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).

@JudgeRindersMinder

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

Excuse me, but the first response?? School staff and unions have been asking and working with the dfe since this first started so you cannot say this. It's this latest dfe plan that is the final straw for me. Have you read it? Do you find it acceptable and logical? It is the government that is pushing schools towards industrial action. All parents should read the plans and then decide if thisvis acceptable.

@goldenharvest

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

Ok, my regular work is "hospital staff".

The situation in schools would not be permissible in NHS premises. They are not Covid safe.

Both the kids and the teachers are entitled to safe working conditions.

Also, if testing is coming to schools, it needs to be used to make them safer. So the tests need to be sensitive enough to pick up the cases. So if they are testing to exclude infection they need DIFFERENT tests to the lateral flow ones, which miss at least half the cases.

Even with testing, they are still going to need proper isolation, not just for the teachers, not just for the pupils, but for EVERYONE to get more control on the infection rates in schools.

(By the way did you realise rates are 2% i(1 in 50) n secondary schools and almost certainly rising? The most affected (or infected) group in the entire community?)

They also need a properly organised and funded arrangement for testing. Ideally not by the teachers, who are great but are not HCPs!!!!

AS you might guess, I'm not a teacher.

The situation in schools would not be permissible in NHS premises

This is so true

Smug people saying their school is fine should be aware that the OP has been working in pretty horrendous circumstances recently as things are very much not fine where she is. Support for people badly affected should be forthcoming even if your own situation is cosy.

Don't think school staff need to strike in the case kids secondary school. The school has striked for them. It has been closed for three weeks.
The head is talking like there is no clear plan for it to open in January. Everyone should continue to report cases to school throughout the holidays and they will be used to plan a strategy apparently.
Can't see us back until end of January at the earliest. Suppose not everyone has the joy of being in London with so many cases.

Oh the joy

They are not Covid safe.

Nothing is covid safe ffs.

I still do not understand why the teaching unions have not focused ALL their efforts on getting masks worn in the classroom, rather than distracting with demands for closure.

And when we have teachers popping up here to say that striking is the 'only way forward' then yes, it's lending weight to the perceptions that teachers just want time off.

The profession would do well to consider its PR right now. Striking would be a disastrous own goal.

The question was about strike action being the only way forward, not about the OP needing support for their awful time recently. I don’t think strike action will achieve anything positive for teachers.

Many people have had an awful time, I’m very aware how fortunate my family have been abd don’t take that for granted. I’m sorry so many people are struggling for lots of reasons and would love to see things improve across the board, I don’t think strike action is the way to do it. I’m not going to agree with the OP out of sympathy.

@AlexaShutUp

I reckon we'll be back in national lockdown by the end of January anyway, and that all schools will have to close again. I think it's an inevitable consequence of the Christmas relaxation.

I'm inclined to agree, but think it may come a little later.

I think people being off work and kids off school might slow the rise in infection (providing that the drop in community transmission isn't offset or exceeded by infection in domestic settings when people socialise over Christmas). Imo, it will take around 4 weeks after schools reopening for the rates to rise again, so restrictions will need to be tightened around mid-Feb.

Given the government's habit of taking action at least 2 weeks later than it should, I reckon we might be in a national lockdown, or Tier 3 almost everywhere, by the end of February.

@helpmum2003

Please think very carefully about this. Everyone, especially professionals, have a responsibility to keep everything working as smoothly as possible, with reasonable modifications, until this awful virus is defeated. Our children need to be educated and parents need to work. (I'm NHS clinical)

As a teacher I agree. But the "modifications" in my work place amount to anti bac wipes and hand sanitiser. That's it - no changes anywhere else. That is not enough to make me feel safe. Our corridors are mayhem, kids are mixing constantly and we are still expected to attend meetings of over 20 staff members in person. That is not a safe work environment at present.

If covid made children iller than it does, or killed them, current conditions in schools would not have been tolerated. But apparently it is acceptable for teachers and other school staff to run the risk of serious illness or worse. Many parents clearly don't give a stuff about that. The testing procedures currently suggested for schools will increase, not mitigate, risks.
But ask hulking great teenagers to wear masks in class - nooo, too hard for them. Complete load of bollocks.

I would have every sympathy with a strike.

Our corridors are mayhem, kids are mixing constantly and we are still expected to attend meetings of over 20 staff members in person. That is not a safe work environment at present

Why are you expected to attend staff meetings in person? That is against guidance, isn’t it?
Our school hasn’t had any face to face meetings this term.

@Daydreamsinglorioustechnicolor

Teachers and school staff really should be a priority for vaccination.

Totally agree.

As far as I can see the problem is that there is huge variation between schools.
But those in schools who have space for distancing and have managed to split students into reasonable sized and actually separated 'bubbles' all assume that this is an option for all schools.
And those working in really unsafe environments keep insisting this is the case for all schools.

There is so little trust left between local authorities, the DfE and teaching unions I have no idea of the way through this. I don't think striking will help at all. It will give the govt an 'out' and they'll blame EVERYTHING on the teachers even more than they are now.

@MistletoeandGin I agree however it has allegedly been risk assessed and we have been told it's happening. No option to participate via zoom or teams. They are also directed time meetings so if I don't attend I'm technically in breach of contract. The risk assessments I've seen for our school are of the variety that if I had handed one in for a school trip with that level of risk I'd have been laughed out the building.

