In two weeks pupils can safely return to school..

[Regulus]

..can they fuck.

There maybe plenty of reasons why they have too but to lie that it's safe is deplorable.

When you walk into your classroom nostaples and think about the 120 students you are going to meet that day, and think of the secretary working from home (as he/she should be, not complaining about that) do you honestly view this as a statistical risk or do you think, 120 people are breathing over me in a confined space today?

@mumsneedwine if you are cev do you not have a shielding letter ?

Time to prioritise the many while protecting the few

Except the few includes children who are CV and CEV, parents who are shielding (and who have been told to stay 2 metres away from their children, FFS) and people who are not yet vaccinated or who are unable to be vaccinated. Seems no fucks given about them and their mental health, eh?,

I am a teacher. I am working. But I'm not IN work.

The FACT is that teachers are no more at risk than any other job. I have sympathy with the vulnerable as with anyone vulnerable in any other profession but if you think that teaching is more risky than any other job you are just wrong. It's much riskier to be a taxi driver, secretary or hair dresser. Nobody is banging on about their rights or safety.

@ItsIgginningtolooklikelockdown except many secretaries are not working at home as neither are many other professions
I was doing a admin role in an office that was covid safe , the reality is we were sat 2 m apart as long as no one moved , no masks, no windows open etc
Lots of people are in the office
What about factory workers , builders they all work in Large numbers with sd often not possible

'When you walk into your classroom nostaples and think about the 120 students you are going to meet that day, and think of the secretary working from home (as he/she should be, not complaining about that) do you honestly view this as a statistical risk or do you think, 120 people are breathing over me in a confined space today?'

Honestly, I am a healthy person in my 40s with no risk factors. I've never been particularly worried about catching Covid. I am certainly no more worried in school than in Tesco. And yes, damn right, I have more concern for anyone more at risk than myself.

Again, the risk of catching it is neither here nor there anyway, it's the risk of having serious consequences.

this is still a harmless disease to the vast majority who get it.

I 1000% believe that taxi drivers and hairdressers and most of all care workers and shop workers are more at risk than me as a teacher.

If we really are going to prioritise the vaccine based on occupational risk (which we aren't quite rightly) then they come first.

The sector is not facing imminent redundancies like so many others, which parents know they are at significant risk for, because they’ve been double jobbing for a lot of the last year

Really? There is no doubt the pandemic will see the closure of a number of independent schools. State schools have been subject to budget cuts and redundancies since 2010. Teachers are also parents and have been double-jobbing for the past year. What’s your point?

The truth is I'm much more likely as most if not all of us are over our life time to get seriously ill and die of cancer. And most of mitigate our risk of cancer much less than we are currently mitigating our risk of Covid which is ridiculous. I eat too much processed food, drink alcohol and used to sunbathe. Much more statistically dangerous habits than teaching! The national risk has made us lose sight of our personal risk and we've got some very paranoid people making very odd choices and showing very little scientific or statistical awareness.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a Covid denier. It is enormously dangerous but that doesn't mean it's enormously dangerous to all of us individually. You will know many more people who have overcome it with barely any symptoms than people who've seriously suffered because that is statistically the way it's operating. Unless you and all your friends are very old.

[quote Ostryga]@mumsneedwine if you’re vulnerable you don’t need to wait for an invite, you can book yourself a vaccination via the nhs website.

Apologies if this has already been said![/quote]
Group 6 can NOT access vaccines via the `nhs number is almost all areas. Group 6 vaccines are being organised by individual GP surgeries and you have to wait for them to call or message you. You may be sent a link at that point or be asked to have the vaccine locally in a gp led centre or surgery.

At present only groups 1-5 can access vaccines via the nhs web page.

What’s your point?

You’re being absolutely ridiculous to suggest that public sector teachers are in as much a danger of losing jobs as many in the private sector, where are coming thick and fast now.

Private schools are a different story, true. But I bet they are all chomping at the bit to get back to F2F teaching and have their own children back in school to facilitate this.

Those people wanting hair and nails done: just go and do whatever you want to do. It's clear from so many posts here that lots of you want to do that. The people who are busy with hair, nails etc? Morticians. So go on....

🤪😂🤣

Sorry

where redundancies are coming thick and fast now.

Oh FGS @Watchingbehindmyhands I know teachers are v sensitive because they do get a rough ride but they don't make it any easier for themselves by being ridiculous. Yes, teaching in a pandemic is hard but we DO have a much more secure job than most people on our sort of pay scale right now. The only job more secure is in health or care and do you really want to be in those jobs right now.

Yes, it's also true that our pension (though not what it was) is also a pretty good deal compared to most.

Complain about the real issues all you want but to suggest you're having as hard a time as somebody whose trying to make a living in a pub or a cinema or the theatre right now is embarrassing.

The FACT is that teachers are no more at risk than any other job

That's not what the latest ONS data says. I've bolded the relevant number.

