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?

Over the course of my teaching career, I've taught a few children who have had parents die or become seriously ill or seen parents rushed to hospital for some reason. Without exception, it has messed up the child's mental health, unfortunately- not in the same way but there has always been a negative effect on the child. When this happens at a critical time, e.g. an exam year, it's especially bad.

Now, imagine the child might feel a level of responsibility for "bringing the virus home from school" (like the government adverts telling teenagers to watch out for their grandparents).

If schools reopen as normal, it is unfortunately likely this will be the reality for a (hopefully small) number of students. This is something I'm really concerned about. I'm not concerned about children having to wear masks. They will manage. It's not abusive.

I am also worried about the mental health effects of students feeling unsafe in school and unplanned school closures/time off due to cases within a bubble. I'm also worried about the educational effects of unplanned school closures.

Far better, for secondary students at least, to have part time school with organised blended learning and PPE to try and work as hard as possible to reduce outbreaks in school.

I do think primary and secondary need different solutions. It's not one size fits all. I want schools to open in a sustainable and safe way, not schools to open briefly and then shut again.

*@HerNameWasEliza How do you think that list was compiled? We haven't had all kids back at school in this country, and very few places in the world have had kids back at school under our conditions. Do you think the figures on a situation that has not yet occurred are likely to be accurate? Or reassuring?

I really do appreciate you trying to make us feel better. And honestly, I don't think that a year from now, that many of us will know lots of dead teachers. That isn't my fear. My fear is that opening schools without decent distancing measures may add an additional 80,000 deaths to our overall toll. They won't be teachers, mostly. They will mostly be over 70, to be honest.

But my parents are over 70, and I have hopes they will live another 20 years, or maybe 30 years between the two of them.*

I'm not sure how the list was compiled but did wonder whether it was based more on what the job entails rather than any actual deaths so far - and looking at some of the professions you can rate that seemed to make sense.

I think the broader deaths argument is interesting but then we'd also need to consider the economic and mental health issues inherent with not getting the schools open - which we also know will lead to more deaths. The decision to keep the schools closed would be far from risk free - it simply pushes the risks elsewhere.

Oh, and for posters to come on and spout rubbish about how no teachers have died when that's not true is horrible and disrespectful to the teachers who have died actually.

@flojo73

'Students in other countries are managing fine with masks right down to the age of 3. Why are our kids such snowflakes that a simple piece of cloth makes them fall apart. When it might help keep their teachers friends and families from becoming ill?'

A simple peice of cloth will not prevent you from catching covid.

Actually the evidence shows that it wlill reduce both the amount of virus that will transmit (if the wearer is Covid positive) and reduce the amount you breath in (if the wearer is in an enclosed room with a Covid positive person). Not perfectly, as it is not PPE, but may well reduce the amount of virus to below the infectious dose, depending on other variables. Easy and works.

I think this is an easy question so the fact that you're comparing contact with 1 and contact with 30 is neither here nor there

Thing is @HerNameWasEliza, secondary teachers will be seeing around 300 students per week, all of whom will be mixing in corridors and many in the community, with no PPE in school.

My children go to a private school - 15 or less in each class. One of my children needs to go back to school for their mental health but do you know what....I shall feel absolutely shitty taking them in September as things stand now and shall remove my children at the first sign of teachers dropping like flies as I don’t want to be party to this. All of their teachers are amazing and so committed. I don’t want them to risk their lives to teach my child. I’d rather have even smaller groups in part time with some online learning, half days so they don’t have to faff around with a socially distanced lunchtime, everyone in masks...whatever it takes so that no teacher feels anxiety going into work. Everyone else is given a COVID safe workplace (and has channels to complain if they don’t). Teachers should not be expected to do this and, as a society we should do the right thing and make a stand about this even if it causes a bit of extra hardship to us.

The government has made many shitty decisions and this is another one. It will end is disaster for us all.

