To say there are so many of us now that feel like this

[Enoughnowstop]

www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-teacher-schools-i-love-my-job-i-cant-keep-going?fbclid=IwAR2PdWYSIoIHed0m_ljs-DvncLM1Pf0min7NaJxPvcj8klTgzPj_3Gftp_Q

I know there will be loads of teacher bashing as a result but it’s how so many of us feel. I don’t know what can be done as I want schools open and functioning but the fear that it will be at the expense of my health and/or that of my family. And at the same time, the persistent disconnect with colleagues, the just getting by, the making do...it’s all too much some days.

Thoughts are with my colleagues around the country today.

@ProfessorPootle

Everybody feels the same, at least teacher's kids didn't have to homeschool for 6m and teachers have a job that is paying the mortgage. My kids have mental health issues from being at home 6m as they didn't get to continue at school. They have missed out on tons of education as I couldn't offer them much help as I was working all the hours to try to keep a business afloat. DH and I own limited companies so there was no furlough or self employed payouts for us. If our business goes under 100 people lose their jobs and we lose our house. We are only keeping going by taking on massive loans and not paying ourselves. It can't continue forever.

Our teachers were teaching from home together with their toddlers, in fact.

I'm sorry things were difficult for you with your business.

But we still need to make things safer in schools, as this would keep them open so that you can do what you want or need to do.

If more schools keep closing every week, you might eventually find yourself homeschooling again, with even less support from the school (depending on how ill the teachers are and how stuck they are for replacements).

So, to avoid that, we should be supporting the teachers to get safer measures in schools.

@Enoughnowstop

There is a police officer on this thread though, supporting the teachers

Again. For the hard of understanding. When that police officer starts a thread about how difficult they are finding things right now, linking an article about resignations amongst colleagues as the direct result of the current situation, would you demand that they recognise other professionals are also struggling? Or would you accept that probably, as a none police officer, there’s probably a million things happening right now that you don’t really understand and that their job has lots of challenges? Would you tell them you only want resilient police officers on the job so better they resign, implying they must be shit at their job so just fuck off and leave it to the young?

I think that the public sector professionals should be supporting each other.

A lot of us are on here, in support of you.

We want the government to listen to you. And give you what you need to keep going. And look at other, better ways of doing things.

I would be very sorry to see teachers leaving, though I could completely understand a personal decision like that.

@Dottyspottybattyfatty

'When that police officer starts a thread about how difficult they are finding things right now, l'

I've obviously missed the threads where people from the same profession are on here time and time again starting a thread about how tough their job is...

Lots of threads with particularly selfish, entitled parents though.

Teachers aren’t a special group? That’s an Interesting perspective... let’s think it through. If teaching isn’t a special group then let’s move to online learning, children will still have access to an education (though not to the standards parents are accustomed to) to which their entitled. Given the responses on this thread parents aren’t too worried about losing experience and talent in this area so will have no recourse to complain about quality. Teachers and children will be far safer and transmission of Covid will go down. Parents will have to find their own childcare provisions or take care of their own children impacting their own prospects of work And their own income and mental health (as well as children’s). Do you think that would work for most people? How quickly people have forgotten that teaching hasn’t returned to provide education but to keep society going and they have been told lie after lie about their own risks and how they will be protected. OP you have my deepest sympathies. Unfortunately I think until it collapses people will continue to fail to see how important this profession is. They don’t want to hear teachers concerns because the next logical step will cause them difficulty. They try to compare against others to make you pipe down, but you shouldn’t. Teachers are not responsible for keeping society running and should not be sacrificed to do so. Parents chose to have children, you chose teaching. You can leave and parents will have to pick up the slack. Protect yourself as parents clearly won’t protect you.

