Unions blocking schools re-opening?

[Confusedbutheyho]

Just been off the phone to a friend who’s married to a teacher and they’re hearing a lot of conflicting news re unions.

Many are saying June won’t happen for re-opening. Is that possible that the unions veto it and stop it going ahead?

My child’s school has emailed saying the government plan is very unlikely to be suitable and so don’t expect it to re-open. I hope they don’t, my children are still in school as we are key workers. I think they are exposed enough due to our jobs and I don’t want them in full classrooms, around even more children and at even higher risk.

But the government did close them, it wasn’t the unions or the teachers. The government here and in other countries did so to reduce the risk of infection.

Chris Witty has said that reopening them to more students would increase the rate of infection “The second risk was whether "having primary schools come back" would mean "a significant upswing" in the infection rate. "The view is, if it’s done very carefully, if it’s done slowly, then it is very unlikely to do that," he added.“ - it’s that last bit the unions are insisting on.

One of the teaching unions is saying we should not plan for any students to come in June. We should not take part in any conversations or planning at work, for this to take place in June.

The union haven’t been given any feedback by govt regarding testing and tracing, or the other 4 things that need to be in place for schools to safely reopen.

Here’s what UNISON are up to for one example, but you should have a look at all the others and ask colleagues if they’re in a union. You are better off with as many colleagues in the same union as you can. Support staff are better represented by UNISON or Unite or GMB, teaching staff are generally in NASUWT or NEU. www.unison.org.uk/at-work/education-services/key-issues/covid-19-closures/

yep teacher with dc with no childcare & unable to ask grandparents to help -now why might that be a problem? In addition when so many classroom assistants have been sacked because of school finance cutbacks how are they suppose to care for 15 dc when most classes have 30 pupils & the safely distance the dc when they have large tables where dc sit close together & the classrooms are too small. & who pray is going to do all this constantly cleaning? let alone making sure the dc don't play or get too close & stay at distance from the teacher -cant imagine why there might be problems (which you might not understand if you went to public school with about 10 dc in the class

I think the one cohort of kids who might see a teacher before the summer holidays are the year tens to set them up for next year. It strikes me as fanciful to get youngest children in when levels of deaths are still so high.

I will think about letting my DS go back after Elton has returned

Tsk Eton

Supermarket staff and others never stopped.

Supermarkets generally did a good job of looking after their staff as much as practical: screens, masks, gloves, distancing, reduced hours and limiting numbers of customers.

I'm not sure the government has spent one penny on safety equipment of any kind in schools.

I wish we could go back asap. I think it's doable for, say, two years at once- the problem is absolutely no planning has happened and teachers are not going to see shielding colleagues dead as a result.

I don’t understand what teachers are proposing happens? Do they think they and all school children should stay at home for the next year?

I would have more sympathy if they had some positive suggestions or solutions to help everyone move forward. But they don’t.

it seems like the policy is no PPE of any kind and shielding teachers being forced in.

And the general public are going to think about retail staff, or retail staff they know personally, or other similar workers and think teachers are being ridiculous.

If teachers do go on strike they will not get any sympathy at all. It would be an insane move

We do have the youngest average age of teachers in Europe, so that massive retention problem may actually be a benefit?
I don't know, its scary, the government doesn't seem to have a clue. Maybe things will be significantly better by June.. I'm not worried for myself, but I teach some very vulnerable children and they're struggling now, but will it be better to return? The school I teach at actually has a much higher than average number of older teachers, lots planning retirement in the next few years or over retirement age, I worry for them. The school I work for is such a great place. Its heartbreaking to have it mostly closed and its awful to think of it as dangerous. I just really want to wake up from this whole nightmare.

@donquixotedelamancha anyone who is shielding will be advised to stay at home for as long as possible so teachers in the shielding category will not be expected to return, surely?

I would have sympathy for teachers if they were teaching children using technology, but I understand they are not. Why? Private schools seem to be managing to do it quite successfully. 'Unions' have advised teachers in State Schools not to, why?

