I’m not a teacher but......

[Comefromaway]

I think it’s time you went on strike.

The government clearly don’t give a toss about you, our kids & subsequently our families.

My daughter is so stressed about the school/college environment. Everywhere she’s being told that she can’t do this that and the other because people are dying. But she’s expected to go into college and have her normal classes with overcrowding and no effective mitigation.

Medical officer woman has clearly not been into a school. The teachers & students are dropping like flies.

@LaurieFairyCake

Hospitals for PATIENTS are riskier

But not for the FUCKING STAFF - they are amazingly careful - and in full PPE

But schools for STAFF are much riskier obviously as children are grubby little buggers

This is an absolutely lie. This is also the reason why it’s teachers VS nurses.

Where I work I wear a blue mask.... like most shoppers do (from Poundland or whatever). Gloves and a basic thin apron with no sleeves. By the time a patients test result has come back regardless of the result it’s too late for patients and staff because we have all been in contact with the patient (who could well be Covid positive).

Unless a patient is on a machine such as C-pap or you are working in ICU you would be allowed to wear FFP3 mask.

How could the risk for patients be any different from staff? Because the guidance is that patients should be wearing a mask as well. So what’s the competition a thin plastic yellow apron?

I'm happy to send my child to school because he needs to be there. He struggles with motivation for online learning at home while I work so he will be attending as a keyworker child after New Year. Being physically at school helps even though he is doing the same work as at home. I don't consider him to be unsafe at school or that I am risking his health. I think it is better for his health to be at school. Back in summer term they were doing PE everyday

And if the South African strain proves to make children seriously ill?

Yes, I do know how people die from Covid, thank you.

Your sentiment is appreciated. However, I, for one, couldn't afford to strike, even if I wanted to.

Exactly retiremental so we are back to nobody knows. I am not sure of your point. So may people dismiss teacher's lived experiences as exaggerated or anecdata.

There was one of those how many people do you know who have had covid threads the other week. Loads of posters said none , some said one. Every teacher I know knows way more than that. In fact most of the posters who listed higher numbers worked in education/healthcare.

[quote Covidrelapse]@Piggyinblankets none of the above. If in contact with a confirmed case you carry on as you’ve been in PPE.[/quote]
That's obviously unacceptable, but at least you're allowed to wear PPE.

*This is an absolutely lie. This is also the reason why it’s teachers VS nurses.

Where I work I wear a blue mask.... like most shoppers do (from Poundland or whatever). Gloves and a basic thin apron with no sleeves. By the time a patients test result has come back regardless of the result it’s too late for patients and staff because we have all been in contact with the patient (who could well be Covid positive).

Unless a patient is on a machine such as C-pap or you are working in ICU you would be allowed to wear FFP3 mask.

How could the risk for patients be any different from staff? Because the guidance is that patients should be wearing a mask as well. So what’s the competition a thin plastic yellow apron?*

That sounds awful, and you have my sympathy.

However, out of curiosity, would you be happy to treat the same patients without any PPE?

Thanks covid. that's a different answer from what a doctor on another thread (and also my friend who works in a cancer support job) said so I wanted a definitive answer. teachers and kids , of course, have no PPE. The new LFTs coming to schools are to REPLACE SI. If anything gives me the jitters (for myself, my vulnerable DH , and my DS) it's that. That's what the unions should be fighting.

@Santatizer

Your sentiment is appreciated. However, I, for one, couldn't afford to strike, even if I wanted to.

Could you afford to be off sick with Covid for weeks, though?

Not a hypothetical, as it's happened to a teacher friend in her late 20s. She hasn't been able to work since the week after half term.

She was healthy before that.

I really feel for teachers. I have a son who is home edded(through choice) and one that was home edded until secondary school and has just finished Uni(and cannot get a job).
I think teachers have had a really shit time of it..and the latest Gov thing at such short notice is appalling. I am a nurse and have had to and still do have to deal with the shite that is Covid..

@SansaSnark I seriously don’t understand the rationale for teachers not being allowed to wear PPE? I really really don’t. Also what would happen if you did start teaching in a mask? Would it be a disciplinary measure?

Healthcare staff should be in PPE : lest it sounds like I think you shouldn't!!

It possibly would in my school covid. My HT is very anti mask and the DfE guidelines (I am in tier 4) updated today still say masks are not appropriate for the classroom.

The guidelines also say older pupils will SD and not touch each other, or get close to staff. Hahahahahahaha

WTF is the kung flu??

I will leave it to a medical professional to tell you how ebola is transmitted.

@Piggyinblankets most of us still don't have adequate ppe. When I examine a patient it's a plastic apron and surgical mask, better than nothing but not good enough,

@SansaSnark what good does an apron do? We don’t have much more PPE than the patients do. Patients coughing, mixing from negative and to positive patients within minutes... having to swob patients....13hr shifts.

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding here.

If I was qualified to teach and I could swop job roles I would.

I am actually so horrified by so much of your post Mr Fish. I seriously hope you don't teach biology or, indeed, sociology.

[quote Covidrelapse]@SansaSnark I seriously don’t understand the rationale for teachers not being allowed to wear PPE? I really really don’t. Also what would happen if you did start teaching in a mask? Would it be a disciplinary measure?[/quote]
To be fair, my own school are pretty good on mask wearing- they are happy for us to wear masks in the classroom when approaching kids. I think I could get away with it when "teaching from the front" but I'd probably end up wrecking my voice, and I also teach some HoH kids who rely on lip reading so I don't.

But I have friends from my PGCE in schools where they've been explicitly told not to wear masks in the classroom. Because we're all pretty early career (I'm in my second year of teaching), I don't think anyone has been brave enough to challenge it. A lot of us are only on temp contracts as well- despite teaching a shortage subject.

I don't think it would be an official disciplinary, but there are lots of ways SLT can make you very uncomfortable in school without going down a formal route. It's very easy for your line manager to refuse your pay progression with very limited justification, for example.

And yes, I'm aware that's symptomatic of a wider problem.

And if the South African strain proves to make children seriously ill?
Well he is 14, so an adolescent not really a child, but if there was a strain that affected young people like the Spanish flu did then that would change things. As things are I think the benefits of school far outweigh the risks to our family.

Or transmit the attitude that learning only matters if there is a certificate attached.

@MrFish323 'Kung Flu'?

I also don't understand the opposition to teaches having ppe.

[quote Covidrelapse]@SansaSnark I seriously don’t understand the rationale for teachers not being allowed to wear PPE? I really really don’t. Also what would happen if you did start teaching in a mask? Would it be a disciplinary measure?[/quote]
Unless I've missed something PP is talking about hospitals.

We wear masks in schools.

@Piggyinblankets

I am actually so horrified by so much of your post Mr Fish. I seriously hope you don't teach biology or, indeed, sociology.

Horrified about what?