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.

Hmm, I’m not sure about the STEM thing.

My friend has a PHD in micro biology and works in forensics. I earn more than she does.

Thanks for all you do and I'm sorry you get treated like shit by the government and some parents (many of them mumsnetters)

I feel so lucky to be retired and able to hide away at home, and so grateful to the people who have to work through this, whoever they are. And I'm sure I'm not alone. But my gratefulness doesn't help people who are exhausted, scared, stressed, and have just plain had enough, Sending my best wishes, @Enoughnowstop.

Chathamhouserules
It can't be proved because we have a third world style testing setup here.
It's my opinion.
My kids and all their classmates are in school, symptom free. 2 teachers are already confirmed with it and a further 3 are absent because of it. That's just in her block of the school.

You're not unreasonable. I think teachers have a particularly difficult job at the best of times and right now, it must be terrible. There's no point in people comparing different jobs, each has its own unique circumstances.

@Mrsmedley

"Teaching is awful right now. There is no other profession exposed to so many people without PPE or social distancing, whose every safety concern is dismissed as moaning."

I have several GP mates who are seeing patients without proper PPE.
I know people working in supermarkets and food supply who are coming into contact with 100s of people a day who aren't don't have PPE.
I know of one mate's wife, nurse, who's entire unit have caught Covid from the patients that they're looking after.

I mean, I could go on... but what'd be the point? Teachers, on full pay, in secure jobs, who have had months off, and are working with the least affected, least vulnerable grp of people - kids- are still on here constantly complaining about their lot compared to others.

None of those jobs are squashed into a tiny room with 30 other people for up to 2 hours at a time, in the same way.

Speaking as a HCP, the risk assessments for schools in August seemed to be based on the false premise that kids some how didn't or couldn't either catch or transmit covid.

Surprise, they can and do.

And teachers on here are speaking up for the benefit of the education of our kids. If schools are forced to close because all the teachers are ill, then you'll be educating the kids at home again, won't you? Possibly with even less support than last time, if we effectively run down our supply of teachers through illness or resignation. January will be interesting.

So yes, there is indeed no point in you picking them apart.

And in fact, we should be gratefully supporting them, and demanding safer, more sustainable policies to keep education going.

@81Byerley

I feel so lucky to be retired and able to hide away at home, and so grateful to the people who have to work through this, whoever they are. And I'm sure I'm not alone. But my gratefulness doesn't help people who are exhausted, scared, stressed, and have just plain had enough, Sending my best wishes, *@Enoughnowstop*.

I echo what you have said.

10:40ekidmxcl - fair enough. Although there is a chance those teachers caught it elsewhere. We don't know. Hopefully someone will invent cheap instant tests soon.

@teacherneedingaholiday

Hmm, I’m not sure about the STEM thing.

My friend has a PHD in micro biology and works in forensics. I earn more than she does.

Firstly that's a fairly nonsensical stament. Comparing two people's salaries isn't going to tell you anything about a general trend. If you look at people in general who have a STEM PhD they're earning much higher than people with an arts degree. Also in general not everyone is trying to find the job with the highest salary.

I have a PhD in a quantative science. During the end of our PhD's we were all heavily head hunted for roles in finance and risk. Even the lowest paid rjobs in these fields started on £100k +. Most of my contempories weren't interested and chose lower paid jobs (even as low as £40k) because the career was of more interest to them.

Biology is traditionally less well paid than the quantative sciences which is where the real shortage of teachers are. There is a massive shortage of maths and phsics teachers who actually have a degree in this area. Lots of maths teachers have a degree in physical education, lots of physics teachers jobs are eventually filled with a biology graduate.

@Chathamhouserules

School transmission isn't low. It's going asymptomatically under the radar - is it? How can this be proved?

So if community transmission is much lower than the rate in schools, that might suggest transmission happened in those schools, maybe?

Didn't know that op. Not good, you deserve a rise aswell as the rest of public service workers, our pay has been frozen for too long.

There are plenty of willing, educated people who will be prepared to replace them and provide children with the education they need.

This actually made me laugh out loud. @ReneeRol has just solved the massive education recruitment crisis. Step the fuck on up, all you willing, educated people.

I can't read the comments on this thread because it will upset me too much. I'm in the impossible position of having to rely on grandparents for childcare and knowing I've shared a classroom with positive cases and that the virus is clearly transmitting in school. I don't know what to do. I can't resign as I have no alternative.

Totally sympathise OP.

All those saying it's hard for everyone at work. It's not the same EVERYONE ELSE HAS PPE. With large numbers of kids indoors, in often unventilated spaces with NO social distancing must be a really stressful work environment.

There seems to be less and less compassion on here as the weeks pass.

OP: I'm sorry you're having a difficult time of it at the moment. As many people have said on here, so are lots of others, but you know what - suffering isn't a competition.

I'm just about fed up of someone coming on here feeling like shit and wanting support, and then people immediately yelling saying well ACTUALLY x, y or z professions have it MUCH worse.

It doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter in the moment whether there's someone out there having the worst time it's possible to have. If your life feels shit in comparison to what you're used to, it feels shit. End. Of.