Sorry Bumpkefrump but why do you think you are the only person affected by Covid?
My step mum died of Coronavirus and only 15 were allowed to her funeral. I wasn't allowed to go. I have to comfort and run errands for my 84 year old dad every day of the week whilst working 2 jobs from 300 miles away. I wasn't furloughed and I haven't had 3 sets of holidays since March totalling 10 weeks like teachers have.

Yes, teachers have it tough but I don't believe any tougher than most others working on the front line or who is a key worker. They sure are doing a lot of complaining. Much more than nurses working in ICU. I think someone down thread said something ridiculous like nurses have PPE whereas teachers don't. Are you for real? Nurses in ICU Covid wards have it easier. They are exposed to massive viral loads from multiple sick people.

No job is the same as before.

We all face a challenge to adapt and survive.

Teachers do not have a monopoly on that.

@WokesFromHome

Sorry Bumpkefrump but why do you think you are the only person affected by Covid? My step mum died of Coronavirus and only 15 were allowed to her funeral. I wasn't allowed to go. I have to comfort and run errands for my 84 year old dad every day of the week whilst working 2 jobs from 300 miles away. I wasn't furloughed and I haven't had 3 sets of holidays since March totalling 10 weeks like teachers have.

Yes, teachers have it tough but I don't believe any tougher than most others working on the front line or who is a key worker. They sure are doing a lot of complaining. Much more than nurses working in ICU. I think someone down thread said something ridiculous like nurses have PPE whereas teachers don't. Are you for real? Nurses in ICU Covid wards have it easier. They are exposed to massive viral loads from multiple sick people.

Oh right.

So HCP here.

Yes, lots of PPE in the health service, and we wouldn't expect to be in a small room with a lot of other people with no PPE. That's right.

What is happening in schools would not be permissible in other settings including the NHS.

So yes teachers are working in an unsafe setting.

Hope that clears up that point.

@ChardonnaysPetDragon

No job is the same as before.

We all face a challenge to adapt and survive.

Teachers do not have a monopoly on that.

When did anyone say they do? Everyone's struggling

@WokesFromHome

So I'm very sorry that you could not attend your step mum's funeral and it is a real challenge looking after an elderly parent miles away.

On the separate point, teachers weren't furloughed. They worked through the Easter holidays and kept the schools open. They worked through the summer term and both taught in schools and provided support for pupils at home.

The summer holidays, I understand, aren't actually paid leave. That is how the jobs are arranged - pay for X many weeks and no paid work for y many weeks. Although many teachers were working unpaid to support pupils through the A level fiasco.

And also a lot of technically unpaid preparation goes on over the holidays and at evenings and weekends.

I don't blame you for feeling that way OP.
Teachers have been treated appallingly and the school risk assessments are laughable. They wouldn't be accepted in any other sector.
It's adding an incredible mental burden of worry and health anxiety to every single day for teachers, pupils and parents - but obviously it's worse for teachers as they are so exposed. I do hope teachers know that some parents are very supportive of you and would have been more than happy for the schools not to go back.

@ProfessorPootle

Everybody feels the same, at least teacher's kids didn't have to homeschool for 6m and teachers have a job that is paying the mortgage. My kids have mental health issues from being at home 6m as they didn't get to continue at school. They have missed out on tons of education as I couldn't offer them much help as I was working all the hours to try to keep a business afloat. DH and I own limited companies so there was no furlough or self employed payouts for us. If our business goes under 100 people lose their jobs and we lose our house. We are only keeping going by taking on massive loans and not paying ourselves. It can't continue forever.

Where did you get that idea from? I'm a teacher and my kids were very much homeschooled by me, alongside my day job of teaching. And it was shit: they got an hour a day of teaching from me, and I had to make up worked time missed for this in the evenings. Just like everyone else.

It's not a race to the bottom! This is a caring profession where you must have reasonable mental health to do a good enough job.

I think secondary teachers are under an enormous pressure at the moment, especially those with exam classes. So much uncertainty about next summer. No staffroom (so place for a break or an opportunity for a quick chat). Not even time for a quick toilet break before the crush.

