Wish I wasn't a teacher because of Covid

[NebularNerd]

In my family/friends circle, I am the only one who will be face to face with 150+ people per day with no PPE, no social distancing, nothing.

I have one relative who is not expecting to return to the office this year.
Another who now only works in the office two days per week, in a building where numbers are severely restricted, one way systems, spaced out desks etc.
Another friend who is also able to wfh for the foreseeable future.

I can't help but think that had I made a different career choice I would not now be faced with contracting a potentially life threatening virus and passing it on to my clinically extremely vulnerable husband or elderly parents.

I will go to work and try to ignore what's going on in the world and do my best. But I wish I could be made to feel safer - screens, masks, fewer pupils, something.

I hope I'm worrying for nothing, but it is getting difficult to sleep at night.

I understand the OPs concerns but there are implications and risks for all of us when they go back to school

Why the bloody hell have you put a ‘but’ instead of an ‘and’ there? Why are you arguing with the OP instead of sympathising?

Why the bloody hell are parents spending their time telling teachers that it’s shit but we should feel sorry for parents too instead of petitioning the government to do better?

I fully understand your concerns OP and am hugely grateful and full of respect for teachers and school staff in these difficult circumstances.

With an extremely vulnerable DH is that a reason not to go back and take the risk? I saw a post on here the other day from someone who wasn't going to send their DC back to school for this reason and the advice was not to and to get their DHs consultant to write to the school explaining why they wouldn't be returning. Is that an option for you?

I think anyone sending their DC back to school at the moment has the same concerns as teachers and school staff. Yes we won't personally be taking the risk like you all are but we are sending our DC in to be in the same position as you are and potentially bringing the virus back to our homes. We are all in a horrible situation, stuck between a rock and a hard place. As parents we have to weigh out up and decide if the risk is worth taking for the benefits it'll bring to our DC. For you it's the same, if it's not worth the risk to you then you have a choice to back go back and look for another job where you can WFH. I'm sure online teaching and tutoring is booming at the moment.

I have a huge amount of sympathy with those returning to work in the classroom. Yes I know many teachers were with key worker children etc.

My understanding is that some restrictions can be relaxed but not all. So schools can go back but other social distancing still required to balance it out.

I totally understand the mask concern. However I only want my dc wearing masks if done correctly. They need to be worn, removed and disposed/cleaned properly. Each time they are worn.

For me, we are managing by limiting social contact with those not in our bubble. That bubble will grow with school. It does not sadly include my parents. It's stressful and has been since the start. Dh is frontline NHS.

However it is less stressful now because levels are so much lower. Because we understand the virus more. Treatment is better. Etc. Yes he has ppe, but then again he does aerosol procedures on covid positive patients on a regular basis. So swings and roundabouts.

pip if teachers could quit from going back to this shitshow then they would have done.

Aside from the fact that teachers need to eat, teachers who have handed their notice in since the 1st June have to keep working till Christmas, due to the nature of teachers’ contracts.

@noblegiraffe true. I was being too simplistic I know. I just really do think we're all stuck between a rock and a hard place. It's awful.

No sympathy from me I’m afraid, that they’ve had the luxury of shielding for 6 months and are now complaining about having to go back to work in a relatively safe environment

The ‘shielded’ teachers were ONLY those who were clinically vulnerable.

The rest of us were in school providing key worker care during lockdown as the government told is to, and I’ve been back in school since June doing full hours as the government told us to.

We will continue to do as we are told to, but it doesn’t stop us pointing out that sending schools of hundreds and hundreds of people back in close proximity with no mitigation of risk other than washing your hands, in a pandemic which has caused most workplaces to come up with a great deal more protection, is probably a mistake.

‘Relatively safe environment’? Hmmmm.

I’ve signed the petition you linked OP. Clearly the OP and most other teachers aren’t saying they aren’t going back, just that they think they are being badly treated as compared to other workplaces.

I’m wfh but I’m allowed to pop into my office as and when I need to. There are loads of measures in place there for us as and when we decide to drop in. None of it government mandated really, all just initiative of the bosses to get on and make it a bit safer.

