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I'm a teacher and I'm scared.

999 replies

NebularNerd · 09/08/2020 11:56

I don't feel safe going back to work in September. When I became a teacher I did not anticipate doing so during a pandemic. I, like many others in secondary schools, will be facing up to 150 students a day, indoors, with no protection.
I am over 40 but not otherwise in a high risk category, although my husband is and we have elderly parents who will be exposed if I'm infected, as well as young children who will also be in school and potentially exposed.
I'm not disputing the need for children to return to school at all. I'm just starting to fear returning.
Anyone else feel this way?

OP posts:
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10
Cloudburstagain · 09/08/2020 15:43

OP I feel apprehensive - as a teacher who is on shielding list, that lauded the list on 1/8. So unreal to have not been out until July and then still restricted until August to suddenly be in a year group bubble of nearly 200 students with no PPE, moving classrooms every lessons and with windows that hardly open for safety reasons!

I currently cannot see a Gp without a triage appointment, and if a phone all or video apt can suffice that is what is given. If needed to be seen it is with them in full PPE, me in a mask and the physical exam is done quickly and conversation about it in the car. This is if I pass the no symptom triage phone all in the car park. If I had symptoms I would not be seen. Yet, in schools there is no triage of pupils, or PPE, or masks even, or short 10 minutes of one person in a room. There is 1hour long sessions with 30 people in a room, with teachers moving between rooms and no time to sanitizer equipment, door handles, light switches from the last adult in the room. There are narrow corridors and over 1,000 people in one building with just a few staircases.

The contrast is quite something! But some people seem to think it is ok for ECV and CV staff to be in this situation.

Yes staff could resign, but who would teach the children in the next 6 months? Or realistically in the year in takes to retrain? In other jobs ECV staff are not in such situations - are ECV Gp’s seeing patients now, or ECV health care assistants in place? They were not in July.

Ickabog · 09/08/2020 15:43

The number of people I've seen who come in from other industries thinking it will be a piece of piss, only to be crying on me 6 months later is ridiculous. They tend to be over confident and don't listen.

//

This

mumsneedwine · 09/08/2020 15:43

@TurnUpTheHeat but Unis are doing lectures on line and only face to face in v small groups. Unless your Uni is different to all the others ? Not quite the same is it.

mumsneedwine · 09/08/2020 15:44

@TurnUpTheHeat @commentatorz oh and the Unis I know are all saying face masks in those small groups.

NowTheDucksAreBarking · 09/08/2020 15:45

"I’m a nurse!!! How many teachers have died through covid?"

According to the ONS 65 teachers and teaching assistants dies between 29th March and the 22nd of April.

I am lucky not to be in that number, I am fairly confident that the virus was transmitted to me by a pupil as my husband tested negative and I had been no other place for the previous fortnight due to it being my PGCE year. I am hoping I still have immunity as my lungs are screwed from my bout of Covid and I doubt I could fight it so well the second time.

The actual teaching in a classroom is not such a problem, it is movement throughout schools. The corridors in most schools are so narrow you brush against people going the other way, and for a lot of classrooms there is only one way in and out. Even if the children are not spreaders themselves, their clothing is.

My biggest concern about going back without any real concessions to the pandemic is that the teachers will fall ill en mass and the schools will be forced to shut due to lack of staff.

Illusionordelusion · 09/08/2020 15:45

Secondary school teachers are really at risk here. I used to be lead first aid in one and thanking my lucky stars I am now not. The thing is, a lot of them aren’t “kids”. They might be on paper, but they’re not. They’re fully grown young adults who will not adhere to the guidelines (not in the real world) as they know the likelihood is, they’re going to be fine. At least in clinical settings there are measures in place to contain Covid, that people generally will respect.

MarshaBradyo · 09/08/2020 15:45

Both photos look exactly like any of my DC’s schools. There are 36 in my teen DS’s maths class-the classrooms are tiny.

