Teachers

[Pliudev]

Surely it's not unreasonable to ask all Mumsnetters who have been vocal in wanting their children back in school to sign the petition demanding that teachers are vaccinated ASAP?

@Smilingdonkey

I think what's odd is that the government (and clearly many parents) seem to think that the kids are having a decent education in schools when they have been open this year. I can tell you that teaching from a taped off box at the front of a room is not teaching! The kids spend a whole day in one small room with 31 other kids - if you are in a class with a load of disengaged clowns the you are stuck with them for 5 hours a day. We can't talk 1-1 with students or look at their work unless they shout it out across a room at us. We can't move around the room and see what the kids are doing (many at the back are doing sweet FA and by the time we realise it's too late.) The kids can't get up and move around. There is no group work. Behaviour management is very hard. We can't take work home to mark so assessing them takes longer and it takes much longer for us to correct misconceptions or adapt learning. Yes it's better than being online, but overall it's difficult, boring, uninspiring and ineffective for all of us.

There is A LOT of catching up to do.

Let's be honest - the kids will continue to be all over one another without masks on at lunchtime and on the bus (if you haven't teenagers at lunchtime in a pandemic don't bother commenting!) so the measures mentioned above are really there to protect teachers and not the students or their families.

So the quicker you vaccinate teachers the quicker we can get back to normal. Until then we are just hanging on and trying to minimise further damage to their education - no 'catching up' can happen until teachers can teach at least as freely as we could pre-covid!

I'm not saying vaccinate a teacher over someone seriously vulnerable - but if we genuinely value our kids education as much as we all say we do then the quicker we do get teachers safe the better ...

100% agree.

Secondary teacher here.

A few years off 50.

[quote Ostryga]@Maryann1975 yes should have put early years!

Thank you for all you’ve been doing! Early years has kept me, and I know many, many others, sane during this mad time. And I have never seen anyone complain, even when covered in snot and urine and sick. You could teach teachers a thing or two [/quote]
You realise teachers work in early years too? Or does that not fit your profile.

I work in a school. Anyone cev with a shielding letter is told they must not come in. Is this not same for all schools?

No I didn't start this just to wind people up. I posted because I think people required to perform public facing work, without which society cannot return to anything resembling normality, should be vaccinated as a priority. I am 69 and have had my first vaccination, my husband is 80 and he's had his. It is not pleasant to have to stay at home and socially isolate but it is doable. If you can work from home then do so but requiring teachers to go into schools and colleges which have already been described as vectors for the virus seems to me to be irresponsible. And you don't have to sign the petition if you don't want to.

caringcarer

I was told to shield initially but I can't work from home as my LA won't pay us so we have to be in the classroom.

Others have serious chest conditions who fall under group 6 have been taking off the CV list because they are only vaccinating those who have been admitted to hospital with their condition (in the words of my GP).

It isn't a lie it has been in the press and debated on here.

Sorry, me again. In mid February 400,000 vaccinations were being delivered daily. That has gone down to an average of 330,000. There were, according to the government, 506,400 teachers working in the UK in 2020. Therefore it would take less than two days to vaccinate all teachers. Not so much of a delay for other groups?

@Pliudev I'm going to repeat PP's question you have not yet answered.

Prioritise teachers over who? Who is getting bumped down the list to allow for this?

Bumped down the list by a day and a half? That's my answer to you and anyone else wondering the same thing. I repeat, you don't have to sign the petition. But if you're a teacher, you do have to go to school on March 8th, where, according to a government minister today 'facemasks and testing will not be compulsory'.

Logistically it wouldn't be a day and a half would it? Looking at numbers it may look that way but it wouldn't happen like that.

I'm just wondering why you think a 25 year old teacher should be prioritised over a 49 year old shop worker for example. Shop worker doesn't have to worry about 'going back to work' as they've been working throughout!

I’d prioritise taxi drivers, bus drivers, factory workers and supermarket workers over teachers tbh.

They come into contact with far more people likely to be ill, might have a bit of plastic to protect them and have worked all the way through and just got on with it.

Teachers need to do the same now. I’ve said this so many times, but it is the only sector making such a bloody fuss when the rest of the country have got on and done their bit.

There are other people who through their work are forced to come into contact with more people each day than teachers. Bus drivers, supermarket workers, delivery drivers, staff working in a warehouse on a production line. Teachers need to stop being self obsessed and wait their turn. Older teachers or ones who are CV will be vaccinated before going back to classroom. Teachers are exposed to same children every day, whereas supermarket workers face different members of public every day. I thought kids were going to do VF tests anyway so chances of catching Covid from a child in school will be low. Teachers can also wear masks as should children. All kids at my child's secondary been wearing masks in all lessons and around school since last September.

