Teaching during a pandemic

[NebularNerd]

I posted before going back to work about my concerns about teaching at the moment, about feeling unsafe.

Since going back I'm finding there is little/no social distancing between students and staff. No/little opportunity to clean hands as I run between different bubbles for every lesson. We wear masks in corridors which is something, but not in the classrooms. I teach secondary.

Like everybody else, I'm just getting on with it. I'm hoping we're lucky and it doesn't reach our school, because if it does the 'safety measures' won't protect staff. When we have rules such as the rule of six outside of work I just can't my head around it.

As the numbers rise once more and staff and students begin to test positive, I'm wondering what is next for schools.

How are other teachers getting on?

I have loved being back at school. A week in and I already have a cold despite all the hand washing by the children and me!

I was a bit annoyed though because there was a learning walk the other day for another keystage. Can you believe it? Global pandemic and you're adding more stress to staff whilst also going in to different bubbles.

We have a different system in that we stay in our rooms and the kids move round the school on an outside ‘ring road’ which is a line painted on the ground. They peel off at various junctions to line up and we go and collect them and bring them in. It’s time consuming as movement is one way so sometimes they have to go all the way round the school before they get to a door that was quite close in the other direction and we haven’t had rain yet so we will see what that does to compliance. However, it means most staff are teaching pretty much all the time in our own specialist rooms for which I am hugely hugely grateful. Lots of hand sanitisers on the walls by our rooms and inside too. Books are not to be touched by teachers at all- kids hand out and collect in, marking will be on our online system. Finish lessons a few minutes early and the kids wipe down their area. Staggered break and lunch with year groups to specific playgrounds and only year 11 allowed in the building . This system means teaching time has been lost but general sanity of teachers is being maintained so far and this is a lucky combination of supportI’ve SLT and a site with connected playgrounds on all sides. As others have said the pupils are not social distancing and we are doing our best but you can not teach effectively without getting within 2m of students so all our strategies are unlikely to stop a Covid outbreak- but at least I am not on my knees while waiting for it to happen.

Reading this is just horrifying. Kudos to all of you.

One thing is puzzling me though. There is mention of the children all facing the front of the class as if this is a novelty. Is this not normal? How else would they sit?

That was the other thing I thought Cathpot - getting thé children to be responsible for cleaning down would surely help?

Getting the kids to clean spaces is doable for us. At the moment they are supposed to share wipes but when they run out we are moving to a spray and paper towel situation. I do a hands up for quiet system and then two kids over the lesson who were last to put hands up stay and help me quickly do the desks when the rest have gone.

The pupils are responsible for wiping the spray off the desks but that means books and resources can't be handed out prior to lessons and of course, they all need to come to the front to put the paper towels in the bin (otherwise they'd end up on the floor). Lots of little practical problems.

I do have to mark books with no quarantine period. The inconsistency concerns me.

I also don't like to spray the desks with the kids actually in the room for obvious reasons.

@Words

Reading this is just horrifying. Kudos to all of you.

One thing is puzzling me though. There is mention of the children all facing the front of the class as if this is a novelty. Is this not normal? How else would they sit?

In primary they tend to sit on tables of six, facing each other. Secondary desks are often laid out in long lines facing the front, so they sit in a row.

There is mention of the children all facing the front of the class as if this is a novelty. Is this not normal? How else would they sit?

Lots of people prefer tables in groups, especially at primary.

I've just started teacher training, and I'm pregnant. Wondering if I'm mad. I've been stressing about the return of school all summer (I worked in a school previously too). I naively assumed that if there were staggered start and end times they would also apply to teachers? Why are the unions not saying anything when the school day has clearly been extended, aren't there capped hours to a teacher's directed time? I would also love to know how it's working with staff moving and not students, I though students weren't allowed in rooms unattended as a general rule and in science labs, and DT rooms this is a strict health and safety policy, has that gone out the window too? My Switt provider are totally glossing over the practicalities.

We're the only workplace which isn't covid secure. Apparently as the risk assessment says for staff to stay away from children and other adults, we should never be classed as a close contact (and thr implication being that if we feel we were a close contact of a positive case, it's our own fault for doing something wrong while trying to do our jobs), so we never need to isolate in response to a case in the school. Children with TAs in their bubble see than working closely with students and their teachers teaching from the front and not looking at their work, and demand attention we can't give.

No other workplace would ask people to stay if they'd been in a room for an hour at a time with a confirmed case. And the majority of those other workplaces are allowed to operate at reduced capacity, so are safer in terms of exposure, and having to deal with less at once alongside all the logistics of trying to be 'covid secure'.

