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?

But its not a strike.
Effectively it is. Collective action. The NEU is on dodgy ground.

@nancyclancy123

We live in Tier 4 and my dd attends an SEN school. Her school is expected to remain open for those with EHCP’s, vulnerable students and those with parents who are key workers. So..........that’s the whole school the ???? Makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. I won’t be sending her in, it’s not fair!!

Special schools are staying open regardless as it stands.

@MH1111

Can teachers who are not going to work volunteer at their local hospital

Teachers ARE going to work. Section 44 gives you the right to refuse to work in an unsafe environment for yourself or others. That doesn’t mean they are not working. Teachers will deliver remote lessons to pupils at home and in person to Vulnerable and Key Worker children on the school premises.

**I don’t really understand why teachers should be any more protected than other workers?

When teachers have the same protections as other workers it might be a valid question.

What protection do you think my prison service colleagues have that’s any more helpful? People don’t stop being violent because of covid.

@MH1111

Can teachers who are not going to work volunteer at their local hospital

They're not teaching in full classrooms. They're not sitting on their arses. They are still working. They will be paid. What's so hard to understand here?

@FrippEnos

Ylvamoon

You are aware that if teachers are ill they won't be in school to teach your children?

And did you know that cover work set by teachers that are ill is done by good will?

The level of self sacrifice is truly astonishing...

@EmmanuelleMakro

But its not a strike. Effectively it is. Collective action. The NEU is on dodgy ground.

The devil is in the detail.

A strike would require a poll of members etc.

and this is "advice" not an instruction.

I work for a firm of gas engineers. Our engineers respond to essential gas emergencies in schools, hospitals, prisons, care homes, university halls of residence & factories.

Our engineers WOULD absolutely walk out if they felt their work environment was unsafe. None have as the boss has done everything he can and said to them all that if they feel unsafe, to let him know and if nothing can be done to make it safer then they don't have to work there.

This is basic h & s legislation that covers everyone. The fact that teachers feel they have to use it is a sad reflection on our governments refusal to listen.

@ZeldaPrincessOfHyrule

I don't think the section 44 letter will help us in our situation.

My school is only open to key worker children, our issue is that all staff have been told they must be in. So the entire staff body will be attending work during their normal hours in order to provide live online lessons and remote learning. We'll have around 120 key worker children in organised into four classes, one per year group. Classes taught face-to-face by learning support assistants, while whole teams of teachers plan and provide work for the ones at home. We just don't know where we stand.

The section 44 letter doesn't cover us, it states we will be available to teach KW children and we are, but with no word from on high and no sign of a rota like last time, we're all in all through the next fortnight.

Many schools were told this too. If you have worked remotely before, you can show it is possible to work from home. Ask your union rep to contact the school. This should be changed.

Hearwego

Is violence a result of covid?

[quote Ylvamoon]@FrippEnos

Ylvamoon

You are aware that if teachers are ill they won't be in school to teach your children?

And did you know that cover work set by teachers that are ill is done by good will?

The level of self sacrifice is truly astonishing...[/quote]
Those are facts. Any need to be so snarky?

Ylvamoon

The level of self sacrifice is truly astonishing...

You have no idea, but then I suspect you neither know nor care.

Ask your union rep to contact the school. This should be changed.

Thanks deedee. No union rep, but I have emailed the district secretary. Not expecting a reply in time for tomorrow as they must be so very busy right now. Rota was suggested by someone in a meeting the other day apparently, but it was dismissed by leadership

@Comefromaway

I work for a firm of gas engineers. Our engineers respond to essential gas emergencies in schools, hospitals, prisons, care homes, university halls of residence & factories.

Our engineers WOULD absolutely walk out if they felt their work environment was unsafe. None have as the boss has done everything he can and said to them all that if they feel unsafe, to let him know and if nothing can be done to make it safer then they don't have to work there.

This is basic h & s legislation that covers everyone. The fact that teachers feel they have to use it is a sad reflection on our governments refusal to listen.

I recall another poster saying similar about her husband who works in construction.

I support anyone who takes action because they're unsafe in their workplace, and thank you for supporting us in the same way.

I'm currently NASUWT, but want to support NEU members. I'm also in an area which now has amongst the lowest cases in the country, so I don't know how many others around me are planning on taking action. I'm secondary, so the only difference would be that I'd be taking lessons from a classroom, as opposed to a bedroom.