Supermarkets generally did a good job of looking after their staff as much as practical: screens, masks, gloves, distancing, reduced hours and limiting numbers of customers.

None of this is true

Maybe screens in the last couple of weeks but not PPE. Hours are not much different and social distancing is impossible

The problem is when will it be ‘safe’? Certainly not by September, probably not Christmas either. This virus is going to be around for a very long time and we need to find a way of living with it.

If teachers do go on strike they will not get any sympathy at all.

I don't agree that the public will support no PPE, no distancing and the inevitable deaths of some teachers which would follow.

Even if you are correct (and clearly some MNers would relish that) I don't think that's a good enough reason to go along with things if the plans remain as half arsed as they are.

Madwife that is a really good point. I especially worry about that first week back. Looking at how people are already loosening up, I would imagine many children will come back on 1 June having socialised pretty widely over the holiday. All your precautions and all the safety measures put in place for your children at school these past 7 weeks could be thrown away.

I have a lot of sympathy for the argument that we need a second wave of infection before winter. But it needs to be done with real care, with honesty and with proper protection for all the vulnerable. Headteachers shouldn’t be having to make such awful decisions about whether or not to call in a staff member who lives with a family member who is not quite shielded, but is very vulnerable, when they can’t provide that staff member PPE or enforce adequate social distancing measures.

I’m a secondary teacher and keen to get back if possible but (and it’s a big but) I have absolute faith in my HT. If we go back before the summer holidays it will be with strict social distancing in place, masks for staff, frequent hand washing, extra cleaners employed to work throughout the day, and very limited numbers of students in each day. If it can’t be done safely it won’t happen and if it does happen I trust that my safety and that of my students will be taken seriously.
I have a friend working in a school where, before lockdown, the HT showed himself to have total disregard for the Health and Safety of his staff. He made it very clear that he would not be “impressed” if his staff followed self-isolation guidance from the government and self isolated with symptoms. They had staff members in with symptoms and even one where their partner had tested positive because of pressure from the head. There was a big outbreak in the area and a number of their staff have been hospitalised and several students have lost parents. I would not be going into school if I worked there.

I went to Tesco today and didn’t see any member of staff wearing PPE.

It’s my understanding that masks protect other people, not the wearer. Perhaps that’s why the guidelines say it’s not necessary for teachers to wear them

I don’t understand what teachers are proposing happens?

Teachers are not some hive entity. What unions and headteachers are asking is:

1. Why no PPE? Visors would go a long way towards reducing risk?

1. Why 3 years at once? Many schools will not be able to staff it because of child care and self isolating staff. The suggestion was start with Y6 only and start planning weeks ago.

1. Why no testing? Temperature tests at the school gate would reduce risk.

1. What about shielding staff? Why not allow them to work from home on remote teaching and curriculum planning?

I don't agree that the public will support no PPE, no distancing and the inevitable deaths of some teachers which would follow

The public will because they've seen how hard others with no PPE, distancing etc have worked, all the way through this crisis and without complaining. Supermarket staff for example

Teachers will be seen as not pulling their weight and trying to hide away, while everyone else just gets on it with

Hold on folks. Isn't Sweden cited as a model country who didn't go into lockdown and didn't close schools?

There seems to be one segment of society who when told it might be time to get back to work, cry "but I can't because I haven't got childcare and schools are closed. Then when told children can go back, then cry," but it's not safe for our precious darlings".

I'm beginning to believe that some people have got quite used to being off and do not want to go back. I know I felt the same way when I had a couple of months of work on full pay after a major operation. But in the end I had to pull my big girl pants up and get back to work whether I liked it or not!

It’s my understanding that masks protect other people, not the wearer

That's not correct. Plastic hemets and surgical masks protect the wearer.

Even a bandana provides reasonable protection but the concern is that it makes individuals complacent and was not really worth the bother.

Still the point about being more effective for others is true- so if all kids were wearing masks the spread would be massively reduced.