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'm a TA. I haven't seen my mum since the beginning of March. Dh and are both classed as vulnerable, so apart from the last few weeks, haven't been outside our front door. Dh hasn't seen his mum since March either, and, sadly, may not see ger again as her health has deteriorated so badly since then. Since lockdown has bees eased, we have seen one DC and looked after our dgc once a week. Given that the government has said that it is safe, even for vulnerable members of staff and children to return to school and school has already told us we will not be allowed to use a microwave or the fridge, we will be restricted regarding our use of the staffroom and we will not be allowed off site during the day, so must either bring a cold lunch and cold drinks with us or order from the school kitchen. Staff were told at the beginning of the summer break that they were not allowed to book a holiday anywhere that 'might' cause them to need to quarantine. Next week, I will be working in a bubble of around 160 children and staff. Goodness knows when I will be able to see any of my other family members again. I don't know what other precautions I should take? It seems to me that the government is setting schools and school staff up to take the blame for any outbreaks that occur when we reopen.

@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?

I'll stop seeing my DF because he has king disease (tbh he'll probably still come to see me anyway, but that's up to him). I won't stop going to the supermarket and in fact I'll probably still do so on my way home to avoid an extra trip.

Lung, not Kong

Oh ffs

We ALL should be extra vigilant. Teachers, parents, hermits, everybody....

To be honest, I think that pupils should be being careful rather than teachers. Education is a privilege which students need to prioritise.

I've not read the whole thread, but this is baloney.
As in any group, your going to get teachers who don't believe in covid, or sd. Etc.

You will get teachers who gel their hands but then cough on them.. Whatever.
The point is most people, including I imagine, most teachers, do not want to get covid!! Like most people they will be taking the usual and Normal precautions!
Most teachers are also very aware of the hazards of the job in covid, ie... Stuffy small rooms, tons of mixing even with bubbles, poor hygiene among some pupils, lots of coughs and spit and splutters.... Etc etc etc.

There is therefore nothing more outside the classroom that most teachers could do!!
It's inside the classroom, the staff room etc where teachers can't help germs spread where the damage will be done.

New day, not hermits surely

@Lovelydovey

To be honest, I think that pupils should be being careful rather than teachers. Education is a privilege which students need to prioritise.

Sadly many of them don't appreciate it until later.

There is NO WAY I will not be seeing my DS at his care home. March/April/May almost killed DH and I not being able to see him.

Well, I teach abroad & obviously my dc & I didn't go to visit my parents (healthy, mostly, but in their 70s) this summer.

So if I get to fly to the U.K. over the Xmas break it'll have been a year. Except I'm resigned to the fact that I'll need to cancel that, so maybe a trip in July '21 if we're lucky? Not grumbling, we signed up for the joys of expat living & I love it, but I miss my mum & dad & they miss their dgc, of course.

Meanwhile, the kids & I travel in to school on school buses which probably include teachers & dc from every year group from reception to sixth form, before trooping solemnly off to our bubbles, & then all mixing it up again for the return journey!

I suspect that when - & I'm not particularly scared but definitely thinking when, not if - I catch the wretched lurgy, it probably won't be my weekend evening glass of socially distanced local rotgut in the back garden Wot Dun It...

Well, I'll be ok at home from work, because my children will be in one of those covid-secure schools all day, won't they?

I won't be running my extra-curricular club any more because it involves shared equipment. Oh, and lunchtime has been halved. Oh, and the classroom we'd use is now a home base for a form group so people are eating there.
Luckily for me my parents are dead too, eh?

"Education is a privilege"

But OP, by sending your kids to school you aren't helping keep the virus down, you are adding to it.
Are you really that dim that you think by sticking to rules your kids can't catch it and take it to school, do you work at all?

@ElizabethG81

"Education is a privilege"

up until about 150 years ago state education was not the norm. In a way it is, that in the 21st century most countries in the world offer such. But if you dig deep, in many parts of the world (rural asia and africa come to mind) it is still not uncommon to only teach for a few years and then let the 10-13 year olds out as "workforce"

The use of the phrase in UK at this point is a bit far fetched though.

@Devlesko

But OP, by sending your kids to school you aren't helping keep the virus down, you are adding to it. Are you really that dim that you think by sticking to rules your kids can't catch it and take it to school, do you work at all?

@Devlesko the OP is a teacher.

I think there are a small number of activities teachers and parents of school-age children should avoid- pubs in particular, possibly restrict where they travel to during half-term and Christmas holidays.

Why should I restrict where I go in my free time? I'm a public servant, sure, but that doesn't make me public property!

Maybe teachers should be forbidden from leaving schools and forced to sleep in their classrooms?

Why should teachers be not allowed to do things the government is telling us are safe?

And if teachers have to deal with extra restrictions then surely every family with children in schools should do the same?

YABVU

I actually think we should all be avoiding riskier things like holidays and pubs, and I am avoiding them personally. But parents cannot expect teachers to avoid these things (which the government allow us to do) unless the parents are also willing to avoid them.

I haven't read every post on this thread as I'm so bloody pissed off with this skip fire.

But I think that the message from the government is that kids don't spread it (lie) and if teachers contract it, or spread it, or die, then it's our own fault

Nothing to see here.

@ElizabethMainwaring

I haven't read every post on this thread as I'm so bloody pissed off with this skip fire.

But I think that the message from the government is that kids don't spread it (lie) and if teachers contract it, or spread it, or die, then it's our own fault

Nothing to see here.

Pretty much

No I don’t. I think everyone should abide by the rules/guidelines so parents, children, staff etc to protect the vulnerable and stop the spread but why single out teachers from every other worker?

Teachers shouldn’t have to limit their lives because they don’t have PPE or SD measures in place in their employment. They should be entitled to be as safe as everyone else.

FFS! I.started back in secondary last week (Scotland). Anyone who thinks you can social distance has never been in a secondary school! I'm surrounded by 1200 pupils with up to 30 in a class with no masks. Sure, I'm going to limit my.own social life outside of school. FFS.

Our opinion is that social distancing, etc, is going to be minimal in schools, it's just unworkable.

So we limit our voluntary exposures as a family, and make sure that hand washing and sanitising happens pretty much at the gate when they come home.

I have confidence that our schools and teachers will do their very best, in the interests of themselves and their students, as well as their community. However, they are being given limited and conflicting guidance, and even less in terms of real support such as money for more cleaning, hand sanitiser, and ppe, so there's only so much they can bloody well do, isn't there?