Teachers could be superspreaders due to lack of mitigation measures admits Matt Hancock

[noblegiraffe]

Ok, he didn’t say it outright, but he admitted that what was hoped to stop coronavirus spreading in schools was teachers maintaining 2m distance from pupils at all times.

Teachers have been saying for months that this is impossible due to small classrooms where there just isn’t enough space to be 2m away from your front row of students. It’s also impossible to support a child from 2m away when you need to see what they are doing, but literally zero thought has been given to this.

But that’s it. That’s all the protection that will be given to teachers - an impossible directive to social distance.

Matt Hancock said this morning “The principle is that we want to keep certain teachers socially distanced from the pupils because there are all sorts of circumstances where a teacher might need to teach classes that are in different bubbles within the school.”

Secondary teachers will routinely be teaching all year groups in a school. Supply teachers will be going between schools.

“My answer to you is that it is the social distancing between the teacher and pupils which is the goal here, but our total focus is on getting the schools back”

Getting the schools back. Not getting them back safely. Not ensuring that they stay open and that staff and pupils stay safe.

www.tes.com/news/hancock-keep-supply-teachers-distanced-pupils

There won't be a secondary school in the country where they've gone for a bizarre model of teachers in single year groups. How could they?

Like pp said, if only they'd be honest and admit that there are no bubbles and no sociak distancing in secondary schools and (almost) no hand washing facilities, at least we wouldn't feel gaslighted on top of scared.

So many people have brought up the rota system, Government just don’t want to fund it. It’s so short sighted. Bubbles should be small, 12-15 max.

Thanks for highlighting this @noblegiraffe !

Yes, "certain teachers" has to mean "all secondary teachers and anyone covering PPA (teacher statutory preparation time) in primary.

And cover supervisors in secondary. And learning support.

We’ve got teachers who are contracted to teach in different schools within our MAT. It’s not only supply teachers who go between schools.

@DonaldTrumpsChopper

Thing is though, what would your solution be? We have to get children back to school, for the sake of their education and mental health.

Many of us have been back at work, dealing with colleagues and the public with limited protection and having to manage social distancing for months now. We've just had to find ways around it.

Would you not reopen schools? Genuine question.

But if social distancing is impossible-we are setting schools up to fail.

We can’t have social distancing being the only mitigation of risk in schools as it just can’t happen.

Secondary teachers
Primary PPA teachers
Most primary support staff
Specialist teachers in primary e.g. sports/music coaches
Peripatetic specialist teachers and external agencies e.g. instrumental teachers, SALT, educational psychologists, SPLD teachers, sensory service teachers, behaviour support teachers

That's quite a lot of 'certain teachers'.

2m is a red herring. www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3223

There is not some magical barrier at 2m that stops Covid dead. It is about distance, but also about duration and the density of people. The closer you are, the more virus you will breathe in, but virus can move over much longer distances. There may be less virus at 3m away than at 2m away, but if you have 5 people within 3m, you may well have the same dosage as one person at under 2m. If you have 30 people in a class, speaking at volume, for an hour, it will not make a great deal of distance if you put 2m between you and them.

Many of us have been back at work, dealing with colleagues and the public with limited protection and having to manage social distancing for months now. We've just had to find ways around it.

As I've said before, there are many ways around it but the government won't fund extra teachers or allow schools to use alternative spaces.

"Finding ways around it" is, strangely enough, much easier with a budget - and in most workplaces there's been a budget. Why not schools?

The answer is that it would cost too much and the money has already been handed out to the cronies, the eat out to help out scheme and other such spaffings.

Therefore the course of action chosen is to play a fanfare and then run fast from the responsibility.

Institut Pasteur research shows we have ONE - only one - effective covid treatment/vaccine at the moment: staying at home.

Their analysis shows that the lockdown has had a major impact on the spread of SARS-CoV-2, reducing the reproduction number of the virus by 77%.

Primaries should be back - taking over local parks, halls, outdoor spaces. Outdoor waterproof gear should be on the school uniform lists. Teachers and all support staff in masks / visors.

