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?

As amusing as this has been I feel we have a poster who has not a clue about education and just likes a good argument. I'm all for debate but not when it is with someone unpleasant to SEN students.
So back to the OP. And ignoring the 'expert' in our midst.
I think it will be interesting to see what happens when we reopen and kids go home and tell their parents their reality. Germany closed 5 schools v quickly due to outbreaks and they have PPE. I will be wearing everything I can get my hands on.

Also just to add given that it would seem that majority on here are English let’s just see how Scotland gets on this week.

Again I would ask the legality of an employer refusing to allow an individual to follow government guidelines?

Government guidelines specifically say that masks are not necessary in schools and that schools should make sure that kids have a place to take them off and put away/dispose of as necessary as they get off the bus where they are required to wear them

A teacher going rogue and wearing a mask won’t make much difference to safety in a packed classroom with 30 teenagers all breathing in their direction. It needs the teens to wear them too.

@Hopethiswilldo but why does it have to be one of the other ? Why can't we have a plan to go back with PPE and maybe some money spent on porter cabins for extra room. Can't magic up more teachers but I'd give up my PPA to take extra classes if it gave me space.

@Sunrise234 no I'm saying the exact opposite of this, that the class will have a large variance of abilities. By focusing on one child who is an outlier in the sense that their ability is far below the others, you are diverting time and effort away from the majority in a futile effort to prove that you can raise the slowest child's attainment level to that of their contemporaries.

@mumsneedwine you are right. I thought it was funny at first as it’s so easy to catch them out but it is not fair on OP that they are talking so much crap on their thread. And they will try and increase their insults to get more attention so I don’t want anyone ending up getting upset over a troll who is more than likely a teenager.

Right I'm done. I've enjoyed this tete-a-tete but I have to prepare for my day tomorrow... otherwise the country isn't going to receive the taxes to pay your wages next month

@commentatorz so you're a civil servant. Working from home then 😂.

[quote commentatorz]@Sunrise234 no I'm saying the exact opposite of this, that the class will have a large variance of abilities. By focusing on one child who is an outlier in the sense that their ability is far below the others, you are diverting time and effort away from the majority in a futile effort to prove that you can raise the slowest child's attainment level to that of their contemporaries.[/quote]
Actually you work to raise the attainment of all through differentiation.

It's not one or the other.

My ds has an ehcp. He had 1:1 in English. (Plus some other subjects with heavy language)

We need to move from the fixed ideas of send being learning difficulties and being intelligent means no send.

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.

This is hilarious - now we know the real reason for the high rates of attrition in the teaching profession!...

Sorry to be a bore here but my issue is that the longer kiddies are off school, the bigger the risk to many kids from low income families (of which there are many) - some young teens on my estate are developing drug habits - some parents are too knackered/busy/depressed to be on top of it - then we have the socialisation/mental health of kids and the widening gap in educational attainment.

I am not a scientist but maybe a part time return in September for all kids should be considered? Teachers wearing visors, ‘bubbles’ of friendship groups, consistent enforced hand hygiene - I understand it’s a logistical nightmare and I totally get the anxiety (I’ve worked through an outbreak, I’ve had Covid and seen a lot of death) but I also think that schools will be relatively safe if staff and students follow the rules that will be put in place to protect.

70% of the staff at my workplace (carehome) contracted it, we range in age from 18-65, none of us were seriously ill, a lot were asymptomatic and there were huge variations in our health and fitness. You will not be as up close and personal with people and the rate and risk of infections will be much less. I am not diminishing your concerns but just trying to be encouraging

@whiskybysidedoor did you clap for the NHS too, or were you pissed off that some of your important taxpayer money went on procuring them adequate PPE?

You really are beyond selfish if you can't support schools in being safe. Don't you have a child in school? Awful attitude.

@MadameTuffington

Sorry to be a bore here but my issue is that the longer kiddies are off school, the bigger the risk to many kids from low income families (of which there are many) - some young teens on my estate are developing drug habits - some parents are too knackered/busy/depressed to be on top of it - then we have the socialisation/mental health of kids and the widening gap in educational attainment.

I am not a scientist but maybe a part time return in September for all kids should be considered? Teachers wearing visors, ‘bubbles’ of friendship groups, consistent enforced hand hygiene - I understand it’s a logistical nightmare and I totally get the anxiety (I’ve worked through an outbreak, I’ve had Covid and seen a lot of death) but I also think that schools will be relatively safe if staff and students follow the rules that will be put in place to protect.

