A third of confirmed teacher cases of coronavirus were in north-west England at one point, according to data seen exclusively by the BBC”

[motherrunner]

I posted this in another thread but I actually think it deserves a thread of it’s own.

Worrying article on BBC this morning: www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-54695618

This is what we teachers are really concerned about - the disparity of continued education. I’m in a Tier 2 area and my school have had 4 year closures since Sept. We are not unique - I don’t know a school in my city that has gone untouched. One school closed completely as over 20 teachers tested positive. This is just the first half term and anyone who works in a school know the real illnesses haven’t started yet. Going to be a tough year.

@WhenSheWasBad

coldwinds

Do you speak for all teachers

Obviously not, but I am a teacher and I know loads of them. We speak as colleagues and admit to each other that it’s shit and scary.

I don’t admit I’m scared to my friends, I’m not quite ready to admit I’m frightened to those in my community.

Ok so it’s just in secret talks with those in the know...

Does the DfE have any explanation of this apparently bizarre advice?

It will interfere with teaching, apparently. No curiosity as to how the rest of the world manage.

They also don't seem to have balanced it against the interference to teaching caused by not wearing masks and uncontrolled covid spread.

I think the latest data showed a steep decline in positive cases in the 10-19 age group.

But no decline in the infection rate in that group according to ONS random sampling. The spike and decline in confirmed cases is probably due to the mass testing of uni students at the start of term that uncovered a lot of asymptomatic cases.

'Levelling down' by going to a PT timetable for exam years nationwide really isn't going to get support. I can't see how making it worse for some is making things any better for others. It's not redistribution (which I agree with). Surely by now the damage is done anyway.
Do you really think people who can afford it won't cheat this and get the tutors in?

We need to concentrate on campaigning to call off exams and get a better system in place. That's the only thing that makes sense.

Making demands for unnecessary partial closures will only alienate the public. I am not a teacher but I am a public servant who works with disadvantaged people and in general I am supportive of teachers and concerned about inequality but I cannot see how levelling down is helping anyone.

coldwinds

Ok so it’s just in secret talks with those in the know

I’m a career changer, I haven’t been a teacher all my working life. In all the careers I’ve had, people have more in-depth discussions about their work place with colleagues. It’s not some weird teacher conspiracy, it happens in every profession.

Maybe not levelling down then. But SOMETHiNG needs to happen. The government are just ignoring kids, schools and teachers. No safety or thought in place in any of it.

I still don't know why individual schools cannot make masks mandatory in high tier areas. If it's a school rule DC will have to comply. Can't schools make their own decisions considering they're all so different - age of building, class sizes, local incidence etc.

levelling down but this is an ideological expression. Levelling the playing field is less loaded and is exactly what is done in countries at the top of any social equity tables. Benefit for the many rather than trying to yank the lowest up to somewhere near (and still very far away from) the few.

I still don't know why individual schools cannot make masks mandatory in high tier areas.

Probably put off by the threat of being sued by mad parent campaign groups. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8571373/Headteachers-SUED-irrationally-forcing-pupils-wear-face-masks.html

Surely by now the damage is done anyway.

You think this is over? Or won't get worse?

@Whatchasayin I’m Tier 2. Staff and students wear masks in ‘communal areas’ ie corridors, which always makes me roll my eyes as what are classrooms, if not ‘communal areas’.

My school are taking Dfe guidance as law so until they mandate masks, it’s a no for us. This ‘magic 2m’ will protect me.

@sonnenscheins

The way our children are being sidelined at the moment is dreadful. So many children are missing school. So many more will over the course of the winter. Yes some more than others, but those posters saying my school is not affected need to add 'yet'. How can exams go ahead fairly? Why haven't some of the most disadvantaged been given the laptops they were promised? Why are the government happy that some children don't have enough to eat? Uni students are shut in tiny rooms with no face to face teaching

I agree. I am hopeful that cases start to decline as more young people develop some immunity.

I think the latest data showed a steep decline in positive cases in the 10-19 age group.

I know that the vast majority of Uni freshers tested positive (thankfully 90% asymptomaticaly) and will have had it by now!

Not all universities have done universal testing and many Unis are showing pretty low rates of positive tests, so to say "vast majority" will have had it by now are wide of the mark.

What do they actually do in Finland to stop people at the top being so advantaged though?

Isn't it like taxes and the rich and privileged will just take avoidance measures? I can't see this working whilst we still have private education.

I am much more in favour of positive discrimination as a way of levelling the playing field. I cannot see how deliberately trying to disadvantage some would be effective since they can easily avoid it and it would be wildly unpopular.

I think wildly unpopular just isn't a notion in Finland : there is a widely held confidence in government to 'do the right thing'. There are lots of answers to your question : I can't summarise but do recommend you read Cleverlands by Lucy Crehan.

I obviously don't think it's over. I'm a healthcare worker I see with my own eyes that the 2nd wave is in full swing

I think it's too late for instituting a part time timetable nationwide to make any difference to this years exam results. It's been unfair for too long already for that to fix anything so why make people suffer futilely.

It is going to be unfair. We need to have a different assessment system that can take that into account as it is too late to change the unfairness now.

That's what I was trying to say.

OK Piggy I will do that

We need to have a different assessment system that can take that into account as it is too late to change the unfairness now.

Ah right, especially as the GREAT SUMMER CATCH-UP money has strangely disappeared.

Also because you can't have a catch-up in the middle of something that will need catching up from.

They also don't seem to have balanced it against the interference to teaching caused by not wearing masks and uncontrolled covid spread.

Yes, their risk assessments only ever consider one angle, the one that suits them by not requiring any additional investment usually, which is not a proper risk assessment.

They haven't balanced the benefits of school against the costs of serious illness for ECV parents or children either. The harm to a child of their parent dying or having long covid far exceeds the loss of a year of schooling. They've made no effort to protect those children.

They haven't considered viral load or duration of exposure for teachers or students (2m is only considered largely protective for short duration - not a whole lesson).

They clearly haven't considered the disruption to education of repeated isolations and loss of staff.

They assumed test and trace would work, we know it hasn't.

My school are taking Dfe guidance as law so until they mandate masks, it’s a no for us. This ‘magic 2m’ will protect me

My school seem to believe in the “magic 1m”

In some ways perhaps the unfairness will sort itself out as the 2nd wave rips through the South too. Cases are on the rise where I am and have just tipped into Tier 2.

Maybe the North will recover and have a catch up phase whilst schools in the South get closed.

In some ways perhaps the unfairness will sort itself out as the 2nd wave rips through the South too. Cases are on the rise where I am and have just tipped into Tier 2

I think you are right about Covid surging through the South as well.

That's ridiculous. I think DC are not given enough credit and would soon get used to wearing them in lessons. My DD quite likes them because she says they keep her warm on cold days!

Not allowed masks in my school or my kids schools

Not all universities have done universal testing and many Unis are showing pretty low rates of positive tests, so to say "vast majority" will have had it by now are wide of the mark.

I think you'd be surprised how many Uni pupils have been exposed to the virus. Even without testing. In fact, many students will avoid getting tested to avoid having to quarantine.

Thankfully the vast majority are asymptomatic or very mildly affected and hopefully they'll have some immunity for a while!

I think the really interesting extra piece of information to come from this is how many teachers are infected with Covid.

From the data given, it appears that on a single day, there were 2028 teachers nationwide who tested positive for Covid. What isn't clear from the article is whether that is 'tests on that day that were positive' or 'those who had tested positive and were absent from school on that day' - whatever, it is the first data that i have seen giving specific information about infection within the profession.