Should teachers be extra vigilant to infection in their every day lives to reduce school transmission?

[WhyNotMe40]

As the latest PHE report states that in June there were more staff than students affected by the covid19 coronavirus, there are suggestions that teachers should take measures to reduce bringing the virus into schools.

Voting: do you think teachers should change how they behave out of schools to protect the school?
YABU yes
YANBU no

Also - what activities or behaviours do you think teachers should avoid or do to further this aim?

I don’t think that teachers should be pressured to abide by stricter social distancing outside work than anyone else.

But I don’t think that teachers or teenagers or the parents of primary children should play the “we’re/they’re stuck all day in tiny classrooms/school buses with not enough social distancing therefore I might as well go to a house party/illegal rave/sleepover/huge birthday party/lock-in because what the hell” card. That line of reasoning is a shortcut to disaster.

And, sadly, I think that teachers and pupils will probably want to keep their distance from elderly or vulnerable relatives unless it’s really necessary.

Sure, as long as students and their parents are prepared to do the same.

Angelina proper laughed at your licking the bar comment

Excellent point above by the poster who pointed out the hypocrisy of wanting office staff back to spend in pret yet wanting teachers not to go there.

They really are an incompetent bunch of tears aren't they? I don't even think they listen to themselves and then wonder why no one listens to them!

I'm not sure what you want OP, how are you going to protect the teacher, so they can continue to teach your child I hope you are staying in all day, and not doing anything to catch the virus. Would be awful for your child to be the one that makes the school close.
better bunker down for the winter.
Stupid post, lol.

@Nacknick

I voted YABU because we should all be doing as much as we can to reduce the spread. We shouldn't be wondering about how much we can push the boundaries and what we can get away with, we should be asking what more can I do to stop the spread. Teachers shouldn't be singled out and then blamed when the numbers go up. It's everybody's responsibility.

Sono guess you really mean YANBU, because more should not be asked of teachers than the general public.

how are you going to protect the teacher, so they can continue to teach your child I hope you are staying in all day, and not doing anything to catch the virus.

Yeah OP, you best stay in. Don't go out, don't cross the playground and don't shut yourself away in a room with 30+ kids for a double maths lesson.

It's all being lined up as we suspected. When a second wave comes who will be blamed? Teachers of course. Just like we're blamed for every other bloody thing that happens in society.

@Devlesko

I'm not sure what you want OP, how are you going to protect the teacher, so they can continue to teach your child I hope you are staying in all day, and not doing anything to catch the virus. Would be awful for your child to be the one that makes the school close. better bunker down for the winter. Stupid post, lol.

Seen this?

YANBU. I have a camping trip booked for the first weekend of term and will also be going to the gym and doing my shopping as convenient. Almost all commenters here agree that it's unreasonable to hold teachers to higher SD standards than anyone else but I'm surprised that 25% of voters so far don't (unless they've misunderstood).

The way I see it, if society in general is willing for us to take this risk without demanding better on our behalf, the people who worry about our day-to-day contacts can stay at home.

Apparently the suggestion that teachers should be more socially cautious than the general public was discussed on The World at 1 today. Er, no.

It is a very odd paragraph indeed. However, there aren't many activities a member of school staff can do outside school which are riskier than being inside school, are there?

I will do what I can to mitigate my risk and carry on as I have been. I'll be exposed to a lot. I teach in a large very rural primary. My bubble will be three classes, all above 30 in size. .I'm expected to be with them every break, eat lunch with them in my room, wipe up after them, clean their toilets, and then - if I still fancy it- eat my lunch in my room (staff room closed) and have a piss in the ONE staff toilet we will all share. My kids will walk home or bus home to outlying villages and farms, all together on the same coach, fuck bubbles, we've not got the money for more buses. Most of my class have siblings at secondary - i'll be exposed to that too.

Then, at home, my two teens will bus to their secondary with all years 7 to13, then each be in yeargroup bubbles of 250 plus. Then they'll bus back again.

When I get home i'll strip and shower and clean everything down. I'm still expected to mark everything every night, because teachers are magic, and our head says it will be fine. Which it will, for her, because she doesn't mark anything. I'll do a lot of magic handwashing and do this in the back room.

After all this I will look after my senile mum and hope to god I haven't brought anything home. I'll be too knackered to go to the pub but I might have a large vodka and a bit of a cry.

@phlebasconsidered 💐

Salty good point. Teachers are being called all sorts for demanding safer plans for return yet are also being told to be extra vigilant (whatever that means?!) to keep it from schools.

EVERYONE has a social responsibility to be vigilant. It's a pandemic. It doesn't discriminate.

@phlebasconsidered

Phleb

So what are we supposed to do? Stop seeing our parents? Stop seeing our kids because they are in nursery? Stop going to the shops to buy food (yet not be able to get a home delivery slot)? I am not sure what people think we are doing outside of school. Maybe spending our days in the pub licking the tables?

We don't have a staff room now and the nearest sandwich shop is too far away to get there and back in time, so it'll be lonely at work but I won't be changing my behaviour outside school, no.

I would imagine that teachers will be doing the same as there rest of the population. Why would they be expected to do differently to others? Unless we expect parents and children to curb their lives out of school? Oh, thought not!

@SqidgeBum

So what are we supposed to do? Stop seeing our parents? Stop seeing our kids because they are in nursery? Stop going to the shops to buy food (yet not be able to get a home delivery slot)? I am not sure what people think we are doing outside of school. Maybe spending our days in the pub licking the tables?

It's our "moral duty" doncha know!

I won't be restricting my life outside school any more than it is already. I won't be running Brownies like I normally do, but tbh, the girls and their parents aren't particularly keen on getting back to face to face meetings (which can only be outside and 15 people at a time), we'll stick to zoom.

I won't be visiting my vulnerable parents for quite a while either. Lots of people have said teachers should avoid their vulnerable relatives, but what about teachers who are themselves vulnerable? Or the teachers who have small children who are vulnerable? We don't have any extra protection, and nobody ever seems to have an answer for that, other than to resign.

Oh and mine's a large merlot

After all this I will look after my senile mum and hope to god I haven't brought anything home. I'll be too knackered to go to the pub but I might have a large vodka and a bit of a cry.

I can see why. I wish I could be there to hand you the bottle and a straw. And make you dinner. And clean your house so it's nice for you to come home to.

(Would it be odd to send a couple of cases of wine to my DD's school?)

Yes you are absolutely being set up, so sorry

It may be odd but the teacher would certainly give you an A+

@Barbie222

It is a very odd paragraph indeed. However, there aren't many activities a member of school staff can do outside school which are riskier than being inside school, are there?

That depends on whether you are someone who is swallowing the Government's propaganda or not.

Remember, schools are totally not safe.