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?

Teachers should follow the rules, just as everyone else should follow the rules.

I don't think they should be expected to do more or less than anyone else.

I would think, however, that putting many people at risk by not following the guidelines as laid down by the government should be a disciplinary offence. I don't think that should be specific to teachers, just in general that anyone in any profession not following government guidelines and then going to work and as a result putting colleagues/clients/pupils etc at risk should a disciplinary offence.

@mbosnz
You seem to put a lot of faith in cleaning and hand sanitising.
Covid 19 is airborne. It is passed on by humans being in close contact for extended periods of time.
IE, 30 plus teenagers and two adults in an enclosed space for one hour plus.
Repeat ad nauseum.

No, I don't actually. I just think that I'll do the best job I can with what I have. . . which is pretty bloody little!

I voted YABU. I work in a Scottish secondary, we are only into our third week and I am already exhausted by all the extra measures put in place, and all the extra thinking I have to do to keep myself and everyone else as safe as possible. And added to this the children don’t need to social distance amongst themselves which leads to them forgetting that they are supposed to distance from us so I spend half my day dodging pupils. I don’t know of one member of staff who is not quite anxious .being in school, we are trying so hard to keep everyone safe and happy at school. At home I am keeping to the letter of the law and so is everyone else I know so no, I don’t think we can be any more vigilant .

Should teachers be more vigilant?

Or should we start excluding pupils on spit on teachers and will purposefully cough on everyone?

Hmmm, its a tricky one.

I've no doubt whatsoever that limiting what teachers can do will massively help get more people into teaching. Or maybe not.,.

I'm a teacher who lives with a paramedic who has been seconded to infection control for covid (so when a covid call comes in he goes to it)
What am I meant to do? Not going to the pub makes zero difference in my life

I know for one at my school we have been told of ‘expectations’ by our hod in our zoom meeting before we return Monday.
We were told to limit our movement outside of schools to try and minimise people going off sick and to try and get hold of hand gel and wipes as our school won’t be supplying it.

We were told to limit our movement outside of schools to try and minimise people going off sick and to try and get hold of hand gel and wipes as our school won’t be supplying it.

FFS. Flames. Tiny flames. . .

@Mosseywossey

I know for one at my school we have been told of ‘expectations’ by our hod in our zoom meeting before we return Monday. We were told to limit our movement outside of schools to try and minimise people going off sick and to try and get hold of hand gel and wipes as our school won’t be supplying it.

Well..... the government guidance does only say "where possible"

And fwiw Superdrug have 2 large bottles of 70% handgel for £10 currently and then smaller ones you can use and decant.

I've topped up ready for winter. This is for personal use. My mum has cancer so when around her it gets used more than vodka gets served in a pub!

Gosh no. I hope they operate within whatever rules we are under at any given time (damned if I can work them out), but no, they can do what they like on their time off. Teachers don't get paid enough for people to dictate what they do outside of work (so long as it's legal!).

What evidence is there that it’s teachers spreading it when they haven’t tested all of the young people in schools? Or that the teachers have caught it outside of school? Teachers are far more likely to be symptomatic if they catch it so it will be more noticeable, that doesn’t mean they didn’t catch it from asymptomatic pupils. They aren’t routinely testing pupils to see. I’m in a secondary school and will see around 250 pupils in a week indoors without PPE where a number of pupils forget about distancing and end up in my space (it’s actually really difficult to stay 2m away from the kids and work with them in a meaningful way). They are in much smaller bubbles than we are, even when you count in friends that aren’t in their classes. So there is probably a chance I would catch it from a pupil in one class and pass it to a pupil in another. Due to how exposed I am to so many young adults I am now currently being more careful in the sense that I am no longer able to see my mother who is shielding, my uncle who is having palliative chemo and I’m pretty worried about passing it to my DH whose dad is undergoing chemo and radiotherapy for a secondary cancer after major surgery. I have been and will continue to be careful to try to protect myself and others around me. However right now as a teacher it’s a pretty rotten feeling to be so undervalued and blamed for everything whilst feeling we are taking a greater risk than most people. I don’t know any other workplace making people work in close proximity indoors with over 100 people and no PPE etc.

It's more convenient for the government to say it's the teachers. The truth is that children do spread it but they don't want that widely known or they'd have to spend money on preventative measures in schools.

We were told to limit our movement outside of schools to try and minimise people going off sick and to try and get hold of hand gel and wipes as our school won’t be supplying it.

Any of this in your school's risk assessment? I'd be particularly interested to know about provisions for hygiene. Throughout this whole lockdown I have been utterly amazed at how uninformed school leaders are about their obligations under the Health and Safety at work act and subordinate regulations.

To be clear, the reality is that in most workplaces, being told that you must pay for your own supplies to maintain sanitary conditions would be completely unacceptable, yet teachers let their managers get away with this shit all the time. I bet you loads that every other professional having to return to their office in September will have handgel provided.

OPTIMUMMY

I've said this already upthread, but it bares repeating.
You have to be symptomatic to get tested
Children are largely asymptomatic
Therefore in schools outbreaks largely affect staff.
Johnson said we have a "moral duty" to open schools fully as per normal
They have provided no extra funding whatsoever for cleaning or resources or sinks or handgel
They announced a payrise that was agreed in January and are not funding that either.
PHE now say teachers need to be extra vigilant out of schools.
Teachers are being set up as the next scapegoat

On the balance of probabilities, it's really not going to be the Saturday trip to a restaurant that the teacher catches it from - it's going to be the hundred-odd children (absolute minimum) they have to be in the same room as each week.

Is the next thing personal liability for teachers who do not "take additional precautions"?
Sorry, but if your SLT are saying that you need to take precautions outside school, we need to know where this has come from, what "precautions" mean and how it's all going to be measured.

I’m a pregnant teacher so come under the vulnerable category. I am following all guidelines and I’m very cautious. It makes me want to scream when I see posts on here and elsewhere from parents either breaking the rules or wanting to. No you should not be holding a birthday party with more than 6 people in attendance FFS. And Facebook photos of hugging friends and family. Those ones had better not start complaining when schools inevitably close! It’s not that teachers need to take extra precautions. It’s that everyone needs to follow the guidance and not just when it suits them.

@Mosseywossey how did people react to that ? Are you expected to not go to restaurants, see family etc. I am planning to continue being careful in and out of school but I would not be impressed if my HOD told me to limit my movement. That's for me to decide.

I’m a private tutor, and all I can do is look after myself. I owe it to my students to protect them, and I owe it to myself to protect myself.

So for the foreseeable future I’m only offering my services online. No one coming into my home. Me not going into anyone else’s home.

I can do that as a private tutor.

School teachers obviously can not.

It’s on everyone to do their bit. It’s redundant to single out teachers. Or students. Or parents.

@mrsm43s

Teachers should follow the rules, just as everyone else should follow the rules.

I don't think they should be expected to do more or less than anyone else.

I would think, however, that putting many people at risk by not following the guidelines as laid down by the government should be a disciplinary offence. I don't think that should be specific to teachers, just in general that anyone in any profession not following government guidelines and then going to work and as a result putting colleagues/clients/pupils etc at risk should a disciplinary offence.

Like half.the government you mean?

Oh my goodness. That's appalling. It's also unenforceable (that said I'm buying my own hand sanitizer because if it is supplied, it'll be a bottle per classroom).

(that was in response to @mosseywossey)

@FrippEnos

OPTIMUMMY

Something tells me they’re not keen to find the answer though ;-)

OPTIMUMMY

As far as I can see they are not even looking for an answer just people to vote for them.