To think the only way forward now for school staff is to strike in Jan

[OverTheRainbow88]

Sadly, I believe, the only way forward now for school staff in to strike in Jan.

Schools are unsafe, understaffed and not ‘covid secure’. This will get much worse in Jan when people are allowed to meet inside in a 3 household bubble and travel freely around ( in England at least).

going yes, sorry you are right. They do. I was half thinking it as I typed it too.

Fed up with seeing kids mixing with each other? Wow. Yeah, let's lock them all away. My DS is an only child, school is the only place he can socialise with kids at the moment.

It makes me smile to see people saying their children's school have no cases so there isn't a problem- are you saying your school is doing something amazing that other schools aren't?

I know our Head has been absolutely rigorous in following guidance, has been strict about cleaning, classes not mixing etc. I know other local schools where things started off very tight and over time have relaxed as staff and kids become a bit fatigued with it all. Those schools have seen a rise in cases.

I’m not saying the guidance is perfect, far from it, but schools having a more relaxed approach, or flexing things to suit doesn’t help. I don’t think our school is doing anything amazing, but I do think the vigilance of the staff team is making a significant difference.

Fine. You go on strike.

I'm a social worker maybe I'll strike too and leave all the vulnerable old clients sitting in their own piss for weeks. Who cares right? I might have to when I can't go to work because the school is closed because you're on strike.

We are all unsafe. Stop bleating on about it.

There are so many industries that are not 100% safe. 2 of the hospitals near me have announce they have had to close thier maternity units as so many staff are off sick. Meaning only 1 left to cover a large area and are also supporting home births which brings its own risks.
2 staff died from covid at the M&S salad factory
My local supermarket had a large amount of worked off with positive covid tests.
I know of paramedics and nurses that have had covid.

My friends have just had covid, one is a social worker who has had to do home visits with vulnerable children, the other is a surveyor going into people homes

@nosswith

That would be a gift to the Education Secretary and the government unfortunately, and enable them to shift blame and attention from their failings (aka mass killers) to someone else, accuse Labour of supporting unreasonable actions etc.

'Mass killers'

Fucking hell, you need to calm down

@OverTheRainbow88

Should supermarket staff strike? Perhaps prison nurses? Hospital staff?

Yes, maybe the should. It might make the Government wake up to the horrors of what is occurring and how much worse Jan will be . It has gone from Save the NHS to save bloody Christmas with the in-laws.

What would be your plan then?

YANBU. I support industrial action after reading the latest update from DfE on their new plan for secondary schools in January.

Self isolation for close contacts of positive cases is ending. Instead these close contacts will travel to and from school. Receive a test upon entering school and then if negative carry on with their school day and repeat for the next 7 days. So much wrong with this approach. What if after 3 days they receive a positive? How many additional people will then be put in this position? It will be like dominoes. Remember they will be going into enclosed spaces with no masks, inadequate ventilation for hours at a time. This goes completely against all current medical and scientific advice. The headlines "mass testing for secondary schools in January" is at best misleading and at worst a down right lie. It should read "Self isolation for close contacts to end in secondary schools in January".

My kids schools have had 3 cases between the 2 of them? Can you explain again, why you want the teachers to strike? Have you ever stepped back for one moment & considered that it is more dangerous for some children to be at home & school is the safer option?

Whilst advocating strikes, could you link your evidence please? I’m assuming you have a whole pile of data, showing the number of teacher and/or children hospitalisation due to COVID?

I think the one sensible thing Boris has done has kept schools open. He recognises that children should not be collateral damage and education of the next generation needs to be a priority.

I thought it might work if schools were open to children where both parents are unable to work from home and those that don't have access to technology. This would then reduce numbers making classrooms much safer and social distancing much easier and the lesson could be streamed/recorded for those working from home. I think when my son was having lessons on zoom on mute he could type in questions or any problems so the students at home could still ask questions if needed with the teacher checking every now and then. Maybe it would be too complicated but the main issue seemed to me to be the unions saying that no teacher could be 'made' to record themselves which I thought ridiculous. I found it ironic that it was just a few teachers that I really didn't rate that had an issue with doing live lessons at my sons school.

