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?

It’s not about that I had 156 patients that needed support In hospital domestic violence , alcohol, older people with no family we didn’t see them there we wouldn’t have any beds for vulnerable people. I just can’t simply sign a petition that means I don’t have to work with them like the nurses we have a duty of care
Like the shop workers keeping this country going. The care staff who are looking after people who have physically abused them because they have mental health issues sued and learning disabilities who simply don’t understand why they can’t get out of the care home.

What this pandemic has thrown up is that many people simply do not know what their basic employee rights are. So many people complaining of poorer working conditions or a total lack of care and flexibility from bosses.

I think mn hq should get Employment rights solicitors on to do a q and a about what people can reasonably ask for in terms of some slack if they have very young children at home or those with sen...

@noblegiraffe

I never said it wasn’t shit for supermarket workers but I am a bit fed up at people endlessly going ‘what about the poor supermarket workers’ when teachers say their working conditions are unsafe. The data shows schools are less safe than supermarkets. So if you’re one of the people who wheels out supermarkets against teachers, you really should stop it.

I’m a teacher.

Glitter couldn't you wear a mask? And presumably not indoors with 30 all day? My mums mhn did phone consultations for a long time and I know of autism assesments being carried out online. Many professions were making things safer where they can.

Its not just about the staff but the spread between these children in schools all over the country as they said tonight.

Sorry glitter conpletely misread your post. Of course theres contact in hospital and I completely agreeed with campaigns for ppe in hospital etc. And indeed the lockdown and school closures should help as should eventually bring the numbers in hospital down making it safer for everyone.

I’m a teacher.

If you haven’t been wanging on about how supermarkets are far less safe than schools (as so many posters have), then I wasn’t talking about you.

Just struggle to acknowledge the lack of sensitivity of some teachers and staff from our school who are already on Facebook celebrating lockdown....welcoming the "rest" after all the pressure they have been under.

I feel very sorry for English nursery staff! Everyone has to shield and stay home. But not them!😡

@Glitterbug76

It’s not about that I had 156 patients that needed support In hospital domestic violence , alcohol, older people with no family we didn’t see them there we wouldn’t have any beds for vulnerable people. I just can’t simply sign a petition that means I don’t have to work with them like the nurses we have a duty of care Like the shop workers keeping this country going. The care staff who are looking after people who have physically abused them because they have mental health issues sued and learning disabilities who simply don’t understand why they can’t get out of the care home.

I’ve mentioned this on another thread, but the reason why teachers were signing the petition (do you mean the section 44 letter?) seems to be, on the surface, about their own personal safety - that is, after all, what the legislation is there for (for your own or others safety, to clarify).

However, this was a strategy by the unions to force the government into taking action. The government had been told by Sage that the new strain was 70% more transmissible, and teens 7 times more likely to bring it into their homes than other age groups. The Governemnt were not acting on this and ordering schools to open.

Headteachers CANNOT close schools. The Unions used section 44 as a strategy to make staff numbers unsafe, therefore the head, with the local council and governors, were able to switch to online learning.

It is not about shirking or washing hands of responsibilities, but of taking things in hand because the government wouldn’t. It was to try to stop the collapse of the NHS and services such as yours.

I also have the upmost respect for shopworkers (which I have done previously) and care staff. Which was why I would have signed To invoke section 44.

@noblegiraffe

I’m a teacher.

If you haven’t been wanging on about how supermarkets are far less safe than schools (as so many posters have), then I wasn’t talking about you.

Thanks..it was just because it was straight after my message.

@MarieG10

Just struggle to acknowledge the lack of sensitivity of some teachers and staff from our school who are already on Facebook celebrating lockdown....welcoming the "rest" after all the pressure they have been under.

This would annoy me too. Believe me, we are not celebrating in my department! I teach a core subject.

@MarieG10

Just struggle to acknowledge the lack of sensitivity of some teachers and staff from our school who are already on Facebook celebrating lockdown....welcoming the "rest" after all the pressure they have been under.

Leave FB too much

@deedeemegadoodoo
"This would annoy me too. Believe me, we are not celebrating in my department! I teach a core subject"

It's the minority I know

@LollyBeebee123

I feel very sorry for English nursery staff! Everyone has to shield and stay home. But not them!😡

Thank you LolluBeebee123 It is nice to hear that some are thinking of the impact on the nursery staff at this time.

My DD works in a nursery in a Tier 4 area that is currently 49th worst town in UK for cases, she has been very tearful after the announcement, she said it feels like they don't matter. She loves her job and the children but she didn't sign up for this. She wont let her manager or team down, 2 of her colleagues walked out today so they need the remaining ones to be on the same page. She feels undervalued, underpaid and basically that she and her colleagues don't matter, some of which live with people who are vulnerable.