I’m not entirely sure but website says 240 per year. So not small school. Spacious site though. Lots of streaming. His no reaction was sincere, he’s lucky.

itsgettingweird · 09/08/2020 15:45

@commentatorz

Haha these responses really do exemplify the can't do attitude of some teachers don't they?

Many people losing their jobs are professionals. People like accountants, lawyers, financial specialists, engineers, the real STEM specialists. They aren't going to need years of training like some snotty nosed 18 year old who has decided to become a teacher because they've been awarded 2 C's at A level and can't get a proper profession.

They can easily become a teacher in less than 6 months with on the job training.

The course is a set course.

Whoever the fuck you are.

And those people who have worked those professions (and all those in those jobs I know have WFH through this) aren't going to wang to be in an unsafe school environment instead.

I just asked my friend who's a lawyer and she said there's no chance in hell despite her job being hard she'd take half the wage for more hours, equal stress, no option to WFH.

Not even with getting a few more weeks holiday!

nellodee · 09/08/2020 15:45

@Ickabog

The number of people I've seen who come in from other industries thinking it will be a piece of piss, only to be crying on me 6 months later is ridiculous. They tend to be over confident and don't listen.

//

This

Particularly the ones with friends in the SLT. I shouldn't laugh, I really shouldn't. But we get a few every year or so, who have been begged to come and train by their friends. Schadenfreude is not a trait to be proud of.
Jrobhatch29 · 09/08/2020 15:46

@labyrinthloafer

OP I totally hear you, I think the secondary school plans are ridiculous.

As a parent if I suggest I don't like the plans and am contemplating not returning my.kids I get told by other posters I have mental health problems Hmm

Yet again, the UK has the worst provision in Europe, overcrowded schools with no distancing will make things ideal for virus circulation.

I can't really reassure I'm afraid, only say that the plans are not good enough and I really do care about the health of teachers.Flowers

Equally though if you say you want your kids to go to school you get jumped on with "So you don't care about teachers health then?". You really can't win atm. There is alot of anxiety on both sides for different reasons.
canigooutyet · 09/08/2020 15:47

The big difference between schools and hospitals is that in hospitals the staff are exposed to people who are sick with covid and are shedding vast quantities of the virus. They are also overworked and exhausted and emotionally and mentally drained by dealing with patients they care for in pain or dying.

One of the main reasons for those working in education quitting is stress related, over worked etc.
You think dealing with a bunch of hormonal teens is a picnic? Some will be abused at home, some have various illnesses, some it's a waiting game for those students to die. That's without the car crashes, the stabbings, the od's etc.

You think these people are robots devoid of any feeling.

Imagine working with someone young for several years, you know it's going to happen, but it's still hard when they die.

In that sense, death of patients is easier for a lot of nhs staff, especially those on wards. They don't always spend enough time with their patients for that emotional attachment to form.

One school I worked in for 4 years, 35 pupils passed away. As someone working in school, this was something I didn't expect, well not those numbers anyway. Just like NHS and carers we had to learn to desensitise ourselves. Didn't make it any easier tbh. A few of those btw might have been avoided if other parents hadn't dosed up their kids with calpol. By the time the effects of this shit wears off, the thing had already spread. But obviously, the link couldn't be proven even though we witnessed the spread. The school, transport, nhs, lea all have evidence of this from all our time off.

It's only when things run wild like chicken pox etc in communities that trigger an alert that we hear about. We don't hear a third of whatever schools were absent in November because of whatever was going around. We don't hear that a class was off because of D&V unless our kids, or someone we know goes there.

MarshaBradyo · 09/08/2020 15:48

I just asked my friend who's a lawyer and she said there's no chance in hell despite her job being hard she'd take half the wage for more hours, equal stress, no option to WFH.

No but it might look more attractive if her market is one where many are furloughed or made redundant.

