Am I the only one who wants to stay in person teaching?

[Rachellow]

Obviously I'm aware those with health issues may be rightfully concerned but I'm quite disappointed with the NEU stance demanding all schools to be closed especially primary. I'm really concerned about the attainment gap of my class and after parent teacher interviews it's evident lots of the families couldn't really cope with home schooling and it really shows in behaviour and attainment who could and couldn't access home schooling. Some of my students' only internet access is 1 phone between 4 siblings and school is the only real calm space they're getting positive attention/vaguely healthy hot meals.
On another note there's 1000s of teachers in their 20s/30s living in tiny house shares who don't have the space to do live lessons or even video them. If all of my flat stay homeworking I'll have to teach in my tiny bedroom or my literal hallway whilst dealing with overloaded wifi.

Flipping heck - give it a rest! Most teachers on this forum have children at school or at uni!

Yes lock down teaching was hard. I only do exam classes. Goal posts were moving all the time.

Let’s agree that some schools are going to be tricky.

Personally I feel secondary school teachers in small classrooms teaching up to 30 kids (sometimes up to 33) at a time up to 350 kids a week have a tough gig in terms of being Covid secure

I genuinely don’t think that we do ourselves any favours as a profession when we try to make out that we have it worse than others. We simply don’t at the moment.

No. What you mean is YOU don't at the moment.

I had known face to face talking contact with positive cases at under 2m for about 8 hours in my last 2 weeks and can look forwards to the same when I return.

How long do you think it's going to take me to catch Covid under those circumstances? Who has it worse than that right now? Not you. How dare you say that when I voice my concerns, I'm not showing the profession in a good light?

Nellodee do you think you have it worse that every other profession? Doctors? Social workers? Probably not. I’m not saying it’s not difficult, I’m saying that we do ourselves no favours when we claim to have it worse than everyone else.

And FWIW, it makes little difference if you teach 30 children or 300. If one of them has it, they can pass it on. I spend a lot of time 1-2-1 with students (most of whom are 18 years old, so not exactly children) so am in just as much danger. Assuming that they have it.

@EvilTwins I haven’t seen anyone saying they have it worse than everyone else. Not at all. Please don’t resort to the lazy stereