfair when the risk to them is minuscule.