I'm a teacher and I'm scared.

[NebularNerd]

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?

@whiskybysidedoor

All those workers that you mention? They wear PPE. Their clients / customers / service users have to wear PPE. They have Covid measures in place - distancing, hand washing, limited numbers of people in certain spaces, etc.

What planet are you on? Do you really think that the country kept turning and we all managed to keep it going in full PPE? You are having a fucking laugh.

I try with teachers, I really do, but you are utterly clueless if you think everyone else has been ‘Covid secure’ throughout this thing. Absolute blind ignorance.

I agree not everywhere was Covid secure from the beginning.

But they are now. There is increasing amounts of guidance re distancing and masks etc. Ventilation.

All of which teachers have been told they aren't entitled to. Oh, and they aren't getting any extra funding to meet cleaning demands etc.

Oh, and if there is a case at school and a fatality it's possible HSE will investigate and school will be held liable.

Dentists / orthodontist? Patient (my child) has to wear a mask until actually in the chair, and have their temperature checked before being allowed in.

My dentist is still not opening. I have tried several others who aren’t open yet either and I’ve not heard when they will be. It must be different around the country.

Shit. Just re-read what I wrote. I was not suggesting that paramedics are cunts. I meant that DH and I would have been if we’d left him in the road before the paramedics arrived, sorry to all paramedics on here (who absolutely should wear PPE!)

[quote mumsneedwine]@commentatorz do you know what SEN means ?? Special educational needs come in many shapes and sizes. Being great at one thing and pretty bad at another is quite common. [/quote]
My ds has send.

He got a 2 in his gcse English language. He got a 9 in science (mocks he's he 11 so final grades are a little unsure this year!)

He cannot spell simple words. He cannot use emotional language well at all. He can remember facts and explain complex scientific evidence like a genius!

Does anyone read commentatorz and think, "Damn, I love that poster, they really tell it like it is?"

And second question, what do those people think of Donald Trump?

@itsgettingweird and he'll be a great success at what he sets his mind too. He's proven he can do it. I love teaching kids like your DS, most rewarding part of the job. He has great parents too I imsginr😊

@Sunrise234

Dentists / orthodontist? Patient (my child) has to wear a mask until actually in the chair, and have their temperature checked before being allowed in.

My dentist is still not opening. I have tried several others who aren’t open yet either and I’ve not heard when they will be. It must be different around the country.

Yes, there seems to be a lot of variation. Our dentist is only seeing emergencies. Orthodontist reopened a couple of weeks ago - DC’s appointment is next week, I’ve just had to send an email confirming that we will abide by all the Covid measures they’ve implemented

@nellodee 😂maybe it is Donald. Or Gavin.

Me too, OP. I work in alt provision, with kids from multiple towns and cities, am pushing 50, obese, have high blood pressure and an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation.

I'm genuinely afraid that going to work could kill me and my son will grow up without a Mom.

@itsgettingweird, your son sounds amazing. I don't think any reasonable person would write off his strengths because of his shortcomings.

Unfortunately, we have a great many unreasonable people to deal with.

Not mentioning any names, but follow my eyes.

@commentatorz

Yes I know what SEN is, but if you do not define the problem in the first place I cannot provide the solution. Once you've though further about your made up example of this otherwise genius who cant add 2 and 5 together do let me know and I'll give you the best outcome.

Until a child has been assessed the SEN and the extent of the SEN is unknown. Teachers don't always know enough for a problem to be defined in the first place. It only when a teacher is marking work at primary level do they notice a difference in learning. Through various tests they notice.

At secondary level, if things haven't been picked up which they do, and your "knowledge" demonstrates why kids do fall through the gaps, these differences get harder to detect, and by which time it's nearer to the time they are studying for their GCSE's. That is of course, if things get picked up. The lazy narrative is often aimed at these pupils as well.

Or they get written off as "naughty" because they ask questions that you don't like, and not the earlier ones I posted. Or that tapping is because of something else. Is it out of boredom? Is it for attention? Is it because of something else?