Moreover, some of the teens are showing obvious signs of low resilience due to what they have been through that has to be managed daily.

My husband absolutely loves his job and has done it happily for two decades. He is a dedicated professional and goes in every day without a grumble. But he looks broken. I've never seen him like this. He has no mental space or energy left for his family.

I opened this thread with a feeling of dread about what would be said and who would be saying it.

And so it came to pass. There are some on here who cannot resist the opportunity to have a go at teachers. Their lives must be desperately sad if they feel the need to be so venomous on every thread about teaching.

I imagine them sitting there salivating just waiting for a chance to vent their spleens. To go out of your way to try to make someone feeling bad feel even worse takes a very special kind of cunt.

What is happening in schools would not be permissible in other settings including the NHS.So yes teachers are working in an unsafe setting

Thank you. It is helpful for people to hear that from health professionals.

Teachers have been treated appallingly and the school risk assessments are laughable. They wouldn't be accepted in any other sector.

This is the most frustrating thing. Well, that and parents who send children in after getting a test but before getting the result 😡. ECV teachers (plus a load of students) now spending half term in self isolation because of the utter selfishness of one family. And when said child returns to school we’re going to have to help rebuild relationships between the kids because the students forced to isolate really aren’t happy with their friend.

@Enoughnowstop

I couldnt continue with that article after reading her moan she can't sit in the staff room for a chat, and not getting her free period during the day like she usually get

So staff unable to communicate isn’t an issue? Unable to offload properly or support distressed colleagues and friends? And ‘free periods’ are few and far between and are a lifeline for planning and marking that is now added to the home workload that is already heavy. The fact that is pushing some staff over the edge isn’t a concern to you as a parent?

No, not particularly. There are other ways of communicating with colleagues. Many many people have had to adapt to that. Again, what is it you want PARENTS to do about it?

@Iminaglasscaseofemotion Where did anyone say parents had to do something about it. It is something that most responsible parents would want to be aware of though. If they want qualified, experienced teachers available for their children.

Enoughnowstop I have empathy for every individual who has to work with the general public who on the whole are sensible. However teaching is not the only profession under stress and having seen a worrying number of my profession take the drastic route of suicide as a direct result of the Covid pandemic it seems a bit of a silly post.
Everyone has been affected by Covid whether it be socially, professionally or financially. Many people will be looking for a new career post Covid and not because they no longer want to be an airline pilot, chef or any number of established jobs which are still not working normally.
Teachers have been financially protected throughout the pandemic, yes they are putting themselves at risk but they will still have a job this time next year. If they are thinking of leaving I doubt it is as a direct result of 5 months of Covid but pre existing problems they have had with the profession for years.
I don’t believe that you should use Covid as an excuse for the mass exodus out of teaching.
If you were discussing those in the entertainment sector I could support your statement.
No one is saying that teaching is not a valued profession but as someone else has posted, MN appears to be full of teachers moaning about how difficult things are now they have returned to teaching face to face. Has one term of teaching from home made that much of an impact?

That's a really good question. What can parents do about it? I would love to make the situation better, for teachers and for my children.

I have written to my MP (who wrote to Nick Gibb, the Schools Minister on my behalf). I am thinking of writing again to follow that up.

I have signed every petition going asking for safer schools (and for parents to be allowed to home school without penalty if they want to. Of course not everyone wants to or can, and I appreciate that).

I have offered to the school any help or support that would be of use.

Politically, I vote for parties that I think will support education and health.

I think also teachers really appreciate positive messages from parents.

If I could do more then I would.

Writing rude comments about teachers on the internet, on the other hand, seems like quite a bad idea. Especially when there aren't enough teachers, and a lot of them are about to go off sick. We really don't want to lose more teachers.