The biggest study of how children transmit covid has been done in South Korea. Teenagers transmitted it the same amount as adults. Ten to twelve year olds transmitted it more than adults. Children under 10 transmitted it less but of course if you are in close contact with 30+ of them in a room designed to teach 26 for hours on end, there is still going to be a significant risk!

We do not complain incessantly about children's screen time at all. As a parent it bugs me that my DCs would look at screens all day,

As a parent I make sure my DD isn’t on minecraft all day and night and as a parent/teacher I would suggest other parents do the same.

"A simple peice of cloth will not prevent you from catching covid."

It's not there to protect the wearer (although it does to a certain extent), it's to stop the wearer from spreading germs, by stopping the spread of the particles of spit early on, and meaning only the tiniest particles escape, and don't go too far.
When people are asymptomatic, that means they are much less likely to infect anyone without even realising, just by speaking or shouting.

It helps a little bit to wear a mask to prevent getting the virus too, but it's massively more effective if everyone is wearing them, so you get both protections.

"But each of those rooms would have to be hired, safety checked to 'school' standards, equipped, staffed and cleaned.

The Government has provided no extra funding, and also specifically prohibited schools from using other spaces "

Exactly. They would need all that, and all that would need proper funding from government. But I do believe that the investment would, long term, be better for everyone - for public health and for the economy too.

@HerNameWasEliza

I'm not convinced by the arguments about how many people teachers see - they will be apparently (and in the vast majority of cases actually) healthy people. Nurses in some places are in very close proximity with known, very sick people. It's not just the number of people you see that's relevant and it would be daft to try and compare like that. Would you rather teach a class of secondary school children who you really don't need to that close to or close proximity nurse and care for a very sick covid patient who you know is actively shedding virus? I think this is an easy question so the fact that you're comparing contact with 1 and contact with 30 is neither here nor there.

The question is, though, whether I would rather be a nurse, trained in the wearing of PPE, wearing full PPE and supported by their employer in donning, doffing and disposing of the PPE carefully, nursing a Covid patient in ward with full disinfection and cleaning protocols in place, or a teacher in front of 150 different teenagers (biologically adults) for an hour at a time, any of whom could be asymptomatic carriers, with no PPE, no social distancing, ineffective ventilation, poor cleaning and no provision for good hygiene practises such as handwashing, let alone any active misbehaviour in terms of spreading the virus such as intentional coughing or spitting.

You know what? I don't think it is that obvious after all. One is a 'the virus is definitely there' BUT there is very significant risk mitigation in place; the other is 'there is a 1 in 10 - 1 in 20 chance - at current population infection rates measured by the ONS survey - that someone in the class is carrying the virus and there is no risk mitigation in place'

Why Not - we cant just worry about the risks of Covid constantly. We all have to take risks in life . This is no way to live for anyone. most people will survive this just fine . We didn’t go to these extremes when swine flu was about , and the death rate was much higher . Everyone carried on with life and it disappeared.

Get off your high horse @Sunrise234. I said would ... if I let them.

Copied from a colleague:
From us working in the NHS...... thinking about my friends, who are teachers, about to return to work this week coming.

Dear Teachers, ❤️

We were terrified.
We were not ready.
We didn’t know what was to come.
We did not want to change our ways.
We couldn’t imagine what each day would look like.
We were stressed, exhausted, overwhelmed, and anxious.

But fast forward 5 months.

We are ok.
We have adapted.
We are stronger.
We are essential.
We feel our worth.
We make a difference and others know it.
We are proud to go to work.

I know many of you return to work in the coming weeks and it is scary, but I promise it will be okay. Be flexible, be strong, be creative, and be proud! You are so needed and remember that now more than ever these kids need your 💙 and support.

Just thought you could use a little encouragement from some people who have felt what you feel.

Love,
Your NHS friends
❤️💚💜💙💜

Sorry, tio be clear about the numbers:

ONS population survey (outside hospitals and care homes) estimated 1 in 1,500 last week and 1 in 1,900 this week were infected.

