What's going to happen with schools?

[NebularNerd]

I'm a secondary teacher and I've posted before about my concerns about going back to work. For context, my husband was previously shielding which adds to my fear of catching this thing & I have two young children.

So I'm back at work, no social distancing possible but at least we wear masks I'm the corridors. I'm in the North East so in local lockdown, so not allowed to see friends or family, but still in daily close contact with hundreds of people.

I'm fucking exhausted at the end of each day as we have to move classroom for every single lesson as the students stay in their bubbles. Behaviour is worse.

Daily cases in schools in the local vicinity.

Staff off self isolating, awaiting test results. Students off in droves too.

And we're only four weeks in.

Honestly, how long is this sustainable?

@NebularNerd

Office workers are told to wfh if their job can be done from home. You can't teach from home.

I work in an office. My job can't be done from home either. I've also been helpfully relocated miles away. We are extremely busy.

I'm also in local lockdown so can't see friends or family. It's shit. We just try to make the best of our weekends.

If my children get sent home from school for months again I'll probably lose my job.

Fully aware I can't teach from home. Yet if ill or isolating we're expected to beam into the classroom via teams. If kids are off we use our own tech to deliver live lessons to them at home.

Your office is busy. Are you changing desks every hour? Starting breaks and lunchesa completely different time every day? Having to deliver your work to a mixed ability of people and in much longer blocks?

If my children get sent home, I'll be teaching and trying to look after a 3yo and 1yo. Not sure how that will work successfully. It's shit for everyone BUT teachers are being shafted.

Im not a teacher so I'm not doing the same as teachers. My point was that op mentioned seeing on the news how office workers were being told to wfh. But that has no relevance, because you can only wfh if your job can actually be done from home.

But my working conditions are bad right now. We aren't having time for breaks or lunch. We are being expected to provide a citywide service with the amount of staff you'd normally have for a much smaller area. We are being expected to do 3 people's jobs all at the same time. Not all office workers are having a nice cushy number wfh.

Of course they aren't. I don't think anyone thinks all office workers are at home. From personal experience I know plenty are in on a rota or in to use specialist equipment. However your office SHOULD have covid regulations in place. Schools covid regulations are shit and involve lots of exposure to students every day. This is the fault of the government.

Yes and lots of workplace Covid regulations are shit, and our Covid secure regulations are poor, and I'd rather be around hundreds of kids than hundreds of members of the public that we get.

But whatever I say you'll come back to tell me why you are worse off.

The m just not sure what teachers want. Apart from part time school or school closures.

This is the fault of the government

Absolutely. Yes my son's been off. Home learning patchy. I'm so concerned as he's Y10. I think he will face another 2 week quarantine soon where he will be under house arrest again. Or his twin will. This has left him feeling low.

But I know this is not the school's fault. The Government has placed schools in an impossible situation.

For the record we aren't having any breaks either. With staggered start times etc. I have twenty minutes for 'lunch'/ toilet break, usually spent grabbing a minute to respond to emails and set up for the next lesson. That's my only break all day.

I don't see the comparison with working in an office in terms of being safe at all. Are you facing 200+ people a day, in confined conditions, with no masks etc.?

I only mentioned working from home as it seems that the health and safety of vast swathes of the workforce seem to be more important than mine as a teacher, and I'm fucking sick of it.

How are you in an office yet facing multiple members of the public?

If your offices regulations are poor, they need reporting to HSE.

The point is schools regulations are dictated by the government. We can't report a school to HSE for following the governments shit guidelines.

I see 300 students a week in close contact (ie same room longer than 15 minutes). They don't wear masks (don't have to). I can but that's not protecting me.

I want an acknowledgement it's shit. Less crap from the media. And and acceptance that PT or rota school will be reality by Christmas.

I don't see the comparison with working in an office in terms of being safe at all. Are you facing 200+ people a day, in confined conditions, with no masks etc.?

I am in a public facing roll so seeing a lot of very unpleasant people day in day out.

I'm not comparing my job to yours. I'm simply saying that the idea that even office workers are in safe cushy jobs all wfh is a myth.

And the OP is saying that the statement from the government for office workers to WFH if you can seems diametrically opposed to the conditions in which they're are trying to keep schools open.

Are the people you see fleeting? Or close prolonged contact?

just not sure what teachers want. Apart from part time school or school closures.

We'd like to be able to go to school without raising cases of covid exponentially. If we can't, we'd rather plan when we are going to move to a blended model, rather than have a general unpredictable collapse.