Other than mask wearing in secondary which you’ve suggested, is there anything that schools could be doing regardless of the fact that the government have said they are magical safe places that don’t need to take any precautions other than sneezing into a tissue? Perhaps it’s time for individual schools / teachers to start taking the initiative to put measures in place themselves rather than waiting for the government to catch up. I wish I could weigh in at one of my kids schools but as I’m “only” a parent I get the impression that my opinion and suggestions are unwelcome!

Other than mask wearing in secondary which you’ve suggested, is there anything that schools could be doing regardless of the fact that the government have said they are magical safe places that don’t need to take any precautions other than sneezing into a tissue? Perhaps it’s time for individual schools / teachers to start taking the initiative to put measures in place themselves rather than waiting for the government to catch up. I wish I could weigh in at one of my kids schools but as I’m “only” a parent I get the impression that my opinion and suggestions are unwelcome!

Other than additional funding for soap, hand sanitiser, washing facilities and staffing to enable classes to remain open when teachers are off ill —-which I don’t think is unreasonable yet none of this will be happening...

The thing I most want to happen is for schools to be able to ask for evidence of a negative test before readmitting a child back to school after being off ill. The guidance say schools must not ask.

Why?

Is this not a really stupid policy? If parents have got the test, why would it not make perfect sense for them to show the email/text and everyone is happy. Why forbid this?

I wish the government had spent some money in making schools safe rather than spending it on lying about how safe they are.

I'm a secondary teacher.
When I worked with keyworker children during lockdown we used our biggest classrooms which had windows that open well, or external doors.
When I return next week we will be at our usual over capacity using the majority of classrooms that are small, low ceilings, windows that only crack open if at all. NO VENTILATION.
I am hugely worried about outbreaks. It has now proven to be airborne.
We and the students are not allowed masks.
I will be teaching 5 lots of 30 teenagers a day for an hour at a time in UNVENTILATED rooms. Masks not allowed. How on earth is that acceptable?

Every restaurant and shop and cafe I've been in the staff obviously have the choice to wear masks, as most have. Social distancing, controlled numbers, facilities for hand washing. Face coverings. Ventilation. The cafe I was in last week was basically outdoors they had so many doors and windows open.
As I teacher I want the same.

I'm not so worried about dying. I'm worried about my terminally ill FIL and chronically ill DM dying. Or any of us having long term organ damage.
I really don't think that is doom mongering.

The thing I most want to happen is for schools to be able to ask for evidence of a negative test before readmitting a child back to school after being off ill. The guidance say schools must not ask.

I would like to see testing, not proof of covid status for all though. I suspect there would be a testing capacity issue here, but random checks of a defined % of pupils and staff each week would be great.

I would rather testing than badly worn ppe.

I'm clinically vulnerable and, like many staff in my position I was expected (and pressured by management and hr at county level) to still go in and provide childcare for the key workers.

My school ran out of soap in lockdown, actually brought my own in for the children to wash their hands in my bubble 😂😂

@Kitcat122

My school ran out of soap in lockdown, actually brought my own in for the children to wash their hands in my bubble 😂😂

Same here - until we got complaints from parents saying their kids' hands were red. And we also had complaints that children were 'allergic' to the school soap that has been used for years. Shows how much it was used prior to Covid.

Am sorry you were pressured into returning to the classroom DrMadelineMaxwell

Dh ticks one of the clinically vulnerable boxes, as do several of his colleagues. Risk assessments were done in each case and appropriate steps taken. I would like to think that sort of approach was universal. Probably not though.

I’m a teacher and doing some subbing at the moment and happy to get the chance as my dh is working from home. We are allowed wear visors and masks, is this not allowed in your school?

