To be really angry on behalf of teachers

[Jessicabrassica]

I know mumsnet loves a bit of teacher bashing.
I'm really angry that once again the Department for Education has put out guidance for schools in a Friday night before a long weekend with some schools having already started and others back next week.
I cannot imagine how many iterations of risk assessments have already been completed to make schools as safe as possible given the constraints of staff numbers, building size and requirements to get every child back in school.
They are getting enough PPE to tick the box that it's been issued to all schools but not enough to be useful.
Teachers mostly haven't stopped working since the pandemic began. They have continued to teach, to support vulnerable learners, provided meals and good parcels out of school funds in lieu of FSM, they remained open through school holidays for key worker provision.
I really feel that they have been well and truly fucked over, left massively vulnerable and will be left to carry the can for community outbreaks.

I'm a parent and work for the NHS if it's if any consequence.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4001995-AIBU-for-not-eating-meat-on-moral-grounds

Thanks for the new contribution! Always looking for material.

You don't hear nurses going on about similar issues as teachers do.’ ‘INSET days are just proof of poor planning’ (paraphrasing),’They have had a long holiday since March. ‘ Openly having hobbies and not having the decency to feel ashamed' (I'm paraphrasing), 'teachers need to play their part in society' Moaning', 'crack on', 'snowflakes', 'whining', 'get a grip', 'paid with our money', 'don't live in the real world', 'teachers just love to sodding moan', ‘Thank goodness nurses and doctors carries on without the same fuss.’, ‘our teAchers will close the school again at the drop of a hat.’ ‘If only teachers put as much energy into re-opening schools as they seem to complaining about how unfair it all is on them.’ ‘There has been no particular spreading of COVID in schools and no reason to be concerned ‘ ‘Shit at their jobs (and parents can do it better but we still want teachers to do it even though they’re shit).’ ‘gas lighting.’ ‘Some people just seem to want lockdown to last forever.’ ‘suffering major delusions’, ‘constantly whining about how they have it uniquely difficult.’ ‘refusal to even acknowledge that this has been going on’,
‘dereliction of duty to their pupils’, ‘actively mocking foster parents and vulnerable children’, ‘other people have got it worse so shut-up’, ‘I think you’ll find the world a tough place. (Translation: you live in Narnia), ‘I'm glad you're not my child's teacher’, ‘it only shows how removed from reality many educators seem to be’, ‘start proving their worth again’, ‘teachers are gagging for schools to close so they can avoid work (and will deliberately go into school while infected to achieve this)'.

Also lots around the theme of ‘I’ve been treated really badly at work, so why shouldn’t teachers be?’

I’ve seen at least three more examples of the last one.

Worth adding in full, as a fine example of it’s type:

‘Least they're being given ppe not sure if you've noticed but all the factory workers across the country haven't stopped working either.

And have been working mostly without protections and dying at the highest rate.

Possibly not middle class enough to care about though.’

But I'm tired of the moaning since Covid that would led you believe that they have it worse than any other group. You don't hear nurses going on about similar issues as teachers do.
I don’t think teachers are saying that it’s worse for them. They are trying to quash the teacher bashing of people saying that they are lazy, have colossal holidays etc etc etc. They are pointing out these untruths. Defending themselves. Nurses don’t have to do this as no one bashes them. We clap for them. All of them. The bad ones. The lazy ones. And believe me there are some shockingly bad & some shockingly lazy nurses. Like any profession.

Can't believe I'm biting at this shit but here we go...

But I'm tired of the moaning since Covid that would led you believe that they have it worse than any other group.
Show me one teacher on here who has said that they think they have it worse than any other group.

It's time to accept that kids need to go back to being educated
Show me one teacher that doesn't accept/know that. (leaving aside the fact that most have been educated, just not necessarily in a school building, because, you know, Covid).

that it was nice being at home It wasn't, particularly, as we were working from home too, which is much harder in many ways, and teachers had all the same issues (not worse, but same) as other workers, trying to wfh and supervise their own kids too.

that the risks remain minimal No, they don't. And anyway, tell that to all those workplaces (not least, my GP surgery) who aren't letting staff cross the threshold.

Did I mention that my job security wasn't as secure as you might think either. The year before I left the school role went up by almost 12%. The school also had to make over 10% of the teaching staff - 4 teachers, 4 teaching assistants and two admin staff -redundant due to budget cuts. So more work per teacher, obviously, not just more students to teach but someone had to do all that extra admin, and the hard pressed teaching assistants were in very short supply and very much needed to support the students with serious barriers to learning (like wheelchair users who need physical assistance or those with medical needs as well as those who find the classroom environment tricky without extra support).
My biggest gain was a shock I didn't expect. A very long standing medical condition that baffled my consultant vanished - apparently because I could go to the toilet more than once in a four hour period if I needed to. It was revelatory.

derxa

I read the first 4 and the last 2 of the first farmer thread. Honestly I can’t see any vitriol directed at farmers - some posters saying intensive farming is cruel, a couple saying the OP has cherry picked and it’s not representative of all red tractor farms...I don’t see it, sorry 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think nurses did complain when they didn’t have the right equipment and so did care home workers, and rightly so.

