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...

The move is about reducing/slowing the spread. What is so difficult to understand about that?

But gps havnt been seeing many patients,referrals to hospital on hold etc etc 🤷‍♀️
And a doctor is only going to be in a room with one patient (maybe an additional carerparent) so yep they havnt been doing the jobs they get paid for either🤷‍♀️
I hope the teachers finally get their voices heard and protected like many of the NHS staff have .

I understand that some people might not realise how close to breaking our NHS is, but it always baffles me when those people claim to be working for it.

I agree with you OP. It's definitely coming across that teachers unions are trying to close schools themselves because they think they ought to be closed, under the guise of schools being 'unsafe working environments'

Sorry but that's not your call.

We're trying to get them closed (temporarily) because anyone who isn't blind can see that playing chicken with a virus is not going to get us anywhere good.

And the point is, we're doing just what Boris Johnson wants us to do - close the schools, without it reflecting badly on him. It causes him the deepest regret, you see, to have to do nasty things, but those horrible unions are forcing him too, diddums.

It's crazy that until today all I was seeing since October lockdown was teachers calling for schools to close (80% of teachers on mn and more so on Twitter & FB) and now their wish is beginning to be granted and they realise that many parents are upset about primary's closing due to wfh, child mental health issues, very poor provision from March to September etc teachers say no we just wanted them to be safe. Safe schools has a lovely ring to it we need to get parents and teachers pulling in the same direction fighting for the same thing surely. I don't believe teachers or parents really don't care about children enough to lobby the govt together. Even the head teachers legal action barely actually mentions the children.

I can't believe some head teachers are saying for staff not to wear face masks. All the teachers at my DS primary wear them. Whenever they get close to a child they most definitely have the mask on and all the kids are not allowed to play tag or football contact at playtime. I've actually witnessed it when we had to pick the kids up early due to a flood and all the kids were heading back to class at arms length. My DS is 5 and he says it's silly because in class they are next to each other but at all other times they are kept apart. We are in a tier 4 area and haven't had to isolate yet. Head runs a very tight ship yet other schools in the area have had many cases and even whole school closures.

I teach in a LEA in Wales with the highest rates of C-19 in the UK.

I teach all of year 10 & all of year 11. So ‘bubbles’ of about 500 pupils.

One class had 35 pupils in it - 30 computers so you can imagine how small and poorly ventilated this valleys school was.

I kicked up a fuss as I couldn’t go to a funeral with 35 people in attendance.

I was moved to a room with 17 desks - 34 seats so one short anyway. A new pupil joined the class so another desk was added.

Hours at a time in over-crowded, poorly ventilated rooms, trying to teach face to face and provide lessons to self isolating pupils, cleaning laptops and desks between every lesson.

No PPE and impossible to socially distance and not following rules in school that applied to the community at large...yet as a teacher I’m whinging.

Yeah...

This "NHS staff knew what they signed up for" argument: there's a difference between knowing there's a risk of,say,a needle stick injury with a Hep C patient, or even needing to barrier nurse, compared to a pandemic with a novel virus,where PPE has been in a fragile supply chain,and where you are giving of your self to even try to give someone a good death when they can't have their family with them. Getting fed up of all this sodding othering. Everyone should be in workplaces that are as safe as possible in the circumstances. And I for one,thought that was why the NHS was allowed to suffer for so long at start as the government,as always, took advantage of,even abused,the good will and sense if vocation of a large part of NHS staff,as they knew they'd just do their best despite the risks to themselves. I think it's utterly valid and reasonable that teachers are saying enough is enough,as there are reasonable steps that have not been put in place,nearly a year into this thing.

And OP, just to spell it out to you, you are spectacularly missing the point.

HTH.

@Redbrickwall
Couldn’t agree more I left teaching years ago and became a counsellor. I have returned to my local school as a part time TA to help children catch up after the first COVID lockdown. As I knew there would be a need.
I have seen so many children that have fallen behind, who have parents who cannot help them yet aren’t classed as vulnerable.
What happens to these children if we shut primary schools again and it certainly won’t be for two weeks. Let’s be honest at least.
Come on teachers please, it’s worrying for everyone no matter where we work. Yet we are the only profession demanding to stay at home. Nurses stayed with COVID patients with no PPE, supermarket workers put up with angry customers shouting at them with no PPE. We can teach children and stay relatively safe if we use common sense.

