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've seen face masks with plastic clear centres for the hard of hearing/deaf. Not sure how effective they are ask masks but they seem good for lip reading.

The idea of a bubble of a crowd of 2/300young adults , more than would be allowed to gather with no social distancing in any other place makes a mockery of the whole thing.
Calling it a bubble does not make it safe.
It’s disgraceful school staff are being expected to just get on with it without any protection.

Secondary teacher here, DH too. We are both scared, we have bought masks and visors and will be wearing them.

Secondary teacher here, DH too. We are both scared, we have bought masks and visors and will be wearing them.

FE here. We are definitely still looking at a blended learning model, with lots and lots of restrictions for the students on the day or two that they are in. Most of their learning will take place at home. This is because they are adults, not children. But these same 16-18 years olds, if they choose to stay on for 6th form, will be in secondary full time with no meaningful restrictions. Bonkers.

@peasaregood

8giraffe* I'm simply not seeing that. Where are you seeing these "outbreaks"? I've looked at the graphs and they seem to say a tiny number of people have tested positive ( possibly / probably asymptomatic)

If you don't want to see it, then no amount of evidence will be enough.

My room is tiny . I have 28 year ones in. We have a cooking station which we are expected to use daily. We have been told we are to work in year group bubbles, so three classes mixing together , of over 90 children.

right, so an "outbreak is 2 positives?
not exactly ebola rampaging through schools is it?

No it's not ebola, it's Covid-19. If that is your level of argument/critical thinking then perhaps just leave it.

Peas,

The point is that the 'rampaging' doesn't happen because those positives closed bubbles within schools, or whole schools, expressly to prevent further infections, both within the school and within the wider community.

It's not that there 'would only ever have been 2 cases' [or even that there were only 2 cases, as the data is number of outbreaks, not number of people infected by these outbreaks].

The worrying thing is that these 55 outbreaks - in fact all those since 1st June - have been under circumstances dramatically different from normal, and from what will happen in September:

• In primary, children have been in bubbles of 8-15 pupils
• These bubbles have been kept socially distant from all other children in the school
• With such small numbers, a degree of social distancing is possible.
• Only a few year groups have been in
• In secondaries, an even tinier number have been in. While up to half of the total number of children per primary have been able to attend, a maximum of 1/14th (a quarter each of 2 year groups out of 7) of pupils have been able to be on the premises in aany secondary school.
• the rest of society has been still severely restricted, minimising total numbers of social contacts quite effectively.

If we have 55 outbreaks per week under these circumstances, more outbreaks are likely when the rest of society is mingling more freely, 14x more children will be in secondary and double in primary, and lots of clubs etc will also mix those children further, not to mention public transport etc.

I will also, again, make clear that I have been in school since June 1st, despite being older and being medically vulnerable. I want all children in school in September. However, I would also like an honest discussion of how to mitigate the risks of doing so, because pretending the risks aren't there, or implying that by suggesting that we might be worthy of some of the measures most other workplaces have to put in place we are being unreasonable, isn't working for me....

They class an outbreak as 2 people though. The word outbreak makes it sound like it had raged through the school which isnt the case

And just how quickly and/or easily will 2 become 4 and then 8 and so on? Particularly if those 2 positive cases are shedding virus sitting in an unventilated room for 6 hours where no one else in the room has any form of protection whatsoever. Same 2 people walk through school, open and close doors, use the toilet and don’t wash their hands. Then touch the side of the trays in the dining hall as they pick up the top one, lean on the counter top....

It is an absolute disaster waiting to happen.

Don't worry, kids don't get it badly

I have started a thread about my situation. I'm currently shielding, yet in September (against the advice of my consultant) I'm being expected to go back into a workplace that is not Covid secure (special school where children have challenging behaviour) and I've been told there is no need for me to use any PPE. I'd have better protection if worked in a hospital!

I have started a thread about my situation. I'm currently shielding, yet in September (against the advice of my consultant) I'm being expected to go back into a workplace that is not Covid secure (special school where children have challenging behaviour) and I've been told there is no need for me to use any PPE. I'd have better protection if worked in a hospital!

@MrsR87..what are you doing at school in the first place?! Pregnant staff in the NHS where i work were told to work from home right from when lock-down started. I'm so sorry you are going through this and i really hope you'll be safe.
It also proves how hard teachers have it.. to all the teacher haters out there maybe read this poster's post!

@ohthegoats

Don't worry, kids don't get it badly

I am presuming that you are being sarcastic? The risk is not to the children, it is to the adults who work with them, and those in the community that the children spread the infection to.

Boosey'smum,

The school guidance for the limited opening in June allowed medically vulnerable (including pregnant women) to WFH or be given 'the safest roles in schools'. We could volunteer to work in more risky roles, including the teaching of children in bubbles, but we could not be forced to.

The guidance for September removes this, and expects medically vulnerable, and extremely medically vulnerable [shielding up to now] staff to return to work as normal.

From the dfe guidance, with regards to face masks for what schools should do

It's as simple as this: shielding or vulnerable staff and students are expected back in school in September in bubbles of up to 2000 and face masks are NOT ALLOWED to be worn.

It is literally a situation that nobody is expected to put themself in - except police officers.

Around 550 a day people are catching the virus, out of a population of 68 million. So that is 1 in 125000 people catching it a day! Schools dont return for another 2 months, when the number will be even lower.

The virus is much better understood now, their are several treatments and very few people are dying from it are very LOW. Transmission in the community is VERY low.

Teachers can stand at at the front of their class, behind their desk, teach and be at least 2 metres safely away from the pupils. Some people are really over reacting about this, our children need to get back to school full time in September.

@cantkeepawayforever.. thanks for the info. I just can't see how it's morally fine to send the medically vulnerable into school under such conditions. There has to be PPE. They can't make it law to wear masks in shops but not in schools.
My DH is a NQT and is starting his first job in Sept. I've told him to resign before he's even started! It's pure insanity.

Teachers can stand at at the front of their class, behind their desk, teach and be at least 2 metres safely away from the pupils.

What the actual fuck? You have literally zero idea about our working conditions so please take your woefully uninformed opinions and jog on.

I'm fairly sure we're going with visors in the school I teach in.

Personally I'm happy to wear nothing and I'm happy to wear a visor. I'm not happy to wear a mask as, when I wear one in shops, I find that people can't hear me very well. I teach drama so projection and facial expressions are particularly important. Plus I teach multiple classes so I'll be required to keep 1m+ distance where possible, making the mask even more of a hindrance.

I don't see why the govt would care if individual schools or teachers choose to wear masks or visors. They're not really PPE and people are buying them according to their own personal need anyway so it won't cost the govt anything.

My biggest worry is not being allowed to teach my subject physically at all. If I have to continue online I don't know what I'll do, it's utterly soul destroying.