Saying you don't want school closures isn't enough to stave them off, unfortunately. Full time learning will cost us all a lot more for the future. We need to make our peace with that and make sure that maximum numbers of children can access maximum teaching hours consistently, or we'll have another years like the one we just had.

It depends what they've come in for. But as I say again, I'm not comparing our roles.

I think there is acknowledgment that it's shit, most of our lives are shit at the moment. None of us are truly safe from this virus despite everything supposedly being Covid secure. Most workplaces aren't. Yes some are more risky than others. Most of us didn't sign up for any of this, the conditions we are living and working under.

If schools go part time thousands of working parents will end up losing their jobs and all that goes with it.

Testing simply has to improve, for both staff and students. At my school, we have only 4 confirmed cases, but about 150 students off, either awaiting tests or because someone symptomatic in their household is awaiting a test. Soon it will be teachers, at home with the usual autumn bug, but a cough and no test keeping them at home. That's when whole year groups and possibly whole schools can't run. I'm a Head of Department in a secondary school and on top of my usual workload I am having to cover several absent colleagues who are symptomless but have had close contact with a confirmed case (that means no test, but the full 2 weeks off), plus re-starting online learning for the hundreds of absentee students in addition to a full face - to - face timetable, while also planning five different contingency timetables for hypothetical bubble collapses as staff will need to be redeployed should one year group go.

I'm not whinging about workload - I'm saying all the above would be solved with efficient mass testing. I'm LOVING being back in the classroom and the kids are as much of a joy as ever.

@Nellle I agree the testing shambles is unforgivable.

If schools go part time thousands of working parents will end up losing their jobs and all that goes with it.

Yet raising cases means the likelihood of your child's bubble closing for 2 weeks or even their school closing, increases. At least part time you can plan for. Getting a phonecall saying that you need to be off for 2 weeks tomorrow would surely be more tricky.

If schools go part time teachers will still need to be in no?

So what will teachers who are also parents do?

Nelllle I completely agree. I am loving being back with the students. I adore the actual teaching part of my job.

No idea missing. Probably return to the key worker childcare model.

Locally we've got a school shut completely for 2 weeks, parents found out at 10pm. Multiple bubbles in local primary schools shut too.

If schools go part time thousands of working parents will end up losing their jobs and all that goes with it.

That's why it's better to put a bit of money behind them, surely?

I think sadly the 8% of working parents, or whatever it is, who rely on school to work aren't going to make a big enough noise next time, now we know what it's like when we try opening schoolswithout any mitigation. The extent to which all of us are going to have to adapt is only just becoming clear. And I work full time so I hear you.

@Missingsockswheresotheygo

If schools go part time teachers will still need to be in no?

So what will teachers who are also parents do?

If the closure is due to infection, they will not be in school and will be wfh If there is a local or national lockdown I think key worker children will be cared for.

Yet raising cases means the likelihood of your child's bubble closing for 2 weeks or even their school closing, increases. At least part time you can plan for. Getting a phonecall saying that you need to be off for 2 weeks tomorrow would surely be more tricky.

See I don't agree that having part time school would make it much less likely of the class having to isolate. There is still every chance. It only takes one child to bring Covid into school.

There would then just be part time school to deal with and still isolation periods.

Could you consider looking for a new job OP?

I think government will run schools like this until this idea is no longer sustainable I actually think things will go back to hospitals over run and manic and then we will go into lock down. From the governments point of view they are here to make as much money as possible so it’s in their best interest to keep everything open the best way they can.

@Missingsockswheresotheygo

If schools go part time teachers will still need to be in no?

So what will teachers who are also parents do?

I don’t think schools going part time is the solution.

I think the problem is it’s a never ending cycle. So a child’s parents gets a phone call saying they need to isolate for 2 weeks. Meanwhile other children attend their bubble.... and the weekend comes parents and kids socialise at the weekend. Monday morning arrives and bubbles are mixing all together again. Someone is bound to test positive at some point.

Part time school could mean socially distant classrooms therefore isolation is uneccesary.

See I don't agree that having part time school would make it much less likely of the class having to isolate. There is still every chance. It only takes one child to bring Covid into school.

You are right, but with part time school there can be distancing. That seems to be the thing making all the difference - it's the number of people in a room. When schools went back in June, primaries were "full" in the sense that they were at capacity in the space they could offer each child. The positive numbers stayed low.

Our schools can take about half current numbers before increasing rates, if we look at the data this way.