To be confused about teachers 🤣🙈

[No91]

So I actually am not against school closing but something today on the school letter we receive sort of bugged me.
The teachers who had raised concerns and want schools to shut who were then sort of jumped on about others are having to work. Said well yes but nurses and supermarkets have PPE we are being left without none of that in a classroom. However our school letter today said teachers must wear PPE in corridors etc and have been offered PPE for in the classrooms but most have chosen not to do so 🤣
So now I am confused what is that schools want ?

Teachers I know aren't wearing PPE. Also they worked through the previous lock down for key worker's children or from home giving online /zoom lessons. Plus not all teachers think the same thing and schools vary in what they can do according to local conditions and staff availability due to self- isolation etc

I think that covers it.

What's with the 'crying with laughter' emoticons? Not sure what's so hilarious about it.

The advice in England is that teachers should not wear masks in the classroom. I guess some schools are ignoring that and allowing teachers to do so. However, presumably some of the teachers in those schools will prefer not to wear a mask if they find it detrimental to their teaching and are not personally particularly worried about catching the virus (or have already had it). Not sure why any of that is particularly confusing or funny tbh.

I agree that schools should close or at least a new way of doing things / re think.
Just the posts on here especially the other night seemed towards lack of PPE.
The laughing emoji was meant to be a confused one sorry for that !

I have always been for schools closing ( don’t pounce on me for that ) but the arguments on here are all so confusing at what the teachers are asking for. Do they want PPE or not is what I’m asking.

The advice in England is that teachers should not wear masks in the classroom.

This is correct. Lots of schools, including mine, are encouraging them outside of lessons but aren’t allowing them inside the classroom. Not entirely sure why you think one school’s approach says it for all teachers. I also super doubt that the teachers refused to wear them. That seems as if staff are somewhat intimidated by SLT there.

@No91 There's no point in the teacher wearing a mask if the kids don't. Masks protect other people more than the wearer. Put bluntly OP, unless you want to stand in a classroom sharing breath with 30 teenagers (swapping to a new group every hour, so potentially 150 different kids in one day) all day in a poorly ventilated classroom that isn't big enough to allow social distancing, then don't you bloody dare sneer at those who care enough to do so despite their own fears. No? Thought not.

Do they want PPE or not is what I’m asking.

Yes. I don’t know if a single teacher who doesn’t want it desperately in order to feel safe.

In your school, that's the case. In the vast majority, they are following the government guidance which mandates AGAINST masks.

Sorry if that seems harsh but I am so, so sick of the teacher bashing on here by people who have not a bloody clue.

Well not all teachers think the same thing, and actually teachers alone wearing masks would do little. Pupils would need to wear them.

We absolutely have not been offered ANY PPE of any sort in our school. In fact, we were sent an email saying a decision had been made that staff are not allowed to wear it so that the children aren't intimidated. I'm in an all through school too with students age 5 to 18. We've been told if we're spat at, we're allowed to shower and change clothes.

My DDs school brought in loads of PPE to give staff the choice. Not a single one is wearing it.

I am not teacher bashing I have and am for the school situation and always have been so don’t call me a teacher basher when you have no idea. The letter is very much worded as the teachers are choosing not to do so, so I am asking.
If it was my choice the school would be closed 🙈

It's the children who need to be wearing masks.

Was that a letter to you as a parent of a child at the school or are you a teacher at the school?
It would seem strange thing to add to a letter to parents stating teachers have chosen not to wear PPE . Teachers and pupils in my DS secondary have the option to wear masks in the classroom ive no idea which teachers have chosen to wear it or not that decision is personal to them nothing to do with Me

Why on earth would you want schools to close? I just do not understand that at all.

I choose not to wear PPE in my classroom because these are small children I am working with. Children who rely on my facial expressions during our interactions, for guidance and reassurance. These children are often very worried about what they see around them and I am not going to add a layer to that.
It is that simple.

Thank you to all the teachers, it must be such a scary time for you all and you work so hard to keep our children safe and feel like teachers are being thrown to the wolves. 30 kids, no PPE....

but the arguments on here are all so confusing at what the teachers are asking for. Do they want PPE or not is what I’m asking.

Teachers don't all want the same - they are individuals with different personal circumstances, different views and different health statuses!

I think the majority of teachers want schools to stay open but with improved safety measures. Some want masks to be encouraged or compulsory, but some feel that masks would have a big negative impact on learning. I'm a languages teacher and tbh masks would be pretty bad for MFL lessons. Some want blended learning, but realise it would be hard for working parents. Most want better use of space, better hygiene enforced in school and more budget for cleaning etc.

All recognise there is a limit to what can be done without a huge injection of government money to create extra space and employ extra staff to allow smaller classes (pretty impossible actually).

Staff at ds3's primary school are wearing face shields, which afaik are not actually any use at all.

Yes it was school to parents letter maybe the school didn’t write it appropriately or word it correctly. I was just shocked to read it in a letter I would of assumed that just leaving it as teachers will wear PPE in corridors would have been appropriate.

@davekim we all have our own opinions on schools staying open - mine is that I would close them 🤷‍♀️
Well not close them if we can think of more productive ways to keep
Teachers, students and their home bubbles safe.

It's not PPE in corridors it's "bring your own mask to wear in corridors". But the important bit is that teachers are still not allowed to wear a mask while teaching. In classrooms with no ventilation, 30+ kids and no social distancing.

[quote No91]@davekim we all have our own opinions on schools staying open - mine is that I would close them 🤷‍♀️
Well not close them if we can think of more productive ways to keep
Teachers, students and their home bubbles safe.[/quote]
Why exactly would you close them? What do you see as the reasons for doing this?

Whether or not teachers wear face coverings (as opposed to actual medical grade masks that are, rightly, being kept for medical staff) will make very little difference to the risk to the teacher. I assume this is why so few choose to do so. As a pp has said, face coverings protect other people rather than the wearer. I have not heard of any schools requiring pupils to wear masks in class so teachers will be in a room full of other people with nothing to catch droplets/aerosols and very little ventilation.

The Government guidelines etc are based on 2 fictions:

1. That teachers will never be within 2m of a pupil for more than a couple of minutes;
2. Distancing is effective as classrooms will be kept well ventilated

In reality classrooms are not big enough for distancing and now that the weather is bad there is little ventilation as windows/doors can't be left open without pupils and books etc getting wet. Not to mention the fact that pupils will get closer to teachers when they want help (especially the youngest).

Then I apologise OP. I saw the laughing emoji and took the tone of your post to be 'what the hell do teachers want'? In truth I don't even know. I want not to feel scared, and not to catch Covid (because I am middle-aged and a bit fat and asthmatic and that's not ideal), but I don't really relish wearing a mask all day and trying to teach like that. My heart says no to PPE, but my head says yes. There isn't a solution to this one but I guess I am hyper-sensitive to all the teacher-bashing on here (which I accept you were not a part of) by people who cannot possibly know how stressful and scary it is currently. And miserable, because for me the reward of the job is helping the children learn, and we can't go near them and it's so difficult to help young Freddie in the back row who's not understanding. And no, I can't rearrange the seating plan because somebody else did it alphabetically on Day 1 and we can't divert from it in case of a need to track and trace. It's all just pretty demoralising.