Schools still a covid shitshow

[noblegiraffe]

"Schools have been forced to send year groups home this week because of "rapidly rising" Covid rates among staff and an inability to find supply teachers, it has emerged.

The removal of the need for Covid testing among staff and pupils was making the situation worse, with some schools now experiencing their worst absence levels of the pandemic, a headteachers' leader told Tes.

Heads warn that some schools are having to send year groups home on a rota or combine class groups in an attempt to protect exam year groups from more disruption."

www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/covid-schools-absence-send-year-groups-home-cases-spike

Some will claim that getting rid of testing would improve the situation, but clearly a situation where lots of teachers are getting ill and requiring a few days off school to recover, regardless of isolation rules, is not 'getting back to normal'.

The teachers that I know who have had covid recently would have required a few days off school despite it being 'mild' even without isolation guidance, even though teachers are well-known for dosing on Lemsip and turning up to school regardless of illness because setting cover work is worse.

Still, the covid catch-up effort has basically fizzled out, and it's looking like zero effort will be made by the government to support children in recovering their education from the impact of absences and lack of teachers.

Exams start in a couple of months for kids who are having an extremely disruptive time. The government has fixed the exam grades so that they will come out with better results than the 2019 cohort, this will basically cover up the impact on educational standards. How this will play out down the line at uni/college/sixth form is anyone's guess.

They were treating covid patients unvaccinated.
Teachers were teaching face to face upto 150 students per day without being vaccinated when we returned in Sept 21.

Teachers were at home.
Some were. Plenty of teachers were in schools staffing key worker provision while simultaneously teaching online.

I believe that teaching is the sort of profession whereby you would hope for a positive covid test
so you wouldn’t need to go in.
Wow.

[quote Eyedropeyeflop]@BastardtheCat

Well that was sort of the point. Being shut down because you have an opinion that differs from a teacher.

I believe that teaching is the sort of profession whereby you would hope for a positive covid test
so you wouldn’t need to go in. I don’t believe all teachers are ill all of the time.

I don’t believe teachers have the monopoly on repeated covid infections. Most people I know teachers and non teachers are on to their second covid infection.

Suspicious of what exactly? Someone having an opinion?

You can’t compare teaching as it is now, to NHS workers right at the beginning of this pandemic.
They were treating covid patients unvaccinated.
Teachers were at home.[/quote]
Goady nonsense.
Your opinion is rude and offensive.

Yes, because getting covid, feeling absolutely terrible, not able to get out of bed but still having to set cover work is just

I believe that teaching is the sort of profession whereby you would hope for a positive covid test so you wouldn’t need to go in.

can you explaion to my WHY you think I would WANT to get Covid?

Why would I WANT

• To be ill
• To have to, while ill, provide full time work for my class, and for all students isolating, for every day I am off
• To return to work while still not particularly well, to fight the long uphill battle of recovering the learning and behaviour lost during my absence?

Honestly, MUCH easier to be in school continuously.

Because can't you're a workshy leftie.

You can’t compare teaching as it is now, to NHS workers right at the beginning of this pandemic.
They were treating covid patients unvaccinated.
Teachers were at home.

My school was staffed every day from the start of the first lockdown (by which time we were locally experiencing a massive wave) continuously through holidays until summer 2020, then continuously from September 2021 except for holidays until today.

Every non-isolating member of staff has been in school since 1st June 2020, with the sole exception of clinically vulnerable teachers during the second lockdown.

We have also set online work for anyone isolating or locked down from the start of the first lockdown, even when working in school full time.

I have at no time in any of this been allowed to wear any PPE when working, and have had no priority for vaccines. While I completely agree that my risk has been lower than for clinical staff nursing Covid patients at the start of the pandemic, I don't think that that is an appropriate yardstick for what is, after all, not meant to be a deliberately medically-risky role.

@cantkeepawayforever

It’s not unusual for teachers to want some time off sick even if they are actually sick. That’s how desperate some are to get some time off,
And that’s because of the demands of the job, not because @MrsHamlet says you’re a workshy leftie. That’s just being dramatic.

@MrsHamlet

Because can't you're a workshy leftie.

Oh, sorry. I forgot that.

Being shut down because you have an opinion that differs from a teacher.

It's not because your opinion is different. It's because it's bollocks. You'll note people are not 'shutting down' your opinion, they're explaining why you're wrong.

Just as you were when you claimed that hospitals were fine.

We were not at home.
Teachers in special schools have been in school throughout. From March 2020 as per Government guidance. This was pre-vaccination.