No one anticipated a pandemic

Not true. In 1985-6 I took a single undergraduate course in 'Continuing Education and Development' at the Victoria University of Manchester. Pandemics and the likelihood of the regular occurrence of pandemics was discussed.

Everyone knew this was coming, they just didn't know when. There have been frequent discussions about pandemics. We had a SARS pandemic fairy recently.

Remember the answer to the question 'What will end the human race? Nuclear disaster?'
'No. Not nuclear disaster or nuclear war. Three viruses.'

My daughter is in a classroom with 30 children, in a tiny village school. Two members of staff have already contracted covid, she lives me, I am clinically vulnerable and a carer for my extremely clinical mother, my daughter is also clinically vulnerable. All I want is safety measures in place to protect her and in turn the rest of my family. Is that really too much to ask?

I will be encouraging her to leave a profession that she is very good at and dedicated too if this continues, we should be doing everything we can at this point to prevent transmission of this new variant. Unfettered spread doesnt bare thinking about.

It’s a really difficult situation. I agree that there are many other professions who are also running the gauntlet with covid day in day out, NHS frontline the most obvious though not the only. Most are doing a fantastic job and personally I’m very grateful to the key workers who are helping keep the country running while most of us stay home. As you say, many don’t have the option to just refuse to go in.

However, I also don’t think it’s reasonable to expect teachers to potentially put their lives on the line in the name of their work. Most will be fine if they catch it, but likely some won’t. The most absurd thing to me is that teachers aren’t allowed to wear masks. I realise there may be an argument that children need to see their faces etc but surely short term it’s a reasonable compromise that might help marginally?

Anyway, I understand your frustration OP but frankly if I was a teacher I would be living in a constant state of fear and I don’t think that’s a reasonable ask. That said, children need education so some kind of workable and realistic system is going to have to be put into place pretty sharpish ...

God the teacher bashing from some posters makes me sick.
I have close relatives and friends who teach in British schools and they had the worst term ever. All of them dropping like flies because of crammed classrooms and no one wearing masks. So many staff contacted covid and some obviously ended up hospitalisés. I cannot understand why they are not getting at least secondary aged kids to wear masks. Teachers want to work, at least the ones I know are some of the hardest working people I know. But measures are needed to reduce the spread.
Where I live (not in the U.K.) kids from 6 and up are wearing masks.

Sorry above post has loads of errors, sausage fingers on this device!

Why is it that teachers are getting to say when schools go back?

if my office is full of crocodiles then I certainly hope I get a say in whether I go into work or not. If my employers provide me with a cage to work in so the crocodiles don't get me, then perhaps we can talk about it. But no cage and lots of crocodiles, then it's my decision.

As lots of other posters are confirming...you haven't missed the point at all.

Teaching unions think schools should be closed, so they're using their clout to try to force closures.

It's exactly the kind of power unions shouldn't have.

OP, to answer your thread title; yes, you are spectacularly missing the point.

HTH.

From a struggling single parent who has lost her job, but still manages to count herself lucky that her CEV Mum is still alive and supports both teachers and Medical Staff.

Sorry but no we are not trained for a pandemic if you worked on ITU and critical care you would realise how dire that comment really is...And with regards to PPE nurses are still getting the virus with PPE we had a pregnant nurse who is working in extreme conditions have to be ventilated because of the virus...PPE reduces the risk but does not exclude

@Whatelsecouldibecalled this may be true but nhs staff are also mixing, it's spreading like wildfire throughout many trusts, midwives being called in to critical care with zero experience in the field because they are so understaffed, I know many many colleagues isolating with Covid, critically unwell because of Covid. I'm not saying teachers are in a good position and it's a disgrace they are expecting to work in unsafe conditions however they are given an option by their unions to not go into their workplace many nurses aren't given that support...

@SilverBirchWithout I do work on the frontline but thanks for your response

@Redbrickwall I applaud you thank you

@Boudicabooandbulldogs thank you! I appreciate this message so much you've put it better than I ever could