Asking too much of teachers?

[DomDoesWotHeWants]

It's looking like masks are going to be a requirement in shops and possibly other indoor venues.

Yet teachers are expected to teach - for hours at a time - in confined, poorly ventilated spaces, with no social distancing. They have been told they do not need PPE. If I was still teaching there is no way I'd go into a room crowded with teenagers and not wear a mask at the moment.

Teachers should be allowed as much protection as possible not thrown under a corona bus because Johnson wants them for child care so their parents can go back to work.

I really can't understand why it's going to be compulsory in shops where meetings are fleeting but not in schools which are crowded and have people crammed in for hours.

Does the right of children to go back to school over rule the rights of of school staff (teaching and ancillary) to be as protected as possible?

This means they should be allowed to wear PPE, if they choose, and secondary children should be wearing masks as happens in some other countries. In some countries younger children also have to wear masks in school.

The safety of teachers has been ignored by Johnson and his chums in their urge to get people back to work and the cry of "back to normal" is taken up by those ignorant of the facts about the virus.

Teachers have been made out to be the bad guys almost from the beginning - as can be seen from many bile infested threads on here. They deserve better.

Herc you’ll know then that you can’t even rely on the previous teacher to have cleaned the whiteboard for you let alone the classroom.

I remember the thread on the staffroom before lockdown where teachers were discussing how filthy their schools are. Schools didn’t even have the money or resources to be cleaned before lockdown and now they’re told they need to be cleaned to an extra high standard with no extra money?

It’s outrageous.

Trying to be positive. The impact is going to be HUGE.

@Hercwasonaroll Thank you for the practical advice, that’s really helpful 😊

And who will be held accountable if Billy is twatting around showing off in an unsupervised classroom, whilst waiting for Mrs X to get from Room 1 to Room 45 and off his chair and breaks his leg?

@noblegiraffe

Herc you’ll know then that you can’t even rely on the previous teacher to have cleaned the whiteboard for you let alone the classroom.

I remember the thread on the staffroom before lockdown where teachers were discussing how filthy their schools are. Schools didn’t even have the money or resources to be cleaned before lockdown and now they’re told they need to be cleaned to an extra high standard with no extra money?

It’s outrageous.

Our sons school ran out of hand soap before lockdown, shops didn’t have any. Quite a few schools were in this situation.

I have used the school toilets during the lovely mind numbing xmas performance, now my flat is nowhere near sparkling. But wow, the staff toilets we had to use were vile, so I hate to imagine how grim the kids ones are 🤢

Schools need additional funding for cleaning, looking at my sons school some also need different cleaning companies.

I wish parents would be up in arms about how little safety measures are actually being put in place for their children in September.
Why do the government not think schools deserve anything in the way of a covid secure workplace

I'm hoping that with everyone moving there will be a bit more respect re cleaning boards. Schools definitely need to agree protocols for this. I'll wipe down desk and keyboard as part of this process. Not full on cleaning!

I'm trying to keep positive. We all have to do the first term so let's make it as least bad as we can. 2 hour lessons for us and mixed ability 789. I'm not really looking forward to it.

DomDoesWotHeWants - I guess it might be different now so many people are going to be unemployed, but schools have horrendous difficulties finding cleaning staff! They will also be competing with all other organisations which need more cleaning to be done. And health & safety obligations means cleaners must have training in use of hazardous chemicals, etc, first (and if working in school during the school day, they’ll all need dbs checks).

@starrynight19

I wish parents would be up in arms about how little safety measures are actually being put in place for their children in September. Why do the government not think schools deserve anything in the way of a covid secure workplace

When I pointed out on another thread yesterday (about keeping kids out of school come September) that schools are in no way the "safe" places that parents are being told they are, I got slated for my apparently extreme opinions.

What would be the ideal set up that teachers would be comfortable with?

Would pupils wearing face coverings be safer?

Re: cleaning, we were assured that the caretaker would be on semi-permanent patrol around the school site, cleaning handles, loos, key-pads etc.. at regular intervals throughout the day. I saw him with a spray bottle of pink liquid and an old cloth once; never since.

Dozens of children are using the same few loos throughout the day. They are "cleaned" once, after school. I will (and do) wipe down tables, door handles and light switches several times a day. I will NOT clean toilets.
Sorry, but my "can-do" attitude stops at that point.

Well, i've just read through my revised guidance and our primary "bubbles" will be eyfs and reception in one,( 3 classes) years 1 and 2 in another (4 classes) years 3 and 4 in another (3 classes) and years 5 and 6 in another ( 3 classes) and now I have to break it to my team that we have the joy of teaching mixed classes in massive bubbles. My 5/6 bubble will be 97 kids. Who will all play together at break and lunch. And we do the sodding cleaning and not get paid for our extra work at lunch times.

I argued against this at the meeting but lost and as per usual we get the paperwork on a Sunday so we can spend the day fretting. Part of me is hoping we have a spike soon so this cannot happen.

Oh, and all our vulnerable staff are back, myself included, or we go off unpaid. All books can be marked, apparently and no masks or visors as a trust wide policy. Parents are to be told this.

I hate this. I hate my Academy chain and I hate my head for agreeing to this. In her lovely office where she sees jackshit kids any day. Any staff deaths or illnesses will be on her hands.

@GhostTypeEevee

What would be the ideal set up that teachers would be comfortable with?

Would pupils wearing face coverings be safer?

As someone who will be into their third trimester by September, I have two simple requests.

Firstly, I would like to able to wear a visor. I’m am happy to provide this myself. I don’t want to wear a mask as it will impact on teaching. I would feel more comfortable having that little extra bit of protection between my 36 pupils (assuming my class sizes will stay the same) and my baby.

Secondly, I would like the time to be able to go to the toilet not just at lunchtime. My line manager is really good with things like this and recently has a baby herself so I’m hoping things like that will be factored into how the timetable works.

Anything else, I can work with 😊

Secondary teacher by the way!

@GhostTypeEevee

What would be the ideal set up that teachers would be comfortable with?

Would pupils wearing face coverings be safer?

I would like it acknowledged by my head that working from 8-4 with only a 20 minute break will be detrimental to staff health and well being.

I would also like to wear a visor and will happily supply my own.

I would prefer to be in my own classroom as I think the ‘bubble’ is farcical. Keeping pupils penned into a room all day, only leaving for supervised breaks will lead to poor behaviour and focus.

Secondary teacher:I'd like screens around teachers desks and much more in the way of hand washing facilities - govt should provide hand washing troughs for playgrounds imo. Teachers who wish to wear visors should be allowed. More money for supply staff - there will be lots of staff off with symptoms in the autumn term who have to stay off until they've been given an all clear. Money for additional cleaning staff to come in at break/lunch/empty periods and sanitise classrooms.

Pipe dreams. We haven't even been given extra budgets for soap.

So it's not like you're asking for the moon on a stick, just completely reasonable expectations.

The no masks thing in my area seems to come also form LA. Has anyone actually seen a justification that makes scientific sense? Mine seemed to be that god awful consistency word...

Do visors protect by themselves?

@Whitestick

I don't understand the idea that there isn't enough money to pay cleaners, but there is enough money to pay a teacher's wage to clean. Teachers get paid a lot more than cleaners. If I were cleaning for half an hour that's half an hour less of teaching I can do, and I'm being paid more for that half hour than any cleaner.

But we aren't getting paid any extra money to clean. We are just expected to do that on top of the million hours we already work. It won't cost a penny extra.

It's terrible to hear that teachers may have to clean the toilet at school! It reminds me of the stories during the Chinese cultural revolution in the 1960s when scholars were punished and forced to clean toilets in re-education programmes. A capitalist country as rich as the UK shouldn't be like this!

And how long will it be before any necessary or recommended adaptations we make to our teaching will be criticised?
So, for example, if we teach by "chalk and talk" from the front of the room without circulating close to the children to support, will we then be slated by Ofsted once they resume visits in September?
And will they also pan us if books haven't been immediately marked, due to the need for them to "decontaminate?"
As time passes, it is easy to forget why such things were suggested.

We were told there were masks available for us to use. A colleague went to get one this week and apparently "they've all gone missing."

If you are worried then buy and wear your own PPE. That is what I have to do.

Even Gove thinks it’s a good idea to wear masks in environments where they are inside and mixing with others in poorly ventilated places.

Like schools, then.

Apparently at my secondary school pupils will be expected to sanitise their own workspace at the beginning and end of each lesson. Given that the majority of them seem incapable of handing their books to the front at the end of a normal lesson, I really doubt this will be happening. The thing is, it's not just teachers who will be impacted. The kids will get sick, they will pass it on at home, in town, in cafes, restaurants and pubs and on public transport...everyone should be concerned. I'm a teacher and hoping against hope that the virus dwindles down significantly by September so that hopefully it will be easier to isolate the cases we do get. Who knows.