Does anyone read commentatorz and think, "Damn, I love that poster, they really tell it like it is?"

😂😂😂 someone started a thread wondering why people troll. I hope they read it.

I just think what kind of life must someone lead to take the time to go onto an Internet forum and say things to try and ‘wind’ total strangers up!

@mumsneedwine, I would love to live in a world where I didn't think that it's most important decision makers spent all their times on places like mumsnet.

@itsgettingweird well done your son will be a great success. No one really needs to know much about English anyway (along as they can speak and read it), do his subject matter knowledge is skewed to the scalable, desirable technologies that will be in demand for decades to come.

If they aren't disruptive, it doesnt matter what you do to focus on them as they will fail Maths anyway, so better to concentrate on the other children.

Ahhh yes spoken like a true teacher!!

Maybe you should go into teaching after all. See how long you last after your pupils aren’t making enough progress. I’m sure your head of department, ofsted, head teacher and their parents would understand if you decided not to teach the lower ability pupils in the class.

@commentatorz 'dummies class'? Are you for real. What a very unpleasant thing to say.
I can't even comment as I'm so disgusted with your language. Keep away from education as a career I beg you.

@Sunrise234 but that's your problem, you're looking at this through far-left tinted spectacles and trying to level down your class to appease a child who fundamentally cannot learn the subject.

Your class would make far more progress,and as result your SLT would pat you on the back,if you concentrated on raising median attainment in your class rather than directing your efforts to a single child.

@mumsneedwine ah also faux-outrage, another essential tool in the teacher's belt

I work in an infant school and largely worked from home because a) my year group wasn't allowed in and b) because I'm in the vulnerable category. I worked bloody hard and way more than my contracted hours!

I went in for the last week of term because my yr2s were allowed a day for their transition/graduation.

The COVID measures were pathetic!!! We had soap (quite a novelty) but it wasn't antibacterial, just bog standard and the staff that had been in all along, showed absolutely 0 social distancing!!!!

The children had to come in and leave their parents at the gate - lining up a metre or two apart and then the same going home but the bit in the middle was a free for all!!!!

I had to stop one teacher, who went to give them all a snack because we're not allowed the fruit delivery now, to tell her that I needed to sanitise their hands first!!!! They'd been touching all sorts!

We were allowed 15 children each day then.

We're going back to a bubble of 60+.

I'm over 50. I have asthma and one or two other health conditions.

I feel I'm being thrown under the bus.

Let's just hope my two children don't lose their mum because the government couldn't give a shit about people working in schools. With 0 PPE!

but that's your problem, you're looking at this through far-left tinted spectacles and trying to level down your class to appease a child who fundamentally cannot learn the subject.

@commentatorz
Explain to me exactly how I am doing this?
Which child am I trying to appease?
And where should this child go?
Do you think each class set has children of the exact same ability in all areas?

Again I would ask the legality of an employer refusing to allow an individual to follow government guidelines? Given that there are fines in place for failure to wear a mask in confined environments I for one would be wearing one and happily take on any threat of discipline.
The EIS would have a field day with that nonsense. Does anyone have an email or any written from their employer stating that they are not allowed to wear a mask

@commentatorz

The thing that would put me off teaching the most if the situation required it would be the extreme left-wing politics of the teaching profession itself. I've had a couple of friends who used to be teachers, who were effectively driven out by the "union says no, no Tories allowed" attitude of their peers.

That's the aspect that would concern me the most.

are you kidding me? It’s not the 1970s or 80s anymore - the teachers at my kids’ school are a complete mixture of left, right, apolitical and a few creationists who have privately discussed with 6th formers their blatant homophopia - bloody hell, teachers are no longer exclusively leftwing - that’s a cliche ...

Why would my SLT pat me on the back for raising median attainment?

I'm a secondary teacher too. I just think we have no choice but to get on with it. Kids can't stay home any longer.