So nice to read such measured, considered posts again.

Mass killers? Who country going on strike?

Honestly.

*whole

Yes, and all hospital staff should strike on the same ridiculous grounds.

Stop exaggerating. Schools and teachers were closed for months doing irreparable damage to education. Our school is running. It's not ideal with a lot of disruption but no one is having a nervous breakdown

I can’t afford to strike

After phase 1 vaccine is over Covid will not be eradicated. Theatres will re open, it’ll be normal. Those not vaccinated can still get a positive.

What will you do op stop work and stay at home no holidays / going out until when?

Closing down services isn’t the right response.

[quote OverTheRainbow88]@saraclara

They’ve had 8 months to make them safe... they haven’t!

Yesterday, on my way home from work, I went into the garden of a family I teach to swab them, wearing a mask and with their mums permission. They have kids across 3 year groups all with symptoms but their results came back inconclusive, so now we don’t know if 3 year groups have been affected... as I was doing it I was thinking how has it come to this. Then to top it off I got fined for collecting my son late from
Nursery.[/quote]
This exemplifies the ridiculous demands being placed on teachers imo.

And if this testing is to achieve anything, surely it's best to err on the side of caution and treat anyone with symptoms and "inconclusive" test results as testing positive?

I'm no statistician, but the potential spread from the contacts of those 3 year groups must be significant. It's not worth the risk imo.

Everybody strike maybe?! Get the government to sort it out? It's a Pandemic. It's world and life changing for everyone, everywhere at the moment. Get a bloody grip.

I’ve had every sympathy for teachers throughout this whole clusterfuck, till I read this. Why does it appear that the first reaction for teachers always appears to be a threat to strike? Wake up to yourselves, teachers aren’t the only ones being exposed to risk, having to do their jobs differently and do things which are way out with their normal job descriptions. The phrase we use at my work is “extenuating circumstances”, and “exigency of duty”which means all bets are off and you just do what needs to be done. If a worldwide pandemic isn’t extenuating circumstances then I don’t know what is.
Waken up to yourselves, teaching unions, and have a look around you to see what’s happening in the rest of the world

I’ve had every sympathy for teachers throughout this whole clusterfuck, till I read this. Why does it appear that the first reaction for teachers always appears to be a threat to strike?

Except the majority of teachers / school staff on this thread have disagreed with the OP, and think striking would be the wrong approach.

“the main issue seemed to me to be the unions saying that no teacher could be 'made' to record themselves which I thought ridiculous. I found it ironic that it was just a few teachers that I really didn't rate that had an issue with doing live lessons at my sons school”

You wouldn’t have rated our Council then, who disallowed live lessons on safeguarding and access to technology grounds. Thankfully. Not all teachers are set up to live stream from home or from school. Not all schools have the necessary equipment for all teachers to do this (blame under-funding for many decades).

@AaronPurr

I’ve had every sympathy for teachers throughout this whole clusterfuck, till I read this. Why does it appear that the first reaction for teachers always appears to be a threat to strike?

Except the majority of teachers / school staff on this thread have disagreed with the OP, and think striking would be the wrong approach.

For which I’m very glad, but the fact still stands that there’s been a call for strike action

In a Western society it is not possible to be Covid secure. We favour an individualistic approach. If you want Covid secure you have to look to China. Kids behave, teachers are respected, keep their distance in classes of 50, wear masks, sit alone, play alone, eat at desks, get temp checked three times a day, bring in Covid free test certificates, the list is endless.

The whole of Europe is allowing mixing at Xmas with various school tweeks per country. Blame our government if you like, but then you have to blame European governments as a whole, or even Western culture.

Waken up to yourselves, teaching unions, and have a look around you to see what’s happening in the rest of the world

Er, if you see what’s happening in the rest of the world they are following WHO guidelines for safe schools which we are most definitely not, and a lot of countries are closing high schools for an extended period over Christmas. Some places have yet to re-open schools.

Are you sure you’re wanting to make comparisons to the rest of the world? The U.K. comes off particularly unfavourably.