Am I missing the point here...

[kookykins]

I'm going to try and make this as measured as I can and try not to make it come across like a torrent of frustration.

Why is it that teachers are getting to say when schools go back? Why does it feel like teachers are constantly complaining about the virus? No one is an ideal situation right now so why does it feel like they are being allowed to 'opt out' of their careers now times are tough.

I work in a busy NHS hospital and It honestly sickens and saddens me that there are men and women, many parents relying on schools to open, relying on their children's education being properly resumed next week they are giving life saving treatment in dire situations every day. I haven't heard them complaining about having to come in and save lives work extra hours and a lot on low pay.

Teachers to an extent have chosen a career to support teach and mentor our children I feel when the going has got touch (very tough fair enough) they are opting out...however many of these teachers will expect ITU nurses to treat someone in their family who happens to get ill with this virus. How can this be? How is this ok?

I have friends who are teachers who don't feel like this and who want to get back to work but are very much being pulled along by the union so I don't want to paint all teachers with the same brush...

What happens to the children who need to go back to school, who need that hot meal that support that escape? Do they not matter?

Surely the children of this country are a higher priority right now?
Teachers and unions are being given insane amounts of power right now and I don't understand it. If we are all meant to 'be in it together' then why aren't we all cracking on like the next person and getting on with our jobs because we realise the impact if we don't...

Rant over...

Everyone's under pressure.

In that sense, you're right 😭

But we can't just decide to leave or that actually it's too dangerous to work (talking from an nhs workers perspective here)

Well, teaching can be done from home. Life saving treatment, cannot.

Oh ffs!
Really

I think only essential things should be open right now. My opinion is that schools are essential. But I understand why people would think otherwise. I also chose not to see family on Christmas day even though it was "allowed" and again I absolutely understand why people made different choices. We aren't going to all agree with each other on this. The best thing we can do is understand.

@kookykins

But we can't just decide to leave or that actually it's too dangerous to work (talking from an nhs workers perspective here)

In your job this kind of crisis was always a possibility. You probably train for these kind of conditions. The other poster is right. You cannot do your job from home. Your comments are ridiculous. As if teachers have had an easy ride of it!!! Teachers have no say. We have had to fight to be heard.

It’s so hard @kookykins and I definitely think NHS staff have it worse. PPE helps prevent infection but it’s not 100% effective and hospitals are obviously covid hotbeds so lots of colleagues are still getting the virus despite PPE. I think day to day the absolute stress, exhaustion and pressure is virtually unbearable. There will also be many nurses who will have to leave their jobs if schools stay closed. Key worker provision often calls for both parents to be key workers. In the case of myself and friends a lot of our partners and husbands are not key workers but are the main breadwinners. We can’t go out to work for crap pay while they struggle with loads of kids at home and risk their jobs when their income is needed to keep a roof over our heads. I do feel for teachers though it’s crap I don’t understand why they aren’t given PPE.

Yep, which is why it is very important KW and V provision remains open. Can’t do that with no staff.

Seriously. Teachers aren't getting to say when school go back.
And if the school go on as it is now, you will be seeing many teachers and their families in the hospital you work, as well as children and children's families and people from the community.

You do realise having schools off will decrease the pressure on the NHS?

Presumably at work you get access to PPE? That's one of the key differences

Fancy doing your job without it?

You'll get earlier access to the vaccine - at the moment I'm in the final vaccination group - fancy swapping places?

I think if you aren't provided with ppe, and expected.to work with no social distancing or mitigating measures in place I would hope others would support you asking to work safely. Plus the spread i to the wider community has to be considered in the face of rising, and quite frankly frightening cases.

The whole point of schools closing is:
To protect children from the virus
To protect their families from the virus
To protect it from spreading out of control
To stop it mutating.
To protect the nhs!! Remember the place that YOU work for!!

OP, have you actually read what’s been said? Vulnerable children and children of key workers will still be going to school, did you miss that bit?
The concerns are regarding rates of transmission, apparently the NHS are struggling with the increase in patients with COVID and this is also having a knock on effect in providing adequate care for people with other conditions. Is this not something you have seen/experienced/have concerns about within your NHS role? Has it been misreported?

@Fortherosesjoni70 I disagree to an extent. When I trained as a nurse 13 years ago it never crossed my mind there would be a pandemic. At basic medical and nursing levels you prep for emergencies like terrorist attacks and car pile ups. No one anticipated a pandemic.

So much animosity towards teachers. If you hate them that much, give up your job and teach your kids yourself.

There does seem to be a narrative that we should shut schools to protect teachers and keep our children safe. The schools that are being shut in tier 4 areas are shutting to prevent spread to the wider community; the very vulnerable and elderly. These are the people who are filling our hospitals and suffering life threatening complications.

Once the vaccination programme has provided immunity to the prioritised groups in our society then will parents still want to keep children off because the virus will still be present in society?

I think people are overestimating the risk to their children rather than considering that school closures are to protect wider society.

Sigh. NHS workers should want their wards NOT to be filled with people struggling to breathe or dying.

The virus is spreading unchecked in schoosls. Teachers work without any distancing, PPE or covid secure measures. No ventilation or air flow. No funding. No way to prevent them catching covid.

Teachers and children spreading covid means the whole community is f*cked.

[quote Napqueen1234]@Fortherosesjoni70 I disagree to an extent. When I trained as a nurse 13 years ago it never crossed my mind there would be a pandemic. At basic medical and nursing levels you prep for emergencies like terrorist attacks and car pile ups. No one anticipated a pandemic.[/quote]
Well not a specific pandemic true.
Still emergency situations.
It was always a possibility.

I don’t think teachers want schools to close, they want them safe. Any of us with anyone linked to schools, be they children or staff, would surely want the same?

I get people are pissed off, but it would be better directed at the government, not those having to work on an unsafe environment at a time when covid numbers are rapidly rising.

I haven't heard any teachers moan... But I think alot of parents feel they have been put in an unfair position, no ppe or funding for cleaning essentials, we have been asked to send in wipes and cleaning sprays if we can. They have been asked to provide online learning, in class teaching also whilst home educating their own children aswell perhaps. No ppe... Kids spread things like wild fires, the Government said schools are covid safe, absolute rubbish, they are knowingly exposing teachers to high risks and haven't moved them up the vaccine list like NHS workers

I’m a teacher and I agree. Tesco workers seeing thousands of people a day, staff in nursing homes, they haven’t walked out. Teachers get away with this due to their unions.

I’m sick of it. But I love teaching

Oh gawd not another one

Yes you are missing the point. Kids are crammed into classrooms with no protection apart from one window slightly open and some hand sanitizer and then returning home to their families who are then working or going to supermarket or other necessary things. 30 of them sat less than 1m apart for 5 hours. Every day. Never mind the mixing at break and lunch and on buses coming into school. Can’t you see how quickly that spreads?!!

Schools will stay open for key worker and vulnerable kids. This GREATLY reduces the number of kids in school which means social distancing can actually happen therefore reducing the risk more. Teachers ARE IN SCHOOL teaching live from their classrooms. Kids log in at home follow. Key worker and vulnerable kids log on from school to watch the same lesson.

It is absolutely less than ideal and utterly shit for those trying to work at home with kids and even shitter for those who only have 1 laptop abs 5 people needing it! I know schools have actually provided laptops and internet dongles to lots of families.

It’s completely shit but then so is a pandemic. The alternative is not working. We have seen that already.