Its rubbish, I feel for teachers because there doesn't seem to be any practical way to SD in schools
My DS teacher was great with remote learning over lockdown, and really responsive to emails etc. (although she doesn't have children at home so that was potentially slightly easier than for teachers trying to home school their own kids as well as teach their class)
My DDs in secondary school teachers were mixed. In some instances set 20 pages of work to do (in one go) but it was never marked, given any feedback, and didn't respond to emails. Others were much better.
My DC are much happier now they are back at school and prefer it to remote learning ...but I see that it does come at a risk.
I don't know what the answer is? I know school isn't childcare but coincidentally a lot of parents with school age children have jobs that coincide with school hours (not many have back up childcare for 2/3 of the year) If we go back to remote learning that means a lot of people will struggle with working alongside home schooling. If you need to go out to work, what is the provision? I can do some of my job at home, but probably only 20% of it. (that wasn't a problem when I was furloughed but my workload has increased because of redundancies)
Its crap every way you look at it. I can't see what a workable answer is. The reason the government is reluctant to lockdown is because we need as many people earning, spending and paying taxes to pay for essential services.

What exactly are you afraid of?

You are clearly of working age, so the virus is no threat to you; if you do catch it, you are vanishingly unlikely to have serious consequences.

Lets say you catch it and pass it on; even then, the overwhelmingly likely outcome for even an elderly person who becomes infected is that they will recover.

The average age of a Covid death is 82.3, which is greater than life expectancy in the UK.

I am sorry you're feeling miserable - to be honest, the current situation is awful and it is understandable to an extent that you are feeling this way.

I do think, however, that you need to maintain a sense of perspective. The facts simply don't support this level of handwringing. Have a moan, by all means, but then you need to dig into your resilience and pass that on to the DC in your care.

@Angrymum22

Enoughnowstop I do understand but while you were recharging your batteries over our glorious summer I was working flat out in full PPE ( which offers limited protection when you are working les than 12 inches from a patients face while producing virus carrying aerosols) trying to catch up on treatments we were forced to postpone over lockdown. During lockdown we still had to go into work because due to GDPR we could not work from home. Trying to look after emergencies over the phone. This was particularly distressing in the first 6 weeks when absolutely no face to face provision was available in a discipline that just cannot be done over the phone. As a professional health care provider it was soul destroying that we could not get people out of pain. I had sleepless nights worrying about people I have treated for years. I am fully aware of how stressful your job is but moaning on a forum where there are many healthcare professionals who have witnessed something close to Armageddon, don’t expect much empathy.

@Angrymum22

I want to say thank you to you and all those like you, including the self-less medical professionals who cared for my uncle in his last weeks during the full lock down ensuring that his pain was managed as best as it could be. I am grateful for you all every day and we still have thank you NHS pictures on our front door. I don't think they will ever come down now.

I find it telling we don't hear moaning from health professionals, despite working in conditions that the majority of us simply couldn't imagine in our worst nightmares.

[quote IMNOTSHOUTING]@Iminaglasscaseofemotion Where did anyone say parents had to do something about it. It is something that most responsible parents would want to be aware of though. If they want qualified, experienced teachers available for their children.[/quote]
The OP has continually asked people if they aren't concerned about teachers leaving the profession. Well, yes, of course parents are going to worry about schools having to teachers to teach their children, but what exactly can they do about it. If someone isn't cut out for teaching, they weren't cut out for it. Even before covid there were teachers constantly complaining about their jobs, and wanting to leave.

I'm extremely grateful to the teachers in my DC's secondary school who are knuckling down and getting on with their job in the face of adversity .

I'm sorry you are so unhappy OP. But unfortunately when teachers feel like this the kids pick up on it , which makes them feel like shit, and their mental health has suffered enough already.

I think it is patronising to teachers to say there will be lots of people looking for jobs that could take their place.
If teaching was so attractive, (and a viable option) a lot of these people would have already considered it. If theres a mass exodus of teachers now, you couldn't replace them immediately. Even with a different degree you would need at least a year training, and experience in schools.