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 don't see why it is so difficult for politicians and much of the general public to get. If social distancing, ventilation, cutting down contacts and wearing masks is what cuts risk then how is it ok for teachers (including vulnerable teachers) to teach 180 different children a day in cramped unventilated conditions where no one is allowed to wear masks? It's an ideal environment to spread covid.

Let's hope there's a big recruitment drive on the way because (secondary) teachers will be either dead, suffering from post covid longterm health problems or burnt out by December. Any still standing will likely resign if they possibly can.

It's all very well wanting children to be educated and babysat right now - but at this rate there won't be anyone left to teach them in a year's time and that is a much bigger problem longterm.

@peasaregood

Secondary school teacher. It breaks my heart to listen to the public at large dismiss our concerns. If everyone else is 'advised' to work from home, why is it that teachers have to come in that's not the advice now. it is go in to work if you can,

Have you read the circumstances she's supposed to put up with? And you think that's ok.

I think it would cause her stress and she needs to tell her GP about it.

I think a lot of teachers who read these boards have a very good idea of how certain parents on MN view them, and thus don't give a single fuck for their opinions. I know I don't.

Spend your time on MN teacher bashing and then expect them to put themselves out above and beyond?

You're 'aving a larf.

@MrsR87 How can your day be extended by an hour and a half? Is that even legal?

I'm seriously considering resigning and taking a job elsewhere. It's just going to be awful and I can't see how January will be any better. (I'd have to work til Xmas anyway now)

Let's hope there's a big recruitment drive on the way

The government already tried this and failed.

I have a lot of sympathy for a lot of the teachers on this thread but this comment really got to me: “ I “jokingly” said to my friend earlier if Covid doesn’t get me, the physical and mental exhaustion of working 8-4 on a 20 minute break will

Surely a 8 hour shift with a 20min break included is normal / short for an adult??? It certainly is in my profession

Kids should be in visors for school. I can understand no masks as they're tricky for young children to keep on all day but I can't see any justification for no visors.

I don't buy the " staff in PPE would be too frightening" argument for a second - are these people really trying to say that kids haven't seen anyone in a mask over the past few months? Kids aren't stupid, they know about Coronavirus. If you explain PPE and how it protects those around them I think most children would be glad to wear it. They often care more for those around them than adults do.

Surely a 8 hour shift with a 20min break included is normal / short for an adult??? It certainly is in my profession

Do you then go home and do 3-4 more hours work in the evening? I thought not.

I'm seriously considering resigning and taking a job elsewhere.

With unemployment expected to rise by millions in the coming months, good luck with that.

@SimonJT yes legal and purpose built. All open plan. And not only do children use the same ones as staff they are not separate male and female toilets. Sadly many children do not put the toilet seat down, wash hands and the thought of using such facilities at such a time horrifies me.

Yes, days are different lengths to allow for bubbles. Nightmare for finding childcare for own children if finish teaching so much later and a reasonable commute.

Surely a 8 hour shift with a 20min break included is normal / short for an adult??? It certainly is in my profession

Are you able to take toilet breaks in your profession? A teacher can't leave a class to go to the toilet.

If a 20 min break is all that is allowed, a lot of that time will be spent queuing at the staff bathroom. It's quite a discriminatory policy imo.

@peasaregood

Secondary school teacher. It breaks my heart to listen to the public at large dismiss our concerns. If everyone else is 'advised' to work from home, why is it that teachers have to come in that's not the advice now. it is go in to work if you can,

I don't believe so- I read that it is to 'work from home, if you can'

[quote Cloudburstagain]**@SimonJT yes legal and purpose built. All open plan. And not only do children use the same ones as staff they are not separate male and female toilets. Sadly many children do not put the toilet seat down, wash hands and the thought of using such facilities at such a time horrifies me.

Yes, days are different lengths to allow for bubbles. Nightmare for finding childcare for own children if finish teaching so much later and a reasonable commute.[/quote]
Surely staff using the same facilities is a huge safe guarding risk to both pupils and staff. I wouldn’t be happy with that, not for my sons sake but for the staff.

That's what the gov website is showing anyway

www.gov.uk/coronavirus

@user1497207191 I have considered this, still doesn't mean I want to stay teaching.

Can’t the individual teacher choose to wear a mask?

PenorPencil - yes we have to provide work for students who are shielding and allowed to shield at home, plus those not in school due to illness whilst teaching classes in school. I had shielded staff might manage the children at home, but all shielded teachers have to be in school so that does not work.

Once staff are off waiting for test results I cannot see staff working in year group bubbles working. Or getting PPa. My school could not stay open in March to all year groups due to huge staff absence. Now staff can get a test but it will be 2-3 days for feeling ill, ordering a test and getting a clear result every time a teacher has any symptoms.

On the Zoe app nearly every symptom asks you to get a test - what criteria will it be for teachers?

@SimonJT cannot say staff were happy, I only use the, before students open and at the end of the day!!

@SionnachRua

I would leave older classes to go to the loo- especially when 8 months pregnant!

Certain classes I wouldn’t even turn my back to!!!!

People have been told not to take their children anywhere so there will be a fair number of younger children who won't have seen anyone in a mask.

Staff won't be off waiting for results unless they themselves have symptoms. You have to stay in until a test comes back positive.

I would leave older classes to go to the loo- especially when 8 months pregnant! Certain classes I wouldn’t even turn my back to!!!!

And if something happens in the class while you're not there, will the insurance cover you/the school? That's the big issue. I have had those lovely classes who wouldn't put a foot out of line too but I would still be reluctant to leave them unsupervised.

The pregnant/menstruating teachers will suffer in schools that have only a 20 min break, as well as those with weak bladders etc. Seems like it will unduly impact on women to me.

I think parents need to be fined heavily if they send their child in ill. No it's nuts or maybes. It's disgusting as as teachers we see it daily.
Oh never mind my child has been violently ill all night, I need to get to work so I'll send him in to spread the love .

Government advice is specifically that teachers should not wear a mask - not that they don't have to, but that they shouldn't. That applies to primary and secondary.

At my school, I will be teaching students in their Bubbles of between 270 and 300. What irks me in particular is that my students (and indeed my daughter) can go to work, where they are entitled to social distancing / PPE etc depening on their jobs and then they come back into school / college and nothing. These students are 16/17/18/19 and so are not really children.

The whole situation with schools is a disgrace. Basically the pupils and teachers are all being asked (?told) to be part of a massive experiment - get them all back and let's see what happens. Ah.....people seem to be dying - perhaps it was not such a good idea.

And as to reintroducing fines for parents who do not send their children to school in September......I am speechless! How do we know what medical conditions there might be in a family situation that create greater risk. Are parents not allowed to make reasoned decisions about their children and vulnerable relatives?