I also work online with adult education (online lessons for groups under 10’s are rarely successful and not something I want for my dcs).
Thing is you can’t work from home as young kids need to be in a physical school. It doesn’t work well for them online unless it’s 1to1 which schools can’t provide. A lot of my family work in hospitals and can’t get over the attitude of SOME teachers. In the schools I am in we of course are allowed to go to the bathroom , one pp said they can’t use the toilet between 9am to finish .. ,
The kids here are actually being very cautious , I’m much more worried about the long/term effects for them with this and I’d hate to think of a teacher passing on their anxiety to children. Another pp said “what do parents expect to happen”, what do you expect to happen? Any parent I speak with is very realist, plan for the best , expect the worst.
If all the schools close because of mass, serious illness then they’ll accept it as that’s dangerous and do what they have already been doing for the last 6 months.. Loads of them are limiting their contact with vulnerable family members, we’ve been doing this since March and extra careful now again with school.
If your school won’t allow you to wear a visor or have a Perspex screen in the classroom then that is a problem, no issues here though.

My supermarket has switched off its music so that people don't need to talk more loudly to be heard.

Visors are useless unless worn with a mask. You are still breathing in the aerosols.

We are not allowed masks.

Ventilation and social distancing AND masks would be best

@SteffGreen1812

My point is that police are clearly being given the opportunity/option of wearing a mask. and not as the poster said not wearing ppe.

Catmanduu

If we continue to keep children off school, there will be far bigger problems than covid within society.

No-one is suggesting keeping schools closed.

The numbers are low.
If they rise schools will shut again. I think you have a pretty good deal.

Except that this is not the case and the government guidelines are saying that if numbers go up (even in local lockdown) schools will remain open.

If you can’t accept that children’s education must be prioritised, then maybe the profession is not for you.

An U4T response, nice.

I have worked throughout covid when the numbers were much higher.

So have many of us

You can’t be expecting another six months off and on full pay, because you have vulnerable relatives.

No-one has said this or has in fact been "off" on full pay, but you believe the propaganda if you want to.

Meanwhile the future of children in this country is lost, from a virus that most experts seem to agree they don’t seem to ‘super spread‘ , as was previously thought.

Except that if enough teachers are off due to having to quarantine schools won't be able to open.

I’m not teacher bashing here.

You really are, especially with comments that have no basis in fact.

I think most teachers know their value to society,

Its a shame that some posters don't

and why they need to get back to the classroom.

Yes we do.

I think most have worked hard Providing resources for home schooling throughout.

Except that according to you we were off on full pay! go figure.

Just think at least you have a guaranteed income and pension. You'll also be coming into contact with the same people daily. Other jobs come into contact with thousands of different people weekly. To put things into perspective, a painter and decorator or a window cleaner will be up and down ladders all day with no one footing the bottom, an air hostess could have a terrorist onboard and if the plane crashes that's it. Roofers and scaffolders at heights every day with no protection and with the gales we've had this week, they've still had to work as they are self employed. Electricians and gas engineers have the very real risk of a lethal electric shock or gas explosion. Lorry drivers up and down the motorways every day and many are involved in serious accidents..... the list goes on. We've heard all about public transport workers who came off worse but we didn't have press coverage of teachers succumbing to the virus in their droves.....

Roofers and scaffolders at heights every day with no protection and with the gales we've had this week, they've still had to work as they are self employed.
I can tell you quite categorically that the fucking noisy scaffolders at work on the house near me were not at work during the gales this week. But they're sure as hell back today.

an air hostess could have a terrorist onboard and if the plane crashes that's it. Blimey, you're really digging deep here. How many terrorist air disasters have there been recently?

@onedayinthefuture all of those people should have safety measures in place for their line of work.

oneday they have safety measures.

@Appuskidu I totally agree that parents / carers should have to show proof of a negative Covid test before a child with symptoms comes back to school. I’m concerned that people will exploit the fact that they don’t have to do this and say their child had a test when they didn’t even take them to be tested so they can continue going to school / work. I think this will happen for various reasons. We’ve all seen how some parents send sick children to school (even if there is no pressure from school to send them in e.g. if the child has a sickness bug and mustn’t come back due 48hr but parent sends them back in the text day.)

Other jobs come into contact with thousands of different people weekly.

Briefly. Teachers spend long periods of time with in close contact with lots of different children. That’s not the same as five minutes with different customers from behind a screen.