[quote Ostryga]@Maryann1975 yes should have put early years!

Thank you for all you’ve been doing! Early years has kept me, and I know many, many others, sane during this mad time. And I have never seen anyone complain, even when covered in snot and urine and sick. You could teach teachers a thing or two [/quote]

Well no, I won't be signing the petition as I've already signed one lobbying for frontline Police Officers to get first priority after the first 9 groups.

The fact teachers think they should be given priority over Police Officers astounds me.

If the police get a call they have to respond, and often need very close contact with people (in order to restrain them) regardless of whether they have covid or not. They can't just say 'no I'm not going into that house, the person in there has covid, we'll just let them get stabbed'

People only attack teachers for demanding they be considered.

I want everyone to have the vaccine. I am a teacher but I’m on maternity leave currently. Even if I wasn’t, I would happily wait my turn as long as the right people were prioritised. I want my Dad prioritised. He has severe asthma but apparently that doesn’t require him to be prioritised. He’s also 60 next year. Nope.

I am grateful to everyone who has done their part during this pandemic. Everyone who has put their own health at risk to help others. HCPs, supermarket workers, teachers, EYFS staff, public transport staff... The list is endless.

I just want people to leave my profession alone. Stop attacking us! Stop encouraging people to tear us apart. We don’t think we have it worse than anyone else. We don’t think our jobs are harder than other people’s. We don’t think we should be vaccinated before everyone else.

@dingoesatemybaby

Well no, I won't be signing the petition as I've already signed one lobbying for frontline Police Officers to get first priority after the first 9 groups.

The fact teachers think they should be given priority over Police Officers astounds me.

If the police get a call they have to respond, and often need very close contact with people (in order to restrain them) regardless of whether they have covid or not. They can't just say 'no I'm not going into that house, the person in there has covid, we'll just let them get stabbed'

Police offers are allowed to wear PPE though, teachers are not. They also don't spend upwards of 6 hours a day in a small room with the people they come into close contact with.

I have sympathy with all those workers mentioned, I think I made that clear. However, given that the Chief Medical Officer has expressed his doubts about the wisdom of sending all pupils and teachers back on 8/3 and given that schools have been recognised as vectors for transmission, I still suggest that vaccination of teachers is paramount. There are 1,533 centres delivering vaccinations, among those are 89 mass centres. It really should be doable.
I won't post again because I have made my point but I find the anti-teacher feeling here very disappointing, especially given the amount of complaining about home schooling.

I won't post again because I have made my point but I find the anti-teacher feeling here very disappointing, especially given the amount of complaining about home schooling.

Are you honestly surprised? Teacher-bashing threads are all the craze on MN.

@Doublechins No, they just risk being bitten and spat at (amongst other violent things) And if by PPE you mean a mask, doesn't really do much good if the person they are attempting to restrain isn't wearing one.

They can also spend long periods of time in a police car with the detainee waiting to book them into custody.

@eeek88

I’m a teacher, young and healthy, think schools should reopen ASAP and am happy to wait my turn for the vaccine behind those who are more vulnerable.

Same

Easy to say when young and healthy, no?

@caringcarer like many posters you imagine teachers are "only" primary teachers by writing that they come into contact with the same group of children every day.
Delivery drivers meet fewer people in a day than I do, and it is brief encounters outside not long periods of time in an enclosed space, which is a known risk for transmission.

@BeingATwatItsABingThing

I won't post again because I have made my point but I find the anti-teacher feeling here very disappointing, especially given the amount of complaining about home schooling.

Are you honestly surprised? Teacher-bashing threads are all the craze on MN.

It’s not bashing for the sake of it. People are at the end of their tether with the constant woe is me threads because millions of others have just got on with it.

People are going to pull you up when you earn a good wage, have job stability, decent-ish hours when they are working for £9 an hour all hours god sends to keep their heads above water, and you’re still complaining g constantly while they crack on.

I don’t think anyone here thinks teachers are cunts and hates them for no reason, but it is getting incredibly frustrating seeing so many teachers place their own life above everyone else. When others have managed to ensure your lives can continue with as little disruption as possible.

@Ostryga

I’m not going to argue with you because nothing I can say will make you change your mind.

Plenty of the "bashers" are doing so from the comfort of their own working from home job, and aren't standing up for any other key workers either. Don't be fooled.

I’m working in 5 care homes with 150+ people with disabilities and the elderly. But don’t let that stop your narrative.

@BeingATwatItsABingThing I’m not trying to argue with you, I’m just saying why I, and many others I’ve spoken to, are getting so frustrated.