If a teacher teachers 5 different classes of 30 in a day - normal in secondary - then that means that, on average over the country, there is 1 in 10 to 1 in 20 (at least) chance than 1 of those pupils is currently infected. The risk is almost certainly higher in areas with current outbreaks, lower in less affected areas of the country.

@Michaelschofield

Why Not - we cant just worry about the risks of Covid constantly. We all have to take risks in life . This is no way to live for anyone. most people will survive this just fine . We didn’t go to these extremes when swine flu was about , and the death rate was much higher . Everyone carried on with life and it disappeared.

Ah, one of those. One who declares that the risk isn't there, and therefore takes no care at all to minimise the risks to others. From someone whose safety is wholly in the hands of others - because the risk to me, as a teacher, depends on the behaviour of those in my class - thanks.

Dear NHS friends, we wish we could have PPE like you do, especially when cleaning up a child who has had a toilet accident and can't dress the self or who needs first aid or who can't wipe their own nose.

We wish we didn't work in over crowded rooms where the windows haven't opened in years.

We wish we had a sink in the room.

We wish we had adequate toilet and hand washing facilities.

We wish we had social distancing.

We wish we had the same protection EVERY other worker in the UK is entitled to. Or every other person who goes into an enclosed space.

We make a difference and others know it

Sadly, i think this is a way in which attitudes to the NHS and attitudes to those who work in education are fundamentally different - I genuinely cannot see a point at which the population at large will value the teaching profession for what we do, however brave we are, and to a large extent regardless of how many of us fall ill or die over the coming months.

That poem is bollocks. Nurses have/had PPE.

We are ok.

Are all nurses and other NHS professional 'OK'? Really? Even those who are dead / long term sick?

@Michaelschofield

Please don’t suggest teenagers need masks. It’s bloody cruel to even suggest that . Stop living in fear . No child has transmitted it to a teacher .

Evidence?

65 teaching staff died during the peak.

Where is evidence for where each of those 6) contracted it?

Actual evidence. Not just speculation based on a non existence test and trace service at the time.

@cantkeepawayforever

We make a difference and others know it

Sadly, i think this is a way in which attitudes to the NHS and attitudes to those who work in education are fundamentally different - I genuinely cannot see a point at which the population at large will value the teaching profession for what we do, however brave we are, and to a large extent regardless of how many of us fall ill or die over the coming months.

Nurses = angels Teachers = villains

Perfect propaganda narrative.

@Michaelschofield

Why Not - we cant just worry about the risks of Covid constantly. We all have to take risks in life . This is no way to live for anyone. most people will survive this just fine . We didn’t go to these extremes when swine flu was about , and the death rate was much higher . Everyone carried on with life and it disappeared.

I'm not going into the comparison with flu. It's not flu. Risks, yes. But risks that are ignored is negligence. Risks that are mitigated against and assessed - yes. To pretend that everything is fine, and that only 2 staff out of a a school of maybe 200 staff (1% death rate you said) will die if it's allowed to run rampant, to pretend that is fine is - I don't know, but ostrich comes to mind. Especially when simple effective mitigations to reduce the risk can be done! Yet they have been explicitly forbidden by the gov because parents don't want to adapt. They don't want to have change, they want schools as normal because it will help them pretend everything will be fine.

What really disturbs me is how very successful this propaganda has been.

Secondary school teachers won't even be within two metres of the children in their classes. They will be several metres from the back row; probably two to three metres feom the front row. Marks on; windows open.

Nurses are within inches of various orifi, that belong to those who are undoubtedly ill, with or without covid.

Passing youngsters in corridors will be momentary to the infinitesimal numbers who may have covid.

The risks of covid are minimal. The Zoe app presently estimates 1600 cases per day in the UK. 1600/66000000 x 100 = 0.0024%.

I just don't understand what there is to be scared of.