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?

I know. Those damn unions wanting safety for their members.

What are they thinking?

I actually am staggered that the nursing council fought for better PPE for their nurses too. Why did they do that. The cost how dare they want extra funding and pay rises to meet inflation.

Oh hang on, they did that. Yet everyone supported it. They clapped for them.

The issue is that teachers are not seen as the dedicated and worthwhile me,engrossing of human society they are.

They aren't even seen as human.

They are purely seen as people who educate our children and should just get on with it. They don't matter. Students do.

But yet without the teachers the students wouldn't matter. They are the ones who shake their futures for them.

Why are we feeding the trolls?

@Friendsoftheearth

The frothing, fictional narrative you have about teachers is staggering

Not all teachers fedup many teachers I know personally and professionally are an inspiration. Sadly however there is a minority that lack a can do spirit and can not think of solutions.

It’s the government-specifically the Education Minister-who should be finding the solutions to reopening schools; that is what he is paid to do.

I can personally think of good solutions, for example I agree with all of these measures that the pp said will be happening in Germany....

The authorities listened to the german teachers' union when they said what they wanted for their members
e.g. the most vulnerable teachers allowed to WFH
Masks in corridors and optional for staff & students in classrooms,
with compulsory masks for secondary in the state with the highest cases
The govt provided extra money for cleaning, equipment, teacher training in online as backup etc

It’s pointless though, isn’t it? Having me thinking of those solutions? Without government funding and approval, they won’t be happening, no matter how sensible.

I will be back in September, teaching my full time hours in person as I have been since June.

I think people are naive in thinking going back with no real attempts to mitigate the spread of Covid in schools won’t lead to school closures again.

It will be interesting comparing how Germany and England fare in the Autumn.

Here is the document I was talking about re schools and Covid.

Scroll down to the reporting bit.

www.gov.uk/guidance/steps-to-take-following-the-death-of-a-colleague-in-childrens-services

@Friendsoftheearth

I will just be so glad next month when schools are open, everyone is back and we can all move on. This whole debacle/divide has been even worse than brexit. If that is even possible.

Roll on the end of September and beyond!

By "beyond" you mean when the R value increases and bubbles/schools are closing because of suspected or confirmed cases, presumably?

You have a bizarre idea that everything is going to be fine in September, that the virus won't be bothering us anymore and we'll all be skipping along merrily as normal.

Very, very odd. And if you're part of Us for Them or Them for Us or whatever it's called, I'm worried that this idea that everything in the world will go back to normal in September is what's being said in this group, because it isn't going to happen.

I think some people are stuck at the child stage of development where they still hi k teachers only exist as teachers - cannot comprehend them as people in their own right. It's a joke that they think teachers live in a cupboard at school and they are shocked when they see them out of school
Normally people grow our of this about age 10.

And that's the point.

When there s a death and reporting they'll look at what employers can do to make it safer.

Take action if breach if H and S.

What breaches can be made? There is no funding for hygiene measure, no SD, no PPE. There is no safety measures other than bubbles of at least 30.

@WhyNotMe40

I think some people are stuck at the child stage of development where they still hi k teachers only exist as teachers - cannot comprehend them as people in their own right. It's a joke that they think teachers live in a cupboard at school and they are shocked when they see them out of school Normally people grow our of this about age 10.

that's actually so true!

Sorry for typos

I would not feel safe with the same measures as Germany in place, because German teachers have something I do not - faith in our Test and Trace program to find and deal with clusters promptly and effectively. It's not my fault I don't have this faith, it's absolutely the fault of our incompetent government.

I will still go back to school in September, but as to feeling confident in the measure's our government is taking, well, that ship has sailed.

*measures

@SaltyAndFresh that was definitely not my intention! I'm very lucky in that apart from the pregnancy, I have no underlying health conditions and neither do my husband or daughter (who has been back at nursery since June). I realise it must be much more difficult for people with chronic conditions or living with vulnerable relatives. I think at the moment it's a big dip into the unknown, and it is risky. I'm just going to be as careful as I can be, and I'm very lucky that if I do end up feeling very vulnerable, I know my head will be supportive. Working in a great school helps enormously, and he has shared everything he has put in place with us (and parents). I know some schools aren't getting this, so it's no surprise staff are very nervous.

