NEU tells teachers not to go to work on Monday

[Workyticket]

skwawkbox.org/2021/01/02/breaking-union-tells-teachers-not-to-go-to-work-on-monday/

I wish they’d just vaccinate teachers first before anyone else. We are failing a whole generation.

So far as I’m concerned, it comes down to this: why does the English Government feel more confident than the N.Irish, Scottish and Welsh administrations that reopening primary schools on 4 January is a risk worth taking (except in London, which has lower rates in many of its boroughs than several other areas in the SE where schools remain open?!) - especially since it is England with the biggest issues with the new strain of Covid 19? And what is its reasoning behind its choices as to which areas to close schools in? If it can’t provide a coherent defence of its position, then it should keep schools closed until it can be coherent. I’ll be happy going into school if I feel reassured the DfE has the faintest idea what the hell it is doing.

@justgeton Then you need to walk a day in their shoes.

@noblegiraffe

Where is the evidence that schools are that unsafe?

The onus is now on the government to show that they are safe.

We await their data.

Should be easy for them to sort this all out.

Unless the data isn't in their favour...

justgeton

But I don't hear that...

I hear the wrong arguments.

So you just hear what you want to hear.

You'd have far more support if you campaigned for PPE (good luck with that all day) of an evidence based risk assessment warranted it.
Teachers have been doing that for months.
That also led to hysterical claims that we don't want to do our jobs and want to close schools.

In fact, all of the following have been a problem:
Teachers say that the government needs to consider a range of factors to safely reopen schools = teachers want schools to be closed forever
Teachers point out the consequences of some government plans = teachers want schools to be closed and they're just scaremongering
Schools reopen and some of those consequences happen (eg staggered starts affecting parents with children in multiple year groups, bubbles bursting etc) = teachers should have solved it and had a bit more positive thinking
Schools reopen and parents post sharing what life is like for their children in schools = teachers are moaning and should stop being defeatist
Government make statements on opening /closing schools = teachers are refusing to do their job/they want schools closed forever

Evidence suggests more young people are contracting covid and cases are rising = teachers want schools closed
Teachers say that with the emerging evidence thay PPE and responsible operating is essential to keep schools open = teachers want schools closed
Some councils want to move to remote learning a few days before christmas travel is allowed = threatened with legal action by the DfE, then a few days later London is put into tier 4 and then schools are closed
Government announces the new strain is spreading and it's spreading within schools = teachers want schools closed
Boris stands in front of the press and says 'schools are safe but household mixing in schools is not safe' = teachers want schools closed when schools are safe
SAGE raise concerns about the R number given schools are going back = teachers want schools closed

Quite frankly, the Us4Them movement and people with their own anti school, anti union chips have done everything in their power to show how little they care for our children, school communities and parents. If they actually gave a damn about children and families then they'd have been supporting teachers in the summer when we were wanting appropriate funding and appropriate measures to open schools in a safe way.

Zen I’ve just listened to a doctor in BBC news say exactly the opposite.

I’m bloody confused. All you hear is that hospitals are bursting, how devastating Covid is, you’ll have blood on your hands if you don’t stay at home...... unless you work in a school.

So be which is it?

It also seems bonkers not to make use of the Christmas break. Add on two weeks and we can all hunker down and ride out the storm. It would be in total a month circuit break. You could have a mass vaccination the first day back.

And as an aside why haven’t they done mass vaccination in schools a la the flu jab? You can do a whole school in a day.

@FrippEnos

Exactly this.

I hear teachers saying they're not safe. I don't hear them saying they want to safeguard vulnerable children

Safe for teachers is safe for pupils.

I don't hear them making sensible suggestions of how they can make things better for themselves

What are you on about? Teachers don't get to set the safety regulations in schools.

@FrippEnos

justgeton

But I don't hear that...

I hear the wrong arguments.

So you just hear what you want to hear.

Maybe

But the fact that I'm a reasonable person with a wealth of healthcare/infection control/public health experience matters not?