70% of the staff at my workplace (carehome) contracted it, we range in age from 18-65, none of us were seriously ill, a lot were asymptomatic and there were huge variations in our health and fitness. You will not be as up close and personal with people and the rate and risk of infections will be much less. I am not diminishing your concerns but just trying to be encouraging

Thank you And speaking as someone who has a lot of contact with carers due to a loved one's needs, thank you so much for everything you have done throughout this. Your post did read in a reassuring way.

@giggly

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

Giggly it is Government guidance - the government do not want teachers wearing masks RTF

Yes I do have emails

I'm a secondary teacher. Really struggling to understand the lack of empathy here from some posters. Everyone is entitled to be scared!

I wasn’t scared until I read this... (pic attached)
So essentially, I am relying on the antibac wipes in my desk and the bottle of disinfectant in my cupboard because you cannot distance from 30 children, many of whom have siblings in other “bubbles” and are socialising with other children outside of school.
I mean, fuck me. Is there that many other jobs where you’re required to be around 30 people with absolutely zero PPE at the moment?!
I doubt I’ll get it... I’m in an area with low numbers. I’m also young, with no health conditions that I know of. I love my job so much and my overriding feeling is excited to get back but yeah, sometimes I am scared.

Badtattoo - teacher for over twenty years here. I have been to a very remote campsite with my kids. We even took our own loo. I have not been to a pub or anywhere outside my own village since the end of term, apart from that campsite. Now we are back I am isolating again.

Because I need to visit my dad who is isolating. And I know once I go back to school I won't see him. Similarly, my mum, who has vascular dementia, lives with me and my kids. Once we are back at work I won't see anyone and i'll have to implement a regime of dumping clothes and showering before going to see her - for me and my kids. We'll spend time making a "change" porch this coming week.

So i've basically been nowhere and have no prospect of going anywhere. It would be nice if teachers could get food delivery slots, asI still have to do that.

@Rosewhite12

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. They need PPE. Because they are at risk of viral overload and a drained immune system. Teachers are not generally at risk of this. They are more at risk of getting the virus. But the virus poses a less than 1% risk of death for most people.

Face coverings, in my opinion, have only been brought into shops and public areas to make it seem safer for people to go out. In reality they do not vastly decrease the risk of infection.

On Covid wards yes. I've been to three outpatients appointments during lockdown. For each one I had to complete a pre appointment questionnaire, answer questions face to face at entrance, have my temperature checked, put on a mask, was then escorted to an empty waiting room and then taken into the appointment where the staff were in full PPE and 2 metre social distancing was in place.

They weren't treating Covid patients shedding the virus yet still had that level of protection.

Yr5teacher Anyone can get tested can’t they? What does that mean, that tests won’t be available for people without symptoms?

I was perusing jobs website today and saw an odd thing: masses of TA and school admin jobs!

In normal times these jobs are so sought after (school hours and all that) that my dcs’ school made it a condition of applying to be a TA that people had to do a stint as a dinner lady first (because dinner ladies were hard to come by). And there was once an actual fight (well, middle-class mum pushing) in the playground over a TA job. Often the TAs were more qualified than the teachers (which led to some friction on occasion).

Anyway, it’s a sign of how there is fear in the air that clearly a lot of TAs/admin people have quit.

I don’t know what the solution is. Local lockdowns and mask wearing seem the only way forward. Universal education is a great achievement of a society, even if it’s not always great. Throwing it down the drain would be a disaster.

Irma I looked too after a comment on here. 7 jobs, all admin / TA except one Head. No teaching roles. So unless you live where I do same thing.

Bubbles of 300 for me. 6 of them. But I have my hand sanitiser so I'll be fine.

@MarshaBradyo it means there won’t be routine testing for staff, for example - I really wasn’t expecting there to be, it’s the “schools will be relying primarily on hygiene and distancing” which is a bit 😬 because I don’t have a huge amount of faith in either.

Not to be a total martyr, but I have made my own individual risk assessment for myself and I would rather take the risk than have my class miss any more school

I think relying on 'hygiene and distancing' is fucking scary given they actually mean 'hygiene and distancing'

Very much like the protective ring they threw round care homes, which turned out to be bin bags for aprons

A failing identified in care homestead that staff were not bring routinely tested , with or without symptoms. The government plans ( believe It when I see it) to roll out 90 minute tests to priority settings and to use these to identify asymptomatic staff. Nick Gibb said today that this is not planned for schools, because we can wash our hands.