And if you are a parent I assume you want your child to be in a safe place. You may not be particularly worried about the virus for your family, but maybe spare a thought for the families who are sending their child in who was previously shielding until a few weeks ago. Their child hasn’t suddenly had a miraculous cure from whatever medical issue that made them vulnerable, they are still vulnerable. So they are going from an environment where they hardly had contact with anyone apart from their close family to an environment of many people all crammed together, probably in very badly ventilated rooms with no social distancing. You couldn’t really get more polar opposites. And there will also be a number of teachers who are in exactly the same place health wise.

If the virus spreads in a school many teachers will be off, either because they have symptoms or because they were a contact. Schools cannot function without teachers. Schools haven’t been given funding to bring in cover teachers for those who are off. So many schools will have to close until those teachers can return.

Apologies for punctuation errors. Fat fingers on the phone. :(

I read the first 4 and the last 2 of the first farmer thread. Honestly I can’t see any vitriol directed at farmers - some posters saying intensive farming is cruel, a couple saying the OP has cherry picked and it’s not representative of all red tractor farms...I don’t see it, sorry RTFT

@Dominicgoings

‘And those of us who weren't in the building were teaching remotely’

SOME of you were teaching remotely. SOME.

Absolutely, all of the teachers on MN were teaching remotely though. The teachers at my dc's school not so much!

My bank only offers 15 min Face to face appointments. I needed a service that would take around an hour. They said sorry. No can do. And they wear masks and expect me to. They could keep 2m distance too. Interesting how they see a high risk. Yet govt don’t see it with schools.

@Jessicabrassica

I know mumsnet loves a bit of teacher bashing. I'm really angry that once again the Department for Education has put out guidance for schools in a Friday night before a long weekend with some schools having already started and others back next week. I cannot imagine how many iterations of risk assessments have already been completed to make schools as safe as possible given the constraints of staff numbers, building size and requirements to get every child back in school. They are getting enough PPE to tick the box that it's been issued to all schools but not enough to be useful. Teachers mostly haven't stopped working since the pandemic began. They have continued to teach, to support vulnerable learners, provided meals and good parcels out of school funds in lieu of FSM, they remained open through school holidays for key worker provision. I really feel that they have been well and truly fucked over, left massively vulnerable and will be left to carry the can for community outbreaks.

I'm a parent and work for the NHS if it's if any consequence.

Agree 100%! And yes...I'm a teacher!

People have no idea what we've been doing behind the scenes, the hours of unpaid overtime & stress, how scared & vulnerable we've all felt - particularly about the risk to our own children & families etc.

At one point, I was part of the time teaching in school, the rest teaching from home as well as attempting to home-school my own child - all at the same time, whilst terrified about the risks!!

I feel no better whatsoever about the situation yet I have to trot off next week to a building containing 420 small children & 60 staff & just hope for the best.

I agree kids need to go back but I don’t want them to close within weeks. They need very very robust guidelines that mitigate as much as absolutely possible. The govt hasn’t done this. They’re not even paying for hand sanitiser! Zero extra funding for health & safety. FFS!

Right, derxa I’ve read that whole thread and came across one comment slating all farmers. There’s a lot of meat-eater bashing and general condemnation of poor farming practices and people who abuse animals (including by yourself) but nothing like the comments being made about teachers.

So no, I don’t agree that farmers have it worse than teachers on MN.

I agree with the OP.
I am a teacher, so is my dh and we have 2 dc in secondary school.
We are very worried, but we do think we should all be back.
What worries me most of all, is that these Friday night 'bursts' of guidance clearly show once again that this government has got a clue what its doing.
You really are on your own in Covid UK.

This government has not got a clue what it's doing!

RTFT

I have done now. I still don’t see it.

So no, I don’t agree that farmers have it worse than teachers on MN.
I have done now. I still don’t see it.

Bloody hell. At least teachers aren't being accused of being murderers and abusers. I don't really mind. It's my job to give my experience to counter all the hysteria.
Please explain the difference between the safety measures in England and those in Scotland.

We actually are accused of being abusive derxa . Not murderers (yet) admittedly.

There aren't appreciable differences between England and Scotland - no one said there was(NI there is) because England seems to follow Scotland's lead.

There have been outbreaks in Scottish schools , and the revelation of positive cases on the first day back was awake up call, looking at Scotsnet.

What Scotland does have is a lower community prevalence in most areas.

derxa masks?

At least teachers aren't being accused of being murderers and abusers.

I saw one post that said that. If you’re a farmer then surely you have made your ethical peace with killing animals while understanding that others object.

Contrast to Miles collection of comments. Very little to do with actual teaching there.

Garden I was also on line.

The teachers at my dc schools... Not so much, to the point of, never. Even printing or collating weekly work was beyond them.
They were determined not to be helpful or assist in anyway.

while understanding that others object. I think you mean while understanding that others make stuff up.

@derxa

while understanding that others object. I think you mean while understanding that others make stuff up.

No, I mean that other people completely disagree with killing animals for food. That’s not hard to understand.

This ain’t a farmer thread though, I hear you’ve got loads you could be posting on...

There have been outbreaks in Scottish schools Well the main one was in a special school where pupil teacher ratio is very high and social distancing etc is nil.