To leave teaching because…

[Snowtea]

Ok disclaimer this is lighthearted and not a statement on teaching today

I’ve just tested positive for Covid for the 6th time. Second this school year. But tbh I’ve not had a break from winter illnesses since I started teaching over 20 years ago. Except in the first lockdown where I taught online (every lesson was video but it was my normal timetable) and felt amazing - other lockdowns I taught in person and yup… got sick.

I know colleagues who are 7 times and counting one guy caught it twice in three months!

I usually just struggle on regardless til I get signed off as burnout/or seriously unwell with…. pneumonia, bronchitis, pleurisy, plague whatever

i genuinely like teaching, take most of the crap in my stride but covid, again? I thought I was just unwell with a cold. Yes I take basic precautions but I’m a germ magnet in a germ hole

anyway AIBU to leave teaching cause I’m obviously allergic to teenagers?

YANBU but god this has worried me!

I was under the vague illusion that kids stop being germ infested creatures at primary school

DD has been in nursery for a couple of months and I’ve already had 5 rounds of antibiotics

Schools are germ pits.

I taught for 20 years and bounced from cold to cold most winters despite supplements, decent food etc. I think the lack of daylight and mad hours + 150 kids through the door each day is just a recipe for illness!

Since I left a year ago I have had 1 cold. One. And I worked from home in my Oodie and didn't have the crap of dealing with cover, no voice trying to teach etc.

I think it’s a bell curve sorry

snotty and germ ridden when young then improve with hygiene and age

but…. at post 16 the gloves and masks are off and they start going out, snogging and socialising and boom germ encrusted again

@Bovrilla

I need to learn your ways….

oodie and video cam is my way forward I think

… or a hazmat suit 🤔

Fuuuuck

@Dutchairfryer offers sympathic antibac wipes…

😊

Schools are always breeding grounds. I've managed to evade a cold for quite a while now but I do clean my own classroom each day as the cleaners don't seem to do it particularly thoroughly. My class have the best attendance in the school nearly every week!

I’m the same. I’ve never developed the mythical immunity that people claim you get. Always heavy colds and viruses too, never a light sniffle. It’s getting me down.

@LondonQueen i had much better attendance when I had a lovely cleaner in every day at a private school. I’m now state sector FE and even bins are once a week if we are lucky.

I think it actually counts for a lot having proper cleaning and maintenance - I teach across a lot of different rooms but could do it (wonder if they’d pay me more than I get teaching)

sorry for grammar and spelling they are shocking but I’m as rough as a bag of rats just trying to feel positive and decide if I’m going in tomorrow

This year has been brutal.ive had a cough since mid November. Every time I hit a few days of respite it's back - I'm hoping to get a doctors appointment in my PPA time this week.

It's been bad enough to make me throw up every day this last week. I felt like my immune system hasn't got back to pre-covid times and I've no fight left to shake it off.

I've not tested for Covid to be fair so probably have had it

Immunity is a lie they tell young teachers to guilt them into thinking it’s the just their own fault. If you just teach harder you won’t get sick…

Do you have DC? In which case they'll bring you down anyway. DH is a teacher and has only caught Covid once - not from his own pupils but brought into our home by our own superspreader teen.

Windows open and never eat anything without washing your hands first.

I wash my hands obviously but I’m a wimp about windows I don’t like being cold - I guess it’s for the greater good

Keep a big bottle of antibac hand gel and anti bac handwipes on your desk. I seem to avoid the colds (secondary school) and I put it down to this as I always use them after touching door handles or kids stuff and also keep the room aired.

I hold my breath when passing schools lol.
I had a neighbour that gave up teaching due to getting sick all the time amongst other things that was about 10 year ago.

I think it's just bad luck rather than one of those things that definitely happens in teaching. I've been teaching for 15 years and I wouldn't say I'm constantly ill at all (touch wood). I had Covid twice back when testing and isolating was still going on, but I've not had a day off sick for about 18 months now. I'm not a martyr either, I've just not had to. Whereas some of my colleagues have had loads of time off because they've been ill for whatever reason.

The worst year for me illness wise was the year after my first mat leave 10 years ago - I had so many colds and sickness bugs. I don't know that there's a whole lot you can do about it - if you're sick you're sick, but it is frustrating!

so I’ve just woken up with a stinking cold.

Ive religiously washed hands regularly, stayed as clear as possible from obviously ill individuals, ventilated rooms, took vitamins and now I’ve a temperature (only 38.1 though ) headache sore throat and exhausted.

im in work, I stayed working through covid though did online teaching for a couple of days. I genuinely feel like crying. I have to give up. it’s only three weeks since Covid. I cannot get well.

im so upset I feel like crying. How can viruses drive me away from what I love but this constant sickness is affecting my capability.