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?

You mean the ones who isolated except for going to work (in school) from 1st June?

The ones who then went into quarantine for 2 weeks to ensure that they hadn't caught anything from school, so they could visit elderly parents, once?

The ones who have 2 weeks of cautious normal life - a little shopping in masks, seeing 1 or 2 others at 2m+ outdoors before going back into quarantine so as not to carry the virus back into school?

Ah yeah, I've done that too.

@Parky04

Then resign and do something else that you deem to be safe. You don't have to work as a teacher.

Be careful what you wish for, so many teachers have resigned that some schools will be unable to open fully for that reason alone.

But they would have resigned in May and will be leaving in August. The next round of resignations happens in October, so I would imagine that many teachers will be waiting to see how safe schools are before making the decision.

If it's customary for secondary school children to spit at teachers they need to be expelled.

Where do you think children go when they’re expelled? Do you think they just disappear off into the ether? PRUs exist and, surprise surprise, teachers work there. But by your logic, those teachers shouldn’t ask for any kind of PPE either.

Surely you understand that behaviour management is a massively complex issue that “just expel them?!” doesn’t solve.

Extraordinary. All the secondary schools I looked at when mine were due for secondary transfer had five or six rows of desks and at the front, behind a desk sat the teacher.

Mine is wider than it is long. It fits 4 rows of 4 desks (2 students per desk). I estimate 9m by 6m. Really not very big.

[quote DishingOutDone]@noblegiraffe - There's another thread on the go just now about troll spotting. I'm useless I have no idea who you are calling a troll.[/quote]
Oh the wankers who are suddenly popping up posting the same shit that has been thrown at teachers over and over and over knowing that teachers will bite because it’s such blatant bollocks.

And then there’s the facebook group of amateur lobbyists who regularly send people over here to post the same tired sound bites on threads about children needing to go back to school and teachers/unions being unreasonable.

@Charliescar

Because we cannot carry on in total lockdown. It’s unfair on our children in so many ways . My 12 year old needs school .

But that is the nature of pandemics. The virus doesn't care whether you think it is fair on your children or not.

Extraordinary. All the secondary schools I looked at when mine were due for secondary transfer had five or six rows of desks and at the front, behind a desk sat the teacher

And when you were looking around these schools did you actually measure the distance from the teachers desk to the front desk?
Most teachers have had to do this in their classrooms. I know I thought it would be easy but the tape measure said otherwise.

I would imagine that many teachers will be waiting to see how safe schools are before making the decision.

Yes, that's where I am. We've done the maths, we can just about squeak through on one salary for a year. There will be other jobs 'later' or whenever things are safe. Would be a shame, I love my current school and colleagues.

@noblegiraffe oh I see. Thanks (I am a bit slow on the uptake!!)

I think the main difference is that one is exposed for up to an hour, in a small space with up to 32 students. Some classrooms don’t have any ventilation. Teenagers are always touching each other, hugging etc, boys and girls. They cough, blow their noses and don’t follow the best hygiene sometimes. There are very limited toilet facilities, hand washing etc. In theory a teacher could spend a good part of the lesson getting students to wash their hands, maintain some sort of distance etc
It will be impossible to distance in my classroom, or in the corridors. I think the boarders will be fine, but once the day students mix in, who knows what will happen? I have always provided tissues in my room and buy my own anti bac gel and wipes to clean the desks etc in winter.
State schools with huge numbers coming in on public transport could also be problematic.
While I am personally quite happy to be back in school, I do think it is important those that don’t work in a secondary school have a better understanding of how difficult it can be to manage teenagers and the challenges that could potentially arise.
Fingers crossed it all goes well for everyone and we can all get on with life by supporting our young people and their families.

I had my resignation letter written, but my DHs job was under threat of redundancy- and he persuaded me to hold off to see what it was like "after all, the government needs teachers, they'll have to look after you"
My DH is currently being head hunted and his job is no longer under threat of redundancy. I have a nice WFH job I am qualified for that I'm eyeing up. Oops there goes another physics teacher...

Turnuptheheat - it’s surprisingly hard to permanently exclude a child. It can be challenged and often is. Plus, the child then has to go somewhere else. They still have to be educated.

@TurnUpTheHeat

Those children that spit, that you want to be expelled, they end up at my school.

Where they spit at me. Hit me. Punch me. Slash the tyres on my car. Smash my laptop. Rip up flooring in my classroom. Smash the classroom windows.

They don't just disappear. People like me still have to teach them.

2155User - I thought PRU's had quite low ratios. If pupils behave like that there need to be consequences - it's very sad there aren't. Perhaps we need to accept that not every young person is suited to formal education post 14/15. If they behave as you say they do what is the actual point.

@TurnUpTheHeat

They do have low ratios. But unfortunately as the pupils are older (14/15/16) some of the boys are near enough 6ft so require at least 3 adults to restrain them or remove them from class, which simply is viable 90% of the time.
Police won't get involved as 'it's a school issue'

It's really really sad. These children do not fit our very ridged system and are not designed for it, and need more than I can give.

Extraordinary. All the secondary schools I looked at when mine were due for secondary transfer had five or six rows of desks and at the front, behind a desk sat the teacher

You know the teacher doesn’t usually sit there though, right? They get up, teach, move around the room to check understanding, talk to pupils...

@TurnUpTheHeat

Waiting for your solution to my classroom size problem...