I have spent the last hours chatting to her, I said she can leave if she wants and I will support her financially, but she said she doesn't want to let her manager down which I understand. She wore a mask today and will keep doing everything she can to keep safe, the one thing parents can do is make sure they don't send in their children if unwell, even if not the classic 3 symptoms, that way at least it can remain open and keep them as safe as possible.

Headteachers CANNOT close schools. The Unions used section 44 as a strategy to make staff numbers unsafe, therefore the head, with the local council and governors, were able to switch to online learning.

In reality it isn't a switch to online learning for many, many kids, it's being kicked out of education for at least six weeks. Probably the whole term. With no in-person social interaction with their peers during that time. That's what's been achieved.

@MarieG10

Just struggle to acknowledge the lack of sensitivity of some teachers and staff from our school who are already on Facebook celebrating lockdown....welcoming the "rest" after all the pressure they have been under.

I can assure you my head teacher is working now and everyone scrabbling to work out what needs to happen tomorrow. It is not a rest.

@Carlislemumof4

Headteachers CANNOT close schools. The Unions used section 44 as a strategy to make staff numbers unsafe, therefore the head, with the local council and governors, were able to switch to online learning.

In reality it isn't a switch to online learning for many, many kids, it's being kicked out of education for at least six weeks. Probably the whole term. With no in-person social interaction with their peers during that time. That's what's been achieved.

It’s the lack of in school interaction that’s the killer. People who didn’t do the full term last time will probably feel differently.

I totally agree with you. It’s been really difficult trying to balance what’s best for them educationally and emotionally together with our safety and the homes they are going home to. What has been achieved is to stop children catching it more easily without symptoms and bringing it home to spread more quickly. Unfortunately, the only way to do that was to stop the large numbers in school.

Many teachers are parents too and we are well aware of the impact this is having on children. Please Don’t think teachers have done this with careless disregard - it has been awful.

I'm a teacher but not in the UK. Covid rates are pretty high where I am, and measures are pretty strict nationally. Our school has handled things very well and provided us with PPE which we absolutely must wear at all times. The set-up is very well thought out, the procedures are pretty tight and I have never once felt like my safety has been jeopardised.

I have never fully realised the impact that we teachers have on our students until we reopened after lockdown, and I can see the enormous psychological benefits for the children to have regained some normality back into their lives. Their families are also benefitting in this respect too. I am also very happy for my children to continue to go to school here, as I know how well things are being handled. Stats were I am show very low transmission rates in schools and I hope our relative normality will be allowed to continue.

I cannot imagine going to work feeling like my health is being compromised, and teachers facing this really have my sympathy. Can I ask, what are the main dangers and risks for teaching staff in the UK? What measures have the schools taken?

@thejoyfulstar

Gov say no one should wear masks in classrooms.
No budget for cleaning. Teachers and TAs doing additional cleaning in teaching time or their own time.
No social distancing.
Rates rapidly increasing.
Prime minister and Ed secretary repeatedly saying "schools are safe" but failing to provide evidence or explaining why the highest rates of covid are in 5-14 year olds.

Those are the main ones...

Well me and my colleagues havnt been able to have much of a break since March didn’t see many teachers forgoing there 13 plus weeks holidays to get the children’s education back to normal.

Can I ask, what are the main dangers and risks for teaching staff in the UK?

Catching covid from the packed classes that we teach with no masks, no social distancing (‘where possible’ says the guidance), where the government discourages kids from getting covid tests by insisting that they only get one if they display adult symptoms and only sending home a handful of kids if a classmate tests positive, not the whole class.

What measures have the schools taken?

Nothing to protect teachers. Some attempts to keep year groups separate to avoid cross transmission. Reminders to open windows.

And please do not assume that just because we are doing the jobs we are paid to do we are happy about the situation or feel any less scared than you do. I’m finding it infuriating that you feel you safety is any more important that mine. If you would have told me 20 years ago at university that assessing vulnerable people’s needs would have put me my the people I work with at risk of getting a deadly virus I would never have believed it. However I simply don’t have a choice and to be honest I don’t think I would not do my job. The same as the nurses that work on the wards potentially looking after all of us and our loved ones ! No one believe me signed up for this

@Wolfiefan

Exactly!!! What on earth were they thinking when they said back in summer that children dont spread the virus... seriously!? And yes i agree.... of course we want children to go to school but id rather people didn't die in their thousands because of it! Children wont be THAT badly affected by missing a few months of school

@glitterbug76

I think your safety is important. That's why closing schools in the short term is important. It will reduce the chance that you, or your clients, will catch covid.