I'm teaching a full timetable, with the bare minimum legally allowed PPA time, but expected to provide the same level of high quality remote learning for those isolating as I could when I was allowed to work from home. I want to provide for all my students, but I haven't been given the time to do my job twice over in two different formats.

I haven't been given the space to work in peace when I do get some rare non-contact time, as classrooms have been taken from staff. Zones apparently keep year groups apart, and passing in the corridor is too high a risk, but they mix before and after school, and in unstructured time, so it doesn't stop mixing, but leaves teachers late (no movement time built in) and less well prepared for a full day at a time in one space, where planning, resourcing, preparation, teaching, assessment can all take place.

Extra duties mean extra exposure and less time to get from room to room to set up before the children, affecting the lessons I'm teaching, never mind having the chance to nip to the loo or get a drink to take to the next lesson. Also, breaks between lessons (for students) used to be used for short admin tasks and record keeping. Now there's more of this, such as let me have your seating plan for track and trace, actually, go back and add all their tutor groups on (even though admin staff could do this instead...), it's unsustainable.

Some rooms (I'm in five per day, mockbg every hour with piles of books) I can instantly connect my laptop and display tasks I already got ready before the start of my workday, so I can police entrance, seating plans, masks, behaviour etc. Inexplicably, other rooms don't have this capacity, so I have to clean a computer that another teacher was just using and wait before the children can do anything meaningful.

I've been provided with cleaning materials for this purpose, which I'm supposed to drag around with me, instead of having access to in each room. But I've been warned that when the one bottle of sanitiser or one packet of wipes runs out, that's it until after half term (so expected to last eight weeks).

Children are lucky to have technology provided, but don't bring devices, don't charge them, misuse them and have them blocked by IT so can't use them for learning and conveniently forget how to use them to access resources posted (in our own time) or submit work completed.

I can't intervene or even circulate to check. And then I can't mark their work because I don't have it electronically and can't flick through each of their books in succession (for fear of contamination) and write useful things in them as normal.

But I'll still receive a learning walk to check my performance under these conditions. And SLT are still spying on my virtual classroom which they've demanded access codes for. And they're expecting it somehow to replicate full online lessons just in case, like I set up during lockdown, while I apparently deal with the needs of the kids in front of me and need to find time to add instructions and explanations for those off school, because I'd like to think I am actually necessary, and a resource alone won't teach a student. If I'm not, why am I having to be in the room with thirty, risking this virus getting more out of control, and feeling like I have no option but to avoid vulnerable family, for fear of passing on what I likely will catch at work (while my boss says it will never happen if I follow the risk assessment)

Why are the unions not saying anything when the school day has clearly been extended, aren't there capped hours to a teacher's directed time?

Yes - we work 1265 hours over the year. My school is front loading the hours to accommodate staggered starts. They’ve removed all parent evenings except Y11 to claw back some time. We can continue with these hours until Christmas without going over directed time.

Only 4 days back at school and already one of my colleagues is quarantining because of a family member with symptoms. I can't believe how quickly the situation has gone downhill and feel it's only a matter of time before we have confirmed cases in school.

We have teachers staying put and pupils moving in a one way system so they’re not bumping in to each other. We have staggered starts and breaks, so there are days when I don’t get a break. Tables cleaned between lessons (kids are good at this to be fair) and hands washed/sanitised at the start of every lesson (each classroom has a gel dispenser). Teachers have to wear masks if moving around the school and students can wear if they want to, and some are wearing in lessons.
I find it really hard to stay at the front, where I don’t have a 2m zone anyway as my classroom is small.
We’re starting to be asked to put work on our online environment for pupils who are isolating. We have very few at the moment but if it increases I don’t think planning and teaching in two environments is sustainable.
Our SLT are amazing; they’ve done everything they possibly can in line with the guidance. I’m just worried that nothing we do will be enough. And I’m TIRED! More so than the normal week one tired.

It is clear that , as with lockdown, schools are all going about this in their own way. I am genuinely thankful for my sane and compassionate SLT because some of the management stories on this thread are awful.

We have 6 giant “bubbles” which are kept apart via zones and an ingenious timetable.

We don’t have staggered starts/finishes, one-way systems, masks or social distancing. Staff and pupils change classes and classrooms every hour and there’s the same crush in corridors and on stairs that there always was. The risk assessment is pure fantasy.

We have new handwashing stations that none of the pupils use. There is hand sanitiser dotted around but the kids aren’t required to use it so they don’t, and they have now started squirting it everywhere while the teachers are dashing across the school.

The staff room is closed and there are no classrooms to work in. It’s all very stressful and the limited measures we can use - antibac wipes, hurrah! - are like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.