Good for them. I’m in a closed area anyway but if I wasn’t I would be participating. If you’re in an area where schools are open, please lend your support to this walkout and email your MP telling them that you support it and that teachers need safe workplaces. The government need to sort this out now.

You do realise that a lot of the country is working twice as hard for no extra pay don't you? It doesn't look good to imply that only teachers should be exempt from this.

Nope. I don't know anyone who works loads of extra hours for no pay.

@stairway

I wish they’d just vaccinate teachers first before anyone else. We are failing a whole generation.

How does this help the parents of school children who will inevitably catch it from kids mixing? And the wider community the children will spread it to as their parents go to work before developing symptoms?

Yes, vaccinate teachers by all means. But people should stop using this argument as if it magically fixes everything and hurrah we can open schools again. It doesn't work like that.

To the vulnerable people who are scared their dc will bring it home I wholly support your right to keep your dc out of school but that doesn't mean schools should unilaterally close.

I don't hear them making sensible suggestions of how they can make things better for themselves.

Oh but that doesn't mean that they haven't been making them, just that you haven't been paying attention.

Thank you @noblegiraffe, just feeling stressed tonight about Monday as I know I'll be well within a metre providing personal care. Time for a glass of vino before term starts.

I hate that all this has made us take it out on others. Bloody government and GW.

@justgeton

Which of the NEU's suggestions do you think is not sensible?

New risk assessments? Mask wearing in secondary schools? Prioritising school staff for the vaccination (not above the vulnerable and HCPs, obviously)? CEV and pregnant women to stay home? Or social distancing of 1m between pupils in schools?

Can you explain why they are not sensible?

Justgeton you've not been reading the threads for months then or listening to unions.

Safety is what they've asked for for months. Since April when they wanted to start planning reopening.

The governments counter argument is "schools are safe"

Yet they will not release data to back this up.

And Boris himself said schools are safe, it's the mixing of households in them that's the problem

And as I read on FB the other day from a teacher that me me lol in response to this was "well we weren't worried about the buildings"

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/

Thanks for the ONS data graph noblegiraffe.

So we currently have 3% of the secondary school population carrying covid asymptomatically and 2% of the primary school population.

Both rising, as are the numbers of young adults (Y12 - 24 years) to 2.5% of their population (their line is almost vertical over December(.

I don't know if you'd consider this a sound enough evidence base for a risk assessment justgeton, because you don't need to be a data mastermind to extrapolate from this that schools are the key drivers of infection and, from a public health pov, closing sites as much as possible is the only way left to try to suppress spread of the virus.

The language used around schools has been extremely misleading though.

Boris says teachers and heads have been working hard to make school safe.

That's not true, for a school to be covid safe I would expect 100 % protection from covid within it.

They, as untrained disease cleaning specialists have been trying to make them safe Er

But that's a loosing battle with a new strain, winter, everything is agaisnt us.

Just had a thought.

Government guidelines are work from home if you can.

Well teachers can.

They can deliver learning online.

The issue is those who cannot access it. Well they've already got provision to attend.

But the fact that I'm a reasonable person with a wealth of healthcare/infection control/public health experience matters not?
To be honest your healthcare experience doesn't matter if your argument is based on the fact you don't think you've heard teachers wanting safe schools for staff and pupils.

What's quite bizarre is that someone with a health background can hear the government saying we should socially distance, that we should avoid crowds, avoid household mixing, be in ventilated spaces because lots of household mixing in poorly ventilated spaces increases transmission, then still says to teachers 'yeah well you have to prove to me that schools open as usual is a risk'.

Boris Johnson told the press a few days ago that the levels of household mixing in schools is a problem (but schools are safe apparently).

SAGE are expressing concerns

So why, according to you, is the onus on teachers to explain to you the issues in schools? Or are you being deliberately goady because I dont see how your position makes sense for someone with extensive experience in health?

@justgeton

Having NHS healthcare experience means nothing in the face of mumsnetters who have been reading facebook it seems

ZenNudist

We are in this situation because the government won't come to the table and talk about this.
They are refusing to see that there is a problem and this is why we are where we are.