2-digit Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) Code 2-digit Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) Title Number tested positive for COVID-19 Sample size Estimated probability of testing positive (%) Lower Credible Interval (95%) Upper Credible Interval (95%)
33 Protective service occupations 110 2,042 4.79% 3.88% 5.70%
61 Caring personal service occupations 386 7,498 4.56% 4.07% 5.06%
42 Secretarial and related occupations 119 2,876 4.42% 3.62% 5.22%
23 Teaching and other educational professionals 511 10,673 4.39% 3.99% 4.79%
12 Other managers and proprietors 208 5,109 4.33% 3.74% 4.91%
62 Leisure, travel and related personal service occupations 64 1,391 4.23% 3.18% 5.27%
92 Elementary administration and service occupations 232 4,794 4.15% 3.60% 4.70%
53 Skilled construction and building trades 120 2,757 4.03% 3.30% 4.77%
31 Science, engineering and technology associate professionals 90 2,165 4.02% 3.19% 4.84%
41 Administrative occupations 532 13,972 4.00% 3.66% 4.34%
32 Health and social care associate professionals 102 2,461 3.98% 3.19% 4.76%
52 Skilled metal, electrical and electronic trades 154 3,603 3.92% 3.29% 4.55%
81 Process, plant and machine operatives 83 1,949 3.90% 3.05% 4.75%
82 Transport and mobile machine drivers and operatives 115 2,690 3.86% 3.14% 4.59%
71 Sales occupations 190 4,144 3.85% 3.29% 4.41%
11 Corporate managers and directors 383 10,901 3.70% 3.33% 4.07%
22 Health professionals 284 7,012 3.68% 3.23% 4.12%
91 Elementary trades and related occupations 30 745 3.64% 2.35% 4.93%
35 Business and public service associate professionals 468 13,547 3.54% 3.21% 3.87%
34 Culture, media and sports occupations 136 3,995 3.39% 2.81% 3.97%
24 Business, media and public service professionals 408 12,862 3.34% 3.01% 3.67%
72 Customer service occupations 68 1,933 3.26% 2.48% 4.04%
21 Science, research, engineering and technology professionals 298 10,170 2.97% 2.62% 3.32%
54 Textiles, printing and other skilled trades 45 1,450 2.87% 2.03% 3.72%
51 Skilled agricultural and related trades 20 1,091 2.09% 1.18% 2.99%

Private schools are a different story, true. But I bet they are all chomping at the bit to get back to F2F teaching and have their own children back in school to facilitate this

I’m an independent school teacher. Neither myself nor the colleagues I have spoken to consider that our working environment is even nearly ‘safe’. And no, the children I teach are not more important than my own. One of my children is CV and am considering my options. One of them is just walking out so my son can be homeschooled safely.

Hard things about teaching: workload, behaviour, performance targets (which treat children like tins of beans), scrutiny, public criticism, curriculum and exam changes.

Good things about teaching (compared to other jobs): not boring, security, holidays (yes you have to work in some of them but they're still bloody brilliant compared to almost every other job), pensions, often great sense of community, comradeship, shared endeavour, (trying to) do good things

@nostaples

Oh FGS *@Watchingbehindmyhands* I know teachers are v sensitive because they do get a rough ride but they don't make it any easier for themselves by being ridiculous. Yes, teaching in a pandemic is hard but we DO have a much more secure job than most people on our sort of pay scale right now. The only job more secure is in health or care and do you really want to be in those jobs right now.

Yes, it's also true that our pension (though not what it was) is also a pretty good deal compared to most.

Complain about the real issues all you want but to suggest you're having as hard a time as somebody whose trying to make a living in a pub or a cinema or the theatre right now is embarrassing.

But teachers are citing real issues.

comradeship?

echt, no teachers are EVIDENTLY no more at risk of Covid than any other job.

Teachers do have better job security than many other professions and a better pension and better holidays.

Moan about real issues. Don't make stuff up and whine. It does us no favours.

@ItsIgginningtolooklikelockdown I think in general there is great comradeship among teachers. Most of us were drawn to teaching for the same sorts of reasons - a love of learning, a belief in social mobility, public service, education, our subject. I'm not sure how many jobs can say they're bound together by common values in the same way.

Neither myself nor the colleagues I have spoken to consider that our working environment is even nearly ‘safe’.

No environment is ever ‘safe’

I’d bet you’d like to keep that job though. Which I expect will be a lot easier to do if you are back to full time F2F teaching. I wouldn’t be paying those kind of fees for remote learning when everyone else is back.

And no, the children I teach are not more important than my own

Oh fgs, no one said this. However, keeping a roof over their head is somewhat important, no?

That’s what many parents right now are afraid of not being able to do, with their children not in school and employers not particularly accommodating.

Health professionals no doubt.

Doesn't mean we all think the same way on everything

Wow @echt, worse than health professionals and those working in health and social care.

No, @nostaples, I don’t accept that. We have all been impacted by this pandemic as individuals in very different ways. You have no idea what I might have been through or am going through right now. Teaching maybe a relatively secure profession in the current climate but that doesn’t mean some of us aren’t concerned for our jobs. I am allowed to be worried about that and I am allowed to point it out - it doesn’t just impact me either. We matter, as individuals with our own concerns and worries. It is unreasonable to say otherwise.