I am so sorry. Im a parent and I agree completely, it’s not safe for secondary to go back as normal.
The thing is primary and secondary are two totally different entities, but it’s all lumped together as safe. Most primary can and will be safe. Secondary, Totally different story.

[quote Sparkles715]@Friendsoftheearth but teachers WANT schools to reopen. We are not children haters! We want schools to reopen (and so do our unions!) but the government have been wholly inadequate in their issuing of guidance. Give my school enough money to employ extra cleaning staff, for example. The government are refusing to provide any extra funding to schools whilst throwing millions, billions at other sectors. We just want more sinks and more cleaning and some PPE in some circumstances when there is bad ventilation and no SD. Why on earth would you be against this? Let schools open in a safer way and they will stay open! I am not just a teacher. I am a mother. I want my own child to be safe and in school![/quote]
100% this. Agree with every word.

Also, why on earth would the unions want schools to stay closed??? Unions ARE the teachers, teachers ARE what make up the unions.

I do not know a single colleague who wants schools to stay shut. I WANT children to come back. Desperately. I want to be back teaching them face to face. I want this for the children I teach and for my own secondary-aged children. No one disputes this.

But what I also want are measures that protect me and the children. Not just the attitude of 'Oh well. If you were professional and really wanted the children to be learning, you'd sacrifice safety.'

That's madness.

The news today is reporting that Nick Gibb (schools minister) has said head teachers can decide whether staff can wear masks in schools. So they are already starting to backtrack and delegate responsibility to schools for decisions that the government should be making.

This was in the news yesterday, I mentioned it earlier.
I’m worried about the responsibility put on HTs as well. If you aren’t in a MAT you are very alone. Oh wait...

The thing I don’t think people get is that we’re going back in September regardless, I’ll be going back full time until the government tell me to stop.. I’d just rather make that inevitability a bit safer for me and the children.

It’s funny because there was a thread on Relationships the other day of someone asking if you’d date a teacher, and lots of people were saying “oh teachers have a reputation for working constantly and not seeing their families” (they weren’t saying they believed this!) but it just makes me laugh how teachers are somehow simultaneously lazy and also prioritise work over their families

I am pretty annoyed by that report from schools studied in July being used to justify schools being safe in September. When we just had 25% of year 10s in, then I felt absolutely safe. I think we could have easily accommodated lots more students perfectly safely. I do not think that the fact there was no transmission in those circumstances has any bearing whatsoever on whether there will be transmission under the completely different circumstances we are looking at moving forwards.

The fact that the government are already leaking stuff from an unfinished study tells you all you need to know about their anxieties.

[quote epythymy]@BigChocFrenzy yes because the government statisticians have done a brilliant job so far of getting it all right. Speaking of these people though, Neil Fergusson said 2/3rd of these people would have died within a year. Relying on statistics and the lies they can tell is why we're in this mess.[/quote]
....
This was a detailed analysis by professional government statisticians

A strategy of ignoring the experts and going by "feelz" and ideology is quite childish

Oh has @Friendsoftheearth shift finished? Some people don’t realise that amateur lobbyists of the ‘pandemic is a hoax’ type level of thinking send posters over to specific Mumsnet threads to repeat a list of shitty talking points.

They should just be directed to the Toby Young shagging network. Stop them wanking over winding up teachers on here.

@BigChocFrenzy I'm not ignoring the experts and going by "feels". I'm going by actual real world experience of working with the virus as well as other experts who just happen to disagree with the one you've found. Because this is not actually proveable either way. It's opinion based in science and therefore conclusions can be made either way. The difference between us is that you've found studies to confirm your bias whereas I prefer ones that back up my actual experience. Could both be wrong

I remember seeing the news of China reopening schools and they took the temperature of everyone before they could enter.
Why are we not doing this?
Was it deemed inaccurate or something?

I hope BJ meant what he said about prioritising schools above pubs etc if cases rise

ft schools need to be the priority; close everything else if need be to avoid blended education