Teachers/TAs - what can we do?

[Khara]

Ok - so as a primary school TA of a certain age (over 50) and overweight ( in the obese but not morbidly obese category) I am understandably nervous of going back to work next week in a newly tier 4 area.

My family, to whom I rant about these things, have said you need to stand up for yourself/do something. But what?

My dh says I need to complain to the Heath and safety executive. He says the risk-assessment provided by my school isn't worth the paper it's written on. (He works in the chemical industry and has been on courses about writing risk assessments.) Apparently it should include an actual numerically calculated risk. He has done some research and calculated my risk of death in the workplace as 1:400. The Health and Safety executive say that any risk lower than 1:1000000 is unacceptable.

Have any other teachers/TAs (especially in primary atm) considered actually complaining

i love JK

EVERYONE should be wearing masks in the class where they can.

I cannot believe they did nt even ask for masks to be worn.

The problem is - in a war - you can see/ hear bombs dropping.

Its crystal clear but covid is hidden until it happens to you or a close relative, its the Italy reports and seeing men on their tummies in ICU and worn out docs was SO POWERFUL.

We have lost that now and the impacts and horrors are sort of hidden....its hard to assess and see.

@IloveJKRowling

Your calculations also assume that the risk that any individual in the class is infected is the same as the infection rate in your area.

But actually it's higher - the infection rate in primary and secondary school age groups is far higher than community levels based on the latest data.

Unsurprisingly as they're the only group of people allowed to mix indoors in large numbers without masks.

Ahhhh that's interesting - I knew it was the case for secondaries, but not primaries.

It rather reinforces, though, that the OPs figures are off on every level, so the headline risk of 1:400 is totally meaningless. Even if producing it would have an effect on the school, which it won't.

FWIW, if I were in the OP's shoes I would simply walk. If enough of her colleagues did likewise, it would force the government's hand. I wish I could do likewise, but I'm frontline NHS, and there's no way of doing so without abandoning my team. The whole situation is awful for everyone. And still people will be out drinking tonight...

I resigned from my part time school job of 20 years, didn't feel safe at all.

I wish I could do likewise, but I'm frontline NHS, and there's no way of doing so without abandoning my team.

Yes, very hard for medics to leave at this point. This is the problem... the government has at every turn relied on good people who won't abandon their colleagues, their pupils and their patients - in schools and hospitals (and other healthcare settings).

The ministers who don't seem to give a shit and who have funnelled BILLIONS of taxpayer money to companies (their mates) that haven't delivered, relying on the unpaid work of those who do give a shit to keep us from a worse disaster.

I agree, teachers and TAs should walk if they can afford to - you may feel like you're letting people down but you're not, not if you force the government's hand, and you shouldn't have to self-sacrifice to this extent. Kids will be ok without a few weeks / months of school.

At a minimum wear a mask. Give your pupils the confidence to do likewise - my daughter would if her teacher did.

@Walkaround

Oh, and I also think it’s idiotic to have any tier 4 schools return as normal on 4 January. I think it would be much more sensible from a health and safety perspective to delay the return for all schools until 11 January, to give time to see what is happening with post-Christmas and New Year figures and in hospitals. Opening primary schools on 4 January is for childcare and because it’s too late to establish updated lists of essential workers and vulnerable children, so everyone has to go back.

Agree with this completely!

@OverTheRubicon

The ONS figures prior to September reopening are not going to apply.
That calculator is useless.

Op, I don’t believe there is much we can do, except get signed off with long term stress or quit.

I think we’ll see a much bigger picture of what has happened many years down the line, when key workers loved ones all come together to sue the government.

[quote DBML]@OverTheRubicon

The ONS figures prior to September reopening are not going to apply.
That calculator is useless.

Op, I don’t believe there is much we can do, except get signed off with long term stress or quit.

I think we’ll see a much bigger picture of what has happened many years down the line, when key workers loved ones all come together to sue the government.[/quote]
I actually think this is inevitable now. It’s a class action of the future, which the next generation will pay for in more ways than one.

I think others are right in their advice. Please don’t try to use that terrible and dodgy formula, it will just look embarrassing—I’m sure better analysis is available somewhere.

You could ask for all the government held data on infection rates in teachers to enable you to properly assess risk before you return.... there was a letter from the Scottish teachers union showing that rates were something like 8x community levels IIRC (I assume they gathered data from their members). It's got to be higher in English schools as rates are higher. You could take the Scottish data as a baseline.

Why haven't they published this data? Mysteriously the figures are available for lockdown when teachers were only in school with tiny numbers of students (such that social distancing was possible), but not since September when social distancing is not in any way possible and 30+ per class.

Hi OP, are you in Lancashire? If so we’re definitely not in as bad a position as the SE. They are well and truly having their second wave, we’ve just had our 1st as the March lockdown meant we didn’t get a proper 1st wave up here. It must be very stressful in school but try not to worry about the media hype as much of that is currently down south. Only 5% of cases up here are the new variant for example

@Indecisive12

Hi OP, are you in Lancashire? If so we’re definitely not in as bad a position as the SE. They are well and truly having their second wave, we’ve just had our 1st as the March lockdown meant we didn’t get a proper 1st wave up here. It must be very stressful in school but try not to worry about the media hype as much of that is currently down south. Only 5% of cases up here are the new variant for example

This is partially true, it depends if OP is in fact in Lancashire and also whereabouts as it is a large area, although things could and probably will change rapidly if Schools go back on Monday as is the current plan otherwise why put Lancashire or any area into Tier 4 ?