When you can tune all this out, it is nice to be teaching face-to-face again.

No confirmed cases yet, as far as I know.

@Words I’m a secondary HOD. My room is long and thin... I sit them in groups of six pupils normally. Currently in pairs but ten rows back which is ridiculous as 1) cannot get around the room well enough - no way is there 1m+ going on and 2) the students can’t hand out materials in the lesson and it now takes forever before/during and after the lesson to resource for the lesson.

Hats off to everyone, we are doing fab and this thread is a testament to how resilient we are as a profession.

@Cathpot

It is clear that , as with lockdown, schools are all going about this in their own way. I am genuinely thankful for my sane and compassionate SLT because some of the management stories on this thread are awful.

Agree with this. At the primary school where I work, we have kept our one hour lunch breaks but they have been arranged in a way that not everyone has them at the same time and there is always one member of staff in addition to the lunch supervisor with the children in the playground or in the classroom while they have their lunch. We also have morning breaks, but we take it in turns so there is always one or two members of staff doing playground duty while the others are on a a break. I suppose it also helps that at our school each class has a TA in addition to other 1:1 TAs, so it is not as bad as what it seems to be happening in other schools.

At my son's secondary, they chose to go with an unusual way of delivering lessons that I wasn't sure of at first. They are doing whole day lessons to avoid unnecessary movement of students and staff through the corridors. I wondered if this could be a problem, especially having to spend a whole day doing your least favourite subject, but so far DS has enjoyed every single day including the ones he wasn't looking forward to. One advantage of this seems to be they get extended morning breaks and lunch break, as they save the time of having to move to different classrooms, and I suppose this must be good for the teachers as with longer breaks they might be able to take it in turns or have a rota? I don't know the teachers' perspective, I only have DS's perspective to go by. However, by doing it this way, teachers are able to stay in their own classroom without having to move with their resources to five different classrooms in one day. And as the whole year group is considered a bubble, they are also doing sets as DS has had lessons with different children depending on the subjects. I haven't heard of many other schools doing it this way, but it seems to be working for them.

I like the back to basics approach. Minimal meetings and tutor time. Also having online systems that are streamlined.
I'd rather not teach in lots of different rooms but at least it puts us all on a level footing. No one is prepared at the start of a lesson!
Also no pressure to plan trips and extra curricula.
I'd prefer a normal lunchtime, not a staggered one. And I am hoping so hard staff won't have to wear masks.

@Scoopstroop

I work as a waitress i only get a 20 min break if i work more than 6hours. 11 hour shift is 20 minute break. I and my colleagues are exhaused from eat out to help out. Teachers not touching books is ridiculous.. Im touching things people have had in their mouths. I get that teachers are worried and stressed. You probably should be. But other people have been working in the same or worse conditions throughout. I cant afford to not do my job with a smile. Ive just spent 5 months on 50%what i usually earn. Be worried. Just don't think you're the only ones or the most hard done to.

Sorry, could you point me in the direction of a comment where someone actually said teachers have it worst out of everyone? 😇

We had a critical incident last week which pushed COVID to one side completely. When you are hoping pupils survive it sort of makes you look at things in a new way. I hugged more people in the space of two hours than I had in the past six months.

This week I am hoping for a boring normal week and will weirdly be comforted by the new routine of cleaning.

Oh and I have a litter picker to pick up dirty tissues from the classroom floor. I will keep using that even after COVID has hopefully gone!

Our school (secondary) is trying really hard, but realistically with full classes they can only do so much. All year groups are on different timetables to stagger movement, each class cleans their own desk at the start and end, teachers don’t leave their marked safe zone at the front of the room (and kids don’t enter it). Each room has hand sanitiser and we wear masks on the corridors. I do genuinely think SLT has done all they could, and far more than most schools, I also genuinely feel like it won’t be enough with full class sizes though.

I also genuinely feel like it won’t be enough with full class sizes though.

I agree. The lengths we are going to are necessary only because we have every child in. And it won’t be enough - so large groups will have to isolate. If we had smaller group, we could space them out - and if there was
a positive case, fewer children would have to be out of school.

I feel like school has become this weird little 'bubble' of normality where we (mostly) do normal things in normal groups. Once I get outside there are all the reminders that life isn't ok at all and that, sooner or later, the school bubble's going to pop.

But I'm loving it while it lasts. My biggest gripe is teaching outside. I teach performing arts and children are supposed to distance even within bubbles for drama and music. So I've put in an outdoor classroom nearly all week. It's cold I'm a wimp

Something to look out for:

covid.joinzoe.com/post/back-to-school?mc_cid=bd6f59275b&mc_eid=6384b795be