I think I will be going in, but I really want to show solidarity as well. It makes absolutely no difference to the provision I will be making to my students. Can I join NEU and come under their advice? Or is there some kind of qualifying period?

To be honest I hope this action works and does push others to take action, how hard would it's be for massive supermarkets to extend that perspex screen for instance?.. Maybe cashiers will hand in section 44 and force their bosses to pull out all the stops for them?..

@FrippEnos - see, I really don't understand that. It's lunacy.
I'm in Australia but all my family are still in the UK and are suffering from this atrociously bad set up - in Australia, our kids are allowed to wear masks in school if they so wish. Teachers - I'm not so sure about - but we have very strict rules about children with symptoms being in school (they're not allowed, and if they have symptoms they must get a test and it must be negative and they must be also symptom-free before they return)
We have so few cases here in comparison, but mask wearing in public places has just been mandated in the areas affected by the most recent hotspots - and I mean LARGE areas of NSW, where the hotspots are comparatively small.

The UK government has zero fucking excuse for their abysmal handling of this. Absolutely Zero.

My youngest DS school has just sent us an email that they won’t be open tomorrow! My eldest DS school said that only year 6 will be expected to be in school.
Look like the teachers at their school are not going in tomorrow.
I will fully support them though!

• AaronPurr Sun 03-Jan-21 16:14:33

I support anyone who takes action because they're unsafe in their workplace, and thank you for supporting us in the same way.*

If you stand for nothing Burr, what do you fall for? 😉

ThumbWitchesAbroad
I really don't understand that. It's lunacy.

We don't understand it either.
But we have had several loud, bolshie groups not wanting their children 'muzzled' or wear 'face nappies'.

The best I can come up with is that stupid is rife in this country.

*It's an issue because the choice isn't afforded to us. You might find the classroom a better place to teach from, but some don't and want the option to teach from home. Or the option to go home again after teaching the one or two live sessions they need to run. We've been told tomorrow from 12 is basically our time for planning, prep, recording and answering pupil questions on the chat - which can be done more safely and just as effectively from home for a lot of us. Instead, we're all in 8-5 when other workplaces - including secondary schools - are told that's not an acceptable level of risk8

None of those things are a health and safety issue though? It's perfectly safe for you to be asked to work alone in your classroom so your school is surely within its rights to ask you to do so. How can secondary schools have been told it's not an acceptable level of risk to work in an empty classroom.

I can well see that lots of people would prefer to work from home. But that's not the same as the 44 thing where teachers feel that it is dangerous to work in a crowded classroom. If you're going to argue that it isn't safe to be in school at all, that ruins the union's caveat that they will of course still work with key worker and vulnerable children. If they support that, they have to support remote learning from school. Many schools require their staff to be in school for safeguarding reasons anyway - especially if staff don't have their own laptops or the school doesn't want the lessons recorded.

@Comefromaway

* AaronPurr Sun 03-Jan-21 16:14:33

I support anyone who takes action because they're unsafe in their workplace, and thank you for supporting us in the same way.*

If you stand for nothing Burr, what do you fall for? 😉

👏👏👏

Bravo, very well played.

I work as a key worker. I get a free mask and some hand gel. That's it. I don't think my secondary teachers are more exposed than I am. If my child's GCSE's are disrupted further by the very people meant to and paid to help them I'll be livid. I'm more than happy to say well if it's too dangerous for them, it's too dangerous for me. What's more I've worked all lockdown for the past 10 months whilst teachers have worked Sept to Dec with at least a month of that off.

Also my 2 DC are at a private school. If they teach my DC online then I'll demand a lot of the fees are refunded. They can't justify those fees.

If you are a vulnerable teacher then you
should be supported to stay home. Otherwise, just like the rest of us KEY WORKERS, crack on with it.

Honestly I'm more than happy to hack my job in. If I have to concentrate more on my kids because of this then there is NO WAY I am putting myself at risk for others either.

The tier 4 directive is work from home if you can.

So if you can remote teach from home then you should.

From a safeguarding point of view I think it is much safer to live teach from the controlled environment of a school classroom. For so many reasons. And having just 4 TAs teaching 120 students with no back up staff/ teachers in school doesn’t sound particularly safe. Unless you’re over 60/ have health conditions/ using public transport I think you’re being unreasonable. Employees aren’t entitled to a choice of workplace, they are entitled to a risk assessment and safety measures