You're being ridiculous.

And you're being cold and dismissive.

Someone's opinion (based on their vulnerable experience on the ground) doesn't suit your agenda, so they're ridiculous?

Whatever happens with schools next year, perhaps you need to enrol yourself

Because you think that applies only to teachers? should supermarket workers, transport workers, social care workers, hospitality workers and so on go on strike as well?

There is no way to make an environment totally covid safe even with the best of intentions. You only have to see how so many people acquire Covid when in hospital for something else. Should nurses strike as well?

@BigWoollyJumpers

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.

The whole of Europe is allowing mixing at Xmas with various school tweeks per country.

No they aren't

They are locking down and/or closing schools for longer periods and/or putting in place curfews.

I don't think anyone else has planned the Christmas relaxation of rules suggested by Boris (do correct me), about which he is now conducting a waffle-y U turn which is likely to be ineffective.

I don't think anyone else has planned the Christmas relaxation of rules suggested by Boris (do correct me), about which he is now conducting a waffle-y U turn which is likely to be ineffective

My family are in Spain and as I understand it, their rules are far more relaxed over Christmas than ours. Gatherings are a maximum of 10 people, but it doesn’t have to be the same 10. So you can meet 10 people on Christmas Eve, another 10 on Christmas Day, another 10 on New Year’s Eve, for example.
And bars and restaurants are open in the majority of areas, and won’t close until 1.30am on the ‘key’ days.

@noelgiraffe

Smug people saying their school is fine should be aware that the OP has been working in pretty horrendous circumstances recently as things are very much not fine where she is. Support for people badly affected should be forthcoming even if your own situation is cosy.

You also have to realise that "my school is fine" is just "my school so far has been fine."

Up to half term we had occasional infections in the local secondary schools. None enough to close even year groups, and all (I'm told) could be traced to a contact outside school.

Then it hit.
3 large secondaries. Mid November one completely closed for 3 weeks. End of November one half-closed (to 3 year groups, plus isolated pupils in each year except U13), and one tried to continue to end up closing year by year last week.
Our secondary went from 6 cases in the entire first half term (pupils and staff) to having 3-4 a day.
There are members of staff at all three schools who are still seriously (hospital level) ill.

My DDs school, primary, have been sending a lot of info home lately about online learning and I'm starting to think they are strongly suspecting schools will have to close in January. I know school is very important but I do think the main reason schools are staying open is because it would inconvenience working parents for them to close. The answer is that employers need to be more understanding and have support to enable them to be more understanding.

@TheKeatingFive

They are not Covid safe.

Nothing is covid safe ffs.

I still do not understand why the teaching unions have not focused ALL their efforts on getting masks worn in the classroom, rather than distracting with demands for closure.

And when we have teachers popping up here to say that striking is the 'only way forward' then yes, it's lending weight to the perceptions that teachers just want time off.

The profession would do well to consider its PR right now. Striking would be a disastrous own goal.

it would make the teachers and kids that bit safer in the very short term (as infection rates are higher than anywhere else in secondary schools)

Also, if the teachers denounce the lateral flow tests for being unsafe, and demand proper testing, and in fact refuse to cooperate to make schools even more unsafe than they are already, then the Government would have to listen.

However, I think that would be very difficult for teachers in all sorts of ways. And it shouldn't have to come to that, to implement sane infection control in a pandemic.

@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).

Don't be so stupid!

My DC school are doing just fine! Not one case and we live in a tier 3 area. It's absolute no -sense to say what you have said for everyone. Maybe you school is not handling it well!

@pipnchops

My DDs school, primary, have been sending a lot of info home lately about online learning and I'm starting to think they are strongly suspecting schools will have to close in January. I know school is very important but I do think the main reason schools are staying open is because it would inconvenience working parents for them to close. The answer is that employers need to be more understanding and have support to enable them to be more understanding.

No it’s because education suffers. It’s not due to working parents concerns.

All schools need to be ready to do remote regardless.

@Requinblanc

Because you think that applies only to teachers? should supermarket workers, transport workers, social care workers, hospitality workers and so on go on strike as well?

There is no way to make an environment totally covid safe even with the best of intentions. You only have to see how so many people acquire Covid when in hospital for something else. Should nurses strike as well?

Exactly this!

My DC school has been fine no cases, however at my work (hospital) there has been numerous cases of colleagues testing positive - you don't hear us saying we mig by go on strike! And no our office is no covid secure - it's impossible to make it come is secure

@MistletoeandGin

I don't think anyone else has planned the Christmas relaxation of rules suggested by Boris (do correct me), about which he is now conducting a waffle-y U turn which is likely to be ineffective

My family are in Spain and as I understand it, their rules are far more relaxed over Christmas than ours. Gatherings are a maximum of 10 people, but it doesn’t have to be the same 10. So you can meet 10 people on Christmas Eve, another 10 on Christmas Day, another 10 on New Year’s Eve, for example.
And bars and restaurants are open in the majority of areas, and won’t close until 1.30am on the ‘key’ days.

Yes I’m pretty sure indoor mixing is about the same if not more. We have always been stricter than Europe on this.