Secondary should be online live lessons. Vulnerable in school. Teachers can host their onlines from school if no tech at home. No change to timetable or lessons, same teachers but internet. School open with tech and wifi for any secondary pupils without it.
Fornite-ly in person meet ups per class bubble, say 2 hours, like a work retreat.

100s of secondaries ran assemblies, exams, all lessons, extra curricular, charity work, fun events, school-wide initiatives via Live between March and June.

Those who can WFH should be WFH. Despite what government seem to think, 1000s are working hard from home and productivity for them as normal.

As for masks, even the English scientist concur that this virus is extremely infectious for the 48 hours before symptoms and that exhaled droplets spread it and the most easily infected cells are in the nasal cavity - that’s how we catch it.

Teachers could be superspreaders due to lack of mitigation measures admits Matt Hancock

Ok, he didn’t say it outright

So bit of a misleading headline then, no?
He said this but OK he didn't say this but I'll say he did anyway for clickbait and scaremongering

@SE13Mummy

Secondary teachers Primary PPA teachers Most primary support staff Specialist teachers in primary e.g. sports/music coaches Peripatetic specialist teachers and external agencies e.g. instrumental teachers, SALT, educational psychologists, SPLD teachers, sensory service teachers, behaviour support teachers

That's quite a lot of 'certain teachers'.

SEN school teachers. With certain children it's impossible.

Even something as simple as ventilating a room isn’t always that simple in a school. Many older buildings will have no ventilation system or windows that open very far.
I know a school that has windows that are painted shut and a site that is not secure so can’t open the external door. Not much ventilation going on there

I would like to see some experimenting, like taking back just primary first (like CountryRoses suggests) for two weeks, then having secondary on a rota 2 days in, with the fifth day for online learning. Fewer pupils in. If it turns out actually everything is absolutely fine, then it's taken about a month to work that out. Instead of shovelling everyone in on day one and hoping it all works out.

I work with non compliant children absolutely impossible to sd and I will work across bubbles.

@Nellodee

2m is a red herring. www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3223

There is not some magical barrier at 2m that stops Covid dead. It is about distance, but also about duration and the density of people. The closer you are, the more virus you will breathe in, but virus can move over much longer distances. There may be less virus at 3m away than at 2m away, but if you have 5 people within 3m, you may well have the same dosage as one person at under 2m. If you have 30 people in a class, speaking at volume, for an hour, it will not make a great deal of distance if you put 2m between you and them.

And this is what many teachers are concerned about.

We know full well how hot and stuffy many classrooms get in the winter, how many windows have been painted shut, how low ceilings make it feel stuffier and that many classrooms from the 50's were designed for 20 children.

All the hand washing in the world won't stop air transmission.

Not just thinking about us; it goes both ways, that we can pass it to our pupils.

I'm PPA SEN.

Working across bubbles but with 2-4 staff tas in each aswell.

I don’t think primary is particularly low risk either, actually. All teachers in my school can go in all classes. They’ll be mixing-maths sets, phonics sets, duties etc

Secondary have it worse, but primary definitely aren’t in a bubble of 30, no mixing.

God I hate reading stuff like this.

It makes me worry about going back on Tuesday. But I have no choice otherwise I’ll lose my job. And children have to be back. So there’s no other option - it’s just a bit scary.

Part time one week in school, one week online would be an obvious solution

This might be a good idea actually

I only invigilate

But ive no idea how exams will work, theres hardly any ventilation lots of children and no social distancing from the point of view of invigilating although to be fair we don’t hang about

We’re like sharks...permanently moving

No "only" about it. Public exams can't run without you, Rufus. It's an important job.

@RufustheSniggeringReindeer if you have to follow the rules of other adults in school you should be in your 2m safe area at the front of the hall and not move from there

We’re like sharks...permanently moving

Off topic but I always saw invigilators as the ghosts from Pac-Man

@Quaagars

Teachers could be superspreaders due to lack of mitigation measures admits Matt Hancock

Ok, he didn’t say it outright

So bit of a misleading headline then, no?
He said this but OK he didn't say this but I'll say he did anyway for clickbait and scaremongering

Played for and got.

I took my thread title from your favourite paper, The Daily Mail.