I've felt very very low recently, because I can't see my parents or grandparents, my business has fallen to pieces, I have anxiety anyway and not being able to do my hobby just gives me too many long evenings at home with time to think. My friend, who I reached out to, simply responded saying that I should 'get another bloody job and be thankful I have a family at all'. I thought that was heartless. Of course I'm thankful for my family. But I am very very reluctant to 'get another job' after spending a decade building up this business. If I get another job I won't be able to build this back up. If I hold out and wait, however difficult that might be, I have a chance when demand starts to rise again.

Nothing would make me happier than being busy, actually, but I have to think long term about this business that means so much to me.

Do other people have it much, much worse? Of course.

Does that make me feel any better when I'm lying in bed at night feeling horrendously anxious after a panic attack, tears running down my face, knowing I can't go and hug my mum to make me feel better and I have to rely on DP for all the bills for a while longer? No.

Serious empathy bypasses from some posters on this thread but that always seems to be the way. Someone voices a concern and all the top trump twats pop out of the woodwork.

I'm hugely grateful for the amazing job my kids' school is doing and has done since March (with hiccups along the way).

If you had told me at the beginning of term that my kids would still be at school, face to face, seeing their mates and their teachers as we approach half term I wouldn't have believed you.

This is really tough for everyone. It's not a competition.

@BogRollBOGOF

The real problem is that the teaching workload, resourcing and accountability systems have been atrocious and declining for the past decade. Then all the Covid crap on top and expecting the same outcomes out of less and less input to support teaching staff to deliver them.

Long term, the way to manage retention is for the government and OFSTED to slash the beaurocratic half of the job and restore teaching and learning as the job's core.

Things are shit across the board, over worked, underworked and vulnerable on reduced incomes, unemployed, entire industries mothballed or destroyed. But come 2021, 2022, 2023 what are the odds that schools remain underinvested in and still with ridiculous, unnecessary systems that make every term a battle to get through long after the hazard tape has worn away and desks are filled in other sectors.

This!

So if community transmission is much lower than the rate in schools, that might suggest transmission happened in those schools, maybe? Yes it seems more likely. Those are interesting figures. I hadn't seen them before. I had read that it was low. But happy to be corrected. Its hard to keep up with all the information that comes out and know which is most reliable.

It’s not really a nonsensical point at all. Teaching is relatively well paid. It is undoubtedly shit in other respects but I do think some teachers have this idea that they can leave teaching and walk into a position earning 40-50 thousand a year. Unfortunately it isn’t the case.

Firstly, OP I am so sorry you are struggling and I think you and all the other teachers are heroic. Corona has shown us all that school is fundamental to the happiness and progression of our kids. I have lots of teachers in my family and I think they do a wonderful job under tough conditions.

But it is really interesting to me why people piled in a bit and I do think it might be because, generally, you do think get a lot of complaining teachers and I think people might feel a bit frustrated that other very important and undervalued professions don't have quite the same culture of complaining. Academics, nurses, doctors, CAMHS etc. All in similar positions but don't seem to post in this way or as regular ly? Is it that teaching is uniquely tough?

Serious empathy bypasses from some posters on this thread but that always seems to be the way. Someone voices a concern and all the top trump twats pop out of the woodwork
Yes, i feel for teachers having to deal with top trump twats on mumsnet. If a friend says they are feeling unwell in real life they are probably the type to reply they know much iller people than that and are in fact moments from death themselves.

I do feel empathetic. It is tough facing all of this and not being able to communicate as normal, or to give / receive support.

But teachers are not a special group. My dh has a vocational job working for a charity. Almost everything that was written in the article would apply to him. Plus nearly all the charity fundraising has dried up so they probably won't be able to continue as a viable organisation beyond the end of this year, and 20% of his colleagues have already been made redundant.

What are all these teachers going to do when they give up? Get other jobs? Tutor the children they are no longer teaching?

So many people feel like giving up, it's just not really a viable option for most.

I sympathise, but I also think you aren't showing a lot of sympathy to others, care assistants and support workers with people who can't/won't social distance, prison officers and police officers being spat at, nursery workers doing a similar job to you in terms of looking after children but getting paid minimum wage, nurses on non covid wards who have just a mask but don't actually know if that person has covid(and the mask provides protection for the other person more than themselves). Everyone is in terrible situations and some have lost their jobs and are wondering where their next meal will come from. You have every right to be worried, as do a lot of people. I hope you stay well and are okay OP

@IMNOTSHOUTING not my experience at all, but if you are placing ex-teachers with little experience in industry easily I’m not sure what or where you’re based.

@teacherneedingaholiday

It’s not really a nonsensical point at all. Teaching is relatively well paid. It is undoubtedly shit in other respects but I do think some teachers have this idea that they can leave teaching and walk into a position earning 40-50 thousand a year. Unfortunately it isn’t the case.

I'm not sure how that makes the situation any less frightening. I have tried to change career before and know this perfectly well. The knowledge doesn't make the current situation easier; in fact it makes me feel trapped in a dangerous situation, taking risks that many think I should be happy to take.