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.

I think that all speaks to your commitment and determination and I never commented on your A level group : one of mine is 8.

I think you feel into the trap of taking the tone that teacher bashers do of 'can do' and that kind of lecturing tone of people who also care very much about their jobs and pupils an suggesting the attitudes of others are at fault : if only we were more like you. If that was unintentional, I am telling you that is how it came across towards the beginning of the thread and , later, when you suggested that people who strictly manage workload didn't deserve promotion,whereas many of us think that is what schools need.

You are also somewhat assuming no one else works in schools like yours.

The promotion comment was an observation of what happens in my school, it wasn’t my personal opinion that those who wtr shouldn’t be promoted. It was what I’ve noticed happening where I work.

Your school needs to invest in more soap and more handwashing stations presumably?

The schools that insist alcohol gel is the answer to everything are the ones that worry me. There will also be people who (like me!) are severely allergic to it.

Muslims are using hand gel - Muslim council of Britain has said it is ok, it's not a drinkable alcohol etc. Obviously there are many different branches of Islam and some may have more issues with it than others but this has been discussed extensively - I would not assume that gel can't be used with your students at all.
Your small class was brought up by yourself to show how you would apply social distancing in a different (superior!) way to the rest of us and that is what posters responded to. I think we are all well aware of the child protection issues related to FGM, though obviously the make up in the student body will be different in each school.
I can't decide if you are back tracking or genuinely think everyone else teaches classes with zero issues for us to focus on

Overtherainbow I am genuinely sorry if you feel attacked or judged by the way, but I do think this is how you made me (can only speak for myself) feel during the thread.

@Mistressiggi
Agree. Alcohol solutions is used in hospitals too as a disinfectant , used all over the Middle East, and as a solution, is found inmost households there too, in fact, the first time I saw alcohol hand gel was on a trip to the UAE- it is not an issue with 99.99% of Muslims.

I’m not back tracking what so ever, I stand by everything I have said.

My example of the class of 10 was about using our own initiatives and not blindly following government guidelines.

In my mind, it makes it even sadder if others work in such a school and are still willing to wtr.

You should say some Muslims would use alcohol hand gel, not Muslims, this is a sweeping untrue statement.

I’m going to call it a day on this thread now, in fact on the whole of MN as I’m not sure why I’ve wasted some time over a week of my life engaging in conversations with strangers who try and make everything into an argument. I cringed when someone was described as being in here for years . Seriously? It’s fucking boring

I cringed when someone was described as being in here for years . Seriously? It’s fucking boring

That’s because you get out what you put in.

I don't think you can read very well I was quite clear that different Muslims might have different views but you are just as wrong to state that you can't use the gel with your Muslim students. Generally a bit of research gives the answer. I massively resent your comment to me, given my actual post said...
"Obviously there are many different branches of Islam and some may have more issues with it than others but this has been discussed extensively - I would not assume that gel can't be used with your students at all."

Whenever I was unsure about something with a particular student, first I would look in the file, if nothing I would contact home and ask rather than just assume.

Most of the students I worked with won't be able to use the gel, not just because of religion or allergies either, but putting their hands in their mouths.

With the current situation I would hope that SLT's had asked parents about this to update staff. For those who cannot, which would be done first anyway, would be to handwash independently or with help.

Yes I would have been the daft sod that raised it in a meeting, can visualise who would be wanting to off-load this onto someone else as well!

I remember when the unions tried to get members to WTR and it was a disaster. No one can separate teachers from photocopiers, resource making, assessments or planning. Even when there are strikes most teachers use it as a day to catch up.

Teaching is a calling and as such we all do our best for the students in our care no matter what the setting. I spent many years in a tough inner city comp which had many challenges but that goes with the territory. Everyone of us has different challenges to overcome no matter what the setting. Safeguarding is not confined to one section of society.

We are all doing our best. I am concerned for both the physical and mental health of staff going forward who are expected to teach a full timetable, clean parts of the school and do a lot more supervision during break and lunchtime. It is not sustainable in the medium to long term.

I honestly cannot even remember the last time I saw a toilet brush inside students toilets, in mainstream schools.

Staff ones yes, although of course no loo cleaner.

But not students ones which makes sense.

Mine I had to keep high during the early years because one always wanted to pick the damn thing up and pretend it was a sword or worse 🤢BY secondary I had to get rid of it because he used it as a weapon. I wish I was exaggerating, but that's the thing with people, never know what they will do next.

And anyone deluded to think teens aren't daft.

We don't start out smart and slowly turn daft (well not generally). The caution hot on food and drink is because of daft adults.

@OverTheRainbow88
I don't think my statement was sweeping. I am a Muslim myself and I know what I am talking about. SOME might not, but they are in a tiny minority. Most of us do and have been for years and years and years.

BTW, you should know that some students will pull one over on you to see if you bend to their demands- I had a new Saudi male student come to my school and in a meeting with SLT and myself (they brought me in incase there were interpretation problems) claimed that it was against Islam to not pray on time and demanded he is given 45 minutes off a lesson to pray. Now he didn't know I was a Muslim, as I don't cover my hair and my name doesn't give any indication, but as soon as I spoke Arabic to him explaining that praying takes less than 10 mins (and that's with the washing/wudu) and asked him why needed a whole 45 minutes and that actually we have a few hours window to pray, so he could pray when he goes home, the blood disappeared from his face and he admitted he was talking crap.

But I digress, the thread is about other issues.

I am very weary of those fully opposed to wtr. It doesn't have to be one of the other. The two can work together. We all should be wtr is some way otherwise we get fired or worse for making up shit as we go along.

If there was a toilet cleaning incident happened in your workplace, do you think it would be an oopsie or something else?

Filling out the paperwork alone is enough for me to put me off taking certain risks.

Someone comes along and asks as part of any investigation -

Could you explain the events leading up to the incident..
Yea end of day and my turn to clean the toilets.
What do you mean by clean?
Swish some loo cleaner and a bit of a brush and flush, clean handles, sink etc.
Is this a part of your usual job?
Erm no but Such and such said we should all do it and did a rota and everything
Did you attend any training prior to this to work with hazardous materials?
Erm no
Many I draw your attention to this work place policy ...

We are told all the time when we fill out these and cp to fill them in as if we were asked to give formal evidence. You've been lucky so far, but not everyone is.