Teaching is a solid option in terms of employability. As this goes down elsewhere, this becomes more valued.

commentatorz · 09/08/2020 15:49

Correct @MarshaBradyo. To be honest it's deeply shocking that you have to point this out to people.

nellodee · 09/08/2020 15:49

I'm a teacher, I'm concerned, but I'm still sending my own children back full time. Everyone's choices are limited by their finances, their own mental health states, vulnerabilities, etc. I definitely think we should all be understanding of people who make different choices to the ones we make. There are no clear cut answers here.

MrsR87 · 09/08/2020 15:50

Sending a hug OP. I am also feeling rather nervous. I’ll be in my third trimester when we go back and the midwife told me that I should not be going in as it’s the dangerous time for pregnancy and COVID. Of course, according to Boris it’s full steam ahead for all staff, regardless of vulnerability. Not scared for me, but very scared for my unborn child.

LaurieMarlow · 09/08/2020 15:50

I just asked my friend who's a lawyer and she said there's no chance in hell despite her job being hard she'd take half the wage for more hours, equal stress, no option to WFH.

Well of course not. Until she gets made redundant and job opportunities wither away. Plenty of sectors have been badly hit already and this is just the beginning.

nellodee · 09/08/2020 15:50

@MarshaBradyo

I just asked my friend who's a lawyer and she said there's no chance in hell despite her job being hard she'd take half the wage for more hours, equal stress, no option to WFH.

No but it might look more attractive if her market is one where many are furloughed or made redundant.

Teaching is a solid option in terms of employability. As this goes down elsewhere, this becomes more valued.

This will be a good thing for teaching and teachers, though. Not a bough to beat us with.
labyrinthloafer · 09/08/2020 15:50

@commentatorz

You don't know if schools will stay open or not. You aren't a scientist, and the science currently has a consensus that schools will be able to open and keep the "R" number low enough provided other activities are curtailed. Expect to hear more in this as we get toward September.
This is incorrect.

There is considerable concern that UK schools reopening will result in a spike bigger than we experienced earlier this year because we do not have the testing or tracing in place to respond to the inevitable increase in transmission.

Secondary schools with no distancing is a really big gamble.

LaurieMarlow · 09/08/2020 15:51

This will be a good thing for teaching and teachers, though.

I agree 100%

SecretSpAD · 09/08/2020 15:52

Many people losing their jobs are professionals. People like accountants, lawyers, financial specialists, engineers, the real STEM specialists. They aren't going to need years of training like some snotty nosed 18 year old who has decided to become a teacher because they've been awarded 2 C's at A level and can't get a proper profession

I have a medical degree, a masters in public health and a PhD also in public health.

I also have plenty of life experience.

The one time I did a workshop in a school I was eaten alive.

I'm guessing you're one of "those parents" eh? Put your money where your mouth is and look forward to seeing you in the classroom.

NeverForgetYourDreams · 09/08/2020 15:52

I'm sure all the supermarket workers who worked all through lockdown didn't particularly want to be exposed either but they were. I'm afraid you need to get back to work so our children can learn. I can't be home schooling my child and working full time until the virus blows out or a vaccine is available.

labyrinthloafer · 09/08/2020 15:53

On the jobs front, can't tell if parents posting are excited at the prospect of their kids being taught by people who are only teachers because they have no better options due to global recession??

BadTattoosAndSmellLikeBooze · 09/08/2020 15:53

I really feel for teachers, especially ones like you that feel scared. To have to be in contact with so many other people with no PPE is madness.
I think masks would be a good idea in schools, it doesn’t make sense not to have them when they’re mandatory in so many other places where there’s fewer people.

labyrinthloafer · 09/08/2020 15:55

@NeverForgetYourDreams

I'm sure all the supermarket workers who worked all through lockdown didn't particularly want to be exposed either but they were. I'm afraid you need to get back to work so our children can learn. I can't be home schooling my child and working full time until the virus blows out or a vaccine is available.
Are you not at all concerned about the virus coming home to you? I honestly don't understand why some people are confident they have unsusceptible lungs!
nellodee · 09/08/2020 15:55

@canigooutyet 35 pupils? I can't process that.

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