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...

If schools stay open, pressure on the NHS increase even further.

Think of the bigger picture. It's not a race to the bottom.

Because their work conditions are not safe compared to all other jobs...

NHS workers - (you will know this if you are an NHS worker, but of course on the internet anyone can say they work for the NHS) get PPE masks, gloves, aprons etc

Supermarket workers - customer and staff can wear masks, shops have always limited the number of shoppers, shopper can socially distance, staff at tills behind screens, only very brief contact (and with the protection already listed).

Transport workers - customer and workers wear masks and socially distance, some staff (drivers, ticket office) behind screens, only brief contact

Driving instructors - driver and pupil wear masks, can open windows

Waiters - customer and waiters can wear masks, only brief contact

Factory workers - can wear masks

etc etc

Teachers/TAs - no masks/gloves/aprons, no social distancing, crowded rooms with 32 children, poor ventilation, wiping noses, performing first aid, comforting children, serving lunches, clearing plates, helping after toilet accidents, inadequate hand washing facilities and children sticking their fingers up their noses then holding teachers hands, sat next to children hearing them read.

BUT MAINLY BECAUSE SAGE HAVE SAID SCHOOLS NEED TO CLOSE TO GET CASES NUMBERS DOWN.

I REPEAT SAGE HAVE SAID SCHOOLS NEED TO CLOSE OTHERWISE RATES WILL NOT COME DOWN AND NHS WILL NOT COPE.

Us4Them should not get to override SAGE.

I'm not implying that other industries are "soldiering on unprotected". I was pointing out that other industries should be able to have a voice about "unsafe working environments" due to covid risk.

It's impossible to debate this if people are going to cry teacher bashing at every alternative viewpoint.

As I said teachers love their jobs as I'm sure you do too, that is not a ridiculous comment whatsoever

Surely keeping schools open is hardly going to help rates go down - how would this be in any way beneficial for the NHS?

@FoxinaScarf

:47Fortherosesjoni70

Themanofmydreams

I work in a school in a tier 3 area (non teaching) and I am happy to go back.

Quite frankly an unhelpful attitude to all your fellow teachers. Some that may be vunerable. Not everyone in teaching is young and able to make this sacrifice.

I am a lunchtime assistant and yes I may feel different if I was a teacher or TA but what I mean is I'm happy to go back and help/support them whilst I can and not leave them in the lurch. I am 39 by the way.

I've not actually said schools shouldn't close...just baffled with how much air time and power unions seem to have in this pandemic but I am still expected to get on with the job in hand...

Why is it that teachers are getting to say when schools go back?
They’re not getting to say when schools go back. They’re exercising their right to refuse to work in unsafe conditions without appropriate safety equipment. If enough teachers exercise that right then the school has to make the decision to close.

Interesting to watch what happens with the teachers because I'm sure if they are successful it opens up a can of worms for other essential workers. Pretty soon we can expect retail, postal, transport and utility sector workers to do the same and why shouldn't they? You can argue that nhs staff have signed up for this (something I don't personally agree with) but the other essential workers haven't the same as the teachers. I support anyone's right to walk out of an unsafe working environment as long as people don't moan when everyone else starts doing it.

@Themanofmydreams thank you I really appreciate the effort honestly says a lot, makes me feel more positive

@Redbrickwall

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

Obviously anyone can say they are a teacher on the internet. But surely you realise that Tesco workers get to wear masks, the customers wear masks, they socially distance, they limit the numbers if shoppers in store, they have only very brief contact with customers, staff on till are behind screens, I have never seen a Tesco worker hold hands with a customer who has just picked his nose etc etc

Teachers and unions have no say in when/if schools go back. They are asking for safe working environments. As long as that can be provided then schools go back. The government have been negligent here. Not schools or teachers or unions.

@Redbrickwall

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

And staff in nursing homes get masks, gloves and aprons, oh and the vaccine...

Ah well, if homeschooling all children is adequate, what's the point in schools ever being open? Might as well close them permanently.

Also the vaccine hasn't been given to the majority of NHS workers yet we aren't sure when this will be either...

If schools close the keyworker provision will have to include wrap around care which it didn’t last time. Last lockdown including schools my colleagues who were already high risk working with patients had to ask elderly parents to provide wraparound care as obviously you can’t turn up to a shift on the ward after the school run.
The PPE most of us have are gloves, a plastic apron and a flimsy mask. Plenty of us are still getting Covid. Unfortunately healthcare unions don’t give a damn, as posters point out we must have known this kind of a thing was a possibility (we really didn’t) and we must have had training for this kind of thing (we absolutely did not).
But at the end of the day I do think more should be done to ensure teaching staff are safe.

But it angers me how much airtime their unions get when ours get none.

Is it true that some teachers in secondary schools also get a day off in late November to 'shop'? I heard this over Xmas and couldn't believe my ears...

If true these are the same teachers/head teachers who decide how much time off our kids can have per school year (agreed some parents take the p* with this) and it's 'vital children stay in school throughout the school year'

The hypocrisy of it all just baffles me...

Granted the pandemic hasn't shown teachers in a great light

Again another presumptuous and rude post, I may not have worked on a busy nhs ward but I am a full time carer, in a nursing home and worked all the way through this.
All I was simply saying is it is not teachers deciding that they dont want to work through this, it is about what is the safest thing to do.
No I dont expect you to be grateful, I have no idea why you would think this, I just felt your first post was rather rude to teachers, that is all.

They can go on strike if they want (with no pay).

If my DD's school closes on Monday without Government say so, I will absolutely be writing to my MP to state that the teachers who do not show up for work should receive no pay.

@Redbrickwall

Have you joined a teaching union?

@Nikhedonia I agree

@PerfectPearl noted. Apologies I didn't mean it too be...

Is it true that some teachers in secondary schools also get a day off in late November to 'shop'? I heard this over Xmas and couldn't believe my ears...

Dear me! It is just when we have an INSET or CPD day. The pupils still get their 190 days it just happens to be chosen at the end of November. It could equally be the first Monday of the summer hols. We do the hours at another time to have that day. It's not a be off for shopping day. * No child misses a day for it.*

@RigaBalsam thanks

It was something I heard and presumed couldn't be true...