@PurpleDaisies

Can you tell me why you disagree with my figures?

Teachers are not dying at the rate of 1:2000 or 1:400.

I will not be coming up with alternative figures. I’ll be leaving that to experts. As should you.

Campaigning for a safe workplace does not need made up figures.

I appreciate teachers are not dying at that rate, but last term infection rates in primary school children was really low. That is not the case now. Infection rates in primary school children have shot up and are now comparable to everyone else.

And where are these alternative figures? Why do the experts not provide figures? Leaving it to the experts does not seem to work, because the experts have failed to provide the figures as far as I can see. And that alone should be ringing alarm bells.

[quote Motorina]**@KharaDH

I used a figure from here for the "case fatality rate": ourworldindata.org/mortality-risk-covid?country=~GBR

That is, the probability of dying if you catch the disease, so not the same thing as the figure you have, which is (I think, if I did the same as you) " the absolute risk of catching and dying COVID-19 over a 90-day period based on data from the first peak of the pandemic"

You're confusing case fatality rate and infection fatality rate.

Infection fatality rate is the probability of dying if you catch the disease.

Case fatality rate is the probability of dying if you are diagnosed with the disease.

Given not all infections are detected/diagnosed then the case fatality rate is always higher than the infection fatality rate. How much higher depends on how many cases are missed.

The CFR you're using is from Italy in early march. It was much higher than the IFR because you basically only got diagnosed if you were ill enough to be hospitalised.

This in itself puts your calculation off, probably by one order of magnitude if not more.

However, all of this is irrelevant. The government have declared that schools are safe. There is little an individual head teacher can do to over-ride that. So @Khara's choices are to carry on working, quit, go off sick, or take annual/unpaid leave if allowed.[/quote]
Hi Motorina

I take your point about "Case fatality rate" vs "Infection fatality rate", that is an error in the calculation. An order of magnitude difference is still 1 in 20,000 chance of death, which is still not acceptable.

"However, all of this is irrelevant. The government have declared that schools are safe."

That does not magically make it safe.

I very strongly believe she should take this up with the Health and Safety Executive. It may have no effect, but it is better than meekly accepting the government pronouncements.

Everyone in schools should be asking for risk assessments based on the new strain.

I very strongly believe she should take this up with the Health and Safety Executive. It may have no effect, but it is better than meekly accepting the government pronouncements.

Well, then that's your next step. Good luck!

There’s also the risk of children taking it back to their own parents....

In the Guardian this morning:

The government faces a major revolt from teachers over its plans to reopen schools, as the Observer understands the UK’s largest teaching union is poised to caution teachers not to return to their classrooms on Monday over safety fears.

The National Education Union (NEU), which represents the majority of teachers and more than 450,000 school staff in the UK, will inform its members that it is not safe for them to return to school until mid-January at the earliest.

It expects most of its members will follow its advice, forcing most schools to switch to online learning for the majority of their pupils.

Covid: current advice on reopening primary schools in England
Read more
The union will provide its members with a template letter to send to their headteachers, explaining that they are refusing to go into work because their workplace is unsafe, a right enshrined in law by section 44 of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Staff should still be prepared to work remotely, the union says, and should volunteer to look after vulnerable pupils and the children of key workers on school premises.

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/02/government-faces-major-revolt-on-schools-reopening-in-england-over-covid-fears

Just watching on Sky. GMB not happy either

Now I’ve just seen this

www.tes.com/news/national-teacher-walk-out-over-covid-safety-expected?fbclid=IwAR0E_OtRw2zRyv6V5qFQPhl4eDVTeR7s-hgn8QDqoo0Szl2rp5S9uFQHWto

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/4123208-Headteacher-unions-begin-legal-proceedings-against-DfE?msgid=103206828

And this.

amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/02/government-faces-major-revolt-on-schools-reopening-in-england-over-covid-fears?CMP=share_btn_tw&_twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR1azs-wKJ4I12I90gHDmAgGMcI4iBO9Zpx47gM7_K8XoDDG03DPh2yWEI

The NEU and Unison have published a model Section 44 letter for school staff to send to their head teachers. https://actionnetwork.org/forms/letter-to-head/?linkid=2&canid=632ad3eb0bec4cb8a26a32153b638111&source=email-fyi-formvalue-default-emergency-zoom-on-sunday-at-11am-3&emailreferrer=email1034167&emailsubject=fyi-form_value-default-urgent-announcement-from-the-neu

There is also a Petition already signed by 85,000 people over the past two hours, Parents and others can also sign it, link here:

actionnetwork.org/forms/make-schools-safe-and-protect-communities/

@NotSoHappyNewTier Sorry to ask a possibly silly question, but how can you see how many people have signed the petition?

I got the Petition link from a post on Twitter: