How many teachers will be handing in the section 44 letter tomorrow and not going in?

[SoscaredforJan]

My DSis is scared to go to work tomorrow in a private primary school in Tier 3 but lowish numbers. She is not ECV but has got chemo damaged lungs so it petrified of catching Covid.

She desperately wants to follow union advice and not go in tomorrow but she’s worried that most teachers will be in as normal, she will have a black Mark against her and will be quietly pushed out.

Are there many teachers on here planning not to go in tomorrow? What do you think will happen tomorrow?

I hope my kids teachers all hand theirs in. I would fully support them.

So do I! I don’t want to send my children in either!

I’m too scared to hand it in. I work in a private preschool & know I won’t be given the number of hrs I need to survive financially afterwards if I do. I’m asthmatic & don’t feel safe going in.

You need to include TAs too. The many teaching assistants I know are not going in.

Most teachers I know personally just haven’t made their minds up yet. Inset day tomorrow so that gives some breathing space.

No, I won’t. I will work as normal.

I know two who are. But they say some are very scared of bullying heads.

@Badgerstmary

I’m too scared to hand it in. I work in a private preschool & know I won’t be given the number of hrs I need to survive financially afterwards if I do. I’m asthmatic & don’t feel safe going in.

This is what worries me. It’s too easy to make teacher’s lives difficult if they hand it in.

I’m a secondary teacher. I have posted on my DC’s school’s FB page that I support any closures. I stand in solidarity with my primary colleagues.

I will be working as usual. Rates in my area are actually lower now than in November, although rising fast, so we actually have a breathing space to get some school time in.
While I can be in, I will be.

It’s not looking good then judging by this thread Looks like most will be towing the government line.

Are TAs in the same unions as teachers? Hopefully they are being supported if they don't want to go in.

Most are in Unison I think who are in agreement with the walk out

I'm handing in my resignation. Doing as has been suggested and leaving. Have a nice civil service job lined up wfh. With lots more money. I've had enough.

If they do, I hope that all customer facing supermarket and delivery staff do the same...they’re at as least as much, if not more, risk than teachers given that they’re exposed to more people, and there’s no record of who they’ve been exposed to. Perhaps that’d help them see who else is an essential worker!!

I've sent mine in. It just felt like the right thing to do for the children I work with and their families (Primary in Tier 4).

I can’t help thinking that any teachers who go in and don’t show solidarity with the unions and fellow teachers shouldn’t expect the unions to ever help them again. This is by far the most important issue facing teachers ever! Greater than pay disputes etc. It is literally life and death.

I’m actually very sad that the unions have so little support from the teachers. If everyone who could didn’t go in tomorrow then schools would close to all apart from the keyworkers/vulnerable and the government would be forced to put in better measures. As it is the government have won....and winning means many more deaths sadly.

@FrameByFrame

I've sent mine in. It just felt like the right thing to do for the children I work with and their families (Primary in Tier 4).

Thank you!!

Most teachers will go in I suspect. Cue a massive wave of infection taken home to local community and Johnson shuffling on in two weeks or so to say harsher measures needed ( total unforeseeable... Waffle waffle)

An awful lot of teachers have left the NEU over the Covid stance. They're just too militant and don't speak for the majority of their members.

My school is closed despite being in a tier 4, non closure area because the head thinks it's too risky. I am not in support of this but obviously have no choice. If my school was open, I certainly wouldn't support strike action. But I'm in NASUWT who aren't, I don't think, recommending that teachers not go in without headteacher support.

In a private school, I'd be very wary. Unions and striking don't go down well, generally.

@Tryingtokeepgoing

If they do, I hope that all customer facing supermarket and delivery staff do the same...they’re at as least as much, if not more, risk than teachers given that they’re exposed to more people, and there’s no record of who they’ve been exposed to. Perhaps that’d help them see who else is an essential worker!!

My sister would happily swap to being a delivery driver or supermarket worker at the moment. At least she would be allowed to wear a mask!

Oh no. Was really counting on my DCs’ teachers to hand in the letter. I don’t want to send them in!

Damn this criminally negligent government.

@manicinsomniac there were over 100,000 people on the NEiU zoom call this morning. Not sure that shows people leaving.
I know 2 teachers who have left though. Because they are now dead.

I'm a TA on 16k a year who lives by themselves. It's alright saying you're legally right and you'll be reimbursed in the end etc but I can't risk or afford losing my pay.

Our Head is doing a zoom call later to discuss with those who have concerns which I interpreted as putting pressure on those who plan to submit a section 44.

Loads of people will complain and be unhapppy but most like myself with just go along with it.

Ditto Lacy