It’s not unusual for teachers to want some time off sick even if they are actually sick. That’s how desperate some are to get some time off,

IME, it is 100% normal for teachers to come into work even when they are genuinely really poorly.

I think what you may mean is 'some teachers' mental health is so poor, due to the conditions of their job, that they have to take some time off due to stress, anxiety and other mental illness'. That's not 'desperate to have time off'. That's being mentally ill.

I believe that teaching is the sort of profession whereby you would hope for a positive covid test

Well we can all see your low opinion of teachers now. Do you include TAs, lunchtime staff, office staff, premises staff in your views? Because they are also off ill with covid adding to the disruption.

I don’t believe teachers have the monopoly on repeated covid infections. Most people I know teachers and non teachers are on to their second covid infection.

Of course they don't have the monopoly on repeat infections. But we are talking about the disruption to our children's education. School staff absent due to covid is impacting on this.

I also wonder whether you think NHS doctors are also 'the type of profession where you would hope for a positive Covid test'?

Because I have just had a text from my GP saying that, as almost all staff have Covid, they are unable to deal with any calls at the moment, and this will remain the case for 10-14 days.... If teachers are off because they WANT to have a positive test, are my doctors the same? Where do you stop? Airline staff, leading to cancelled flights? Looking for positive tests too?

Sorry, teachers, teaching assistants and all support staff working in special schools have been in continuously since March 2020.
Some of my teaching assistant colleagues have had Covid three times.

We were NOT at home.

We have been working in covidy classrooms every day of the pandemic, unmasked, and without being prioritised for vaccines. All my NHS friends got vaccinated 6 months before I could.

There is no data whatsoever to support any assertion that teachers have high rates of absenteeism in non covid times. The opposite in fact.

BTW, I should apologise - I responded to your statement

"It’s not unusual for teachers to want some time off sick even if they are actually sick. That’s how desperate some are to get some time off"

as if it made sense, whereas of course it doesn't. Is there a typo somewhere? Why is a teacher who IS sick wanting time off be a sign of desperation? If I have 'flu or chicken pox or pneumonia, and want / need time off, that is surely just because i am ill? Where does the desperation come in??

It’s not unusual for teachers to want some time off sick even if they are actually sick. That’s how desperate some are to get some time off

Damm those pesky teachers, expecting time off when they are actually sick. Better they throw up in the classroom and get on with it, like the rest of the real world.

Who do people think sets the cover when a teacher is off ? There isn't a magic person. It's set by the teacher at home in bed feeling like crap. Unless my leg is dangling off it's easier to be in teaching. Setting cover takes ages and it's soul destroying.
No year groups sent home this week. Because so many kids now off we are back under legal numbers. Missing vital weeks of exam prep.
Hospitals round here now so full they've taken to texting us to say stay away from A&E unless dying. They too have so many staff off with covid. It's weird. Boris says covid is no longer a problem. But education, health care and transport seem to be proving otherwise. If only there was a simple solution 😷

I believe that teaching is the sort of profession whereby you would hope for a positive covid test so you wouldn’t need to go in.

That’s an extraordinary and revealing comment which indicates a deep level of contempt towards the whole teaching profession.

@borntobequiet

No that’s your interpretation and defensiveness.

It’s a statement which appreciates how soul destroying the profession can be.

Some teachers have “trees” on their commute into work. Hoping for a positive test isn’t that far fetched in comparison to that.

Some teachers have “trees” on their commute into work. Hoping for a positive test isn’t that far fetched in comparison to that.
Please don't conflate the absolute desperation of being mentally unwell with wanting to get covid so you can have a few days off.

Mentally unwell because of the teaching profession. I still stand by what I said, a few days off with a relatively mild dose of covid is still preferable to going in for a lot of teachers. When you’re being bullied by SLT it would sadly be preferable.

@Eyedropeyeflop

Mentally unwell because of the teaching profession. I still stand by what I said, a few days off with a relatively mild dose of covid is still preferable to going in for a lot of teachers. When you’re being bullied by SLT it would sadly be preferable.

I am a teacher. Mine wasn't a tree. It was a brick wall. I still made it in every day because that was easier than being off. Shitter, maybe, but easier.

Yes, like all places of work, I have some colleagues who take days off at the drop of a hat - but for the most part, it's easier to struggle in, dosed up on whatever, leave "early" (on the bell rather than at 5.30) and get through it, than ring in at stupid o'clock having set the work in triplicate on the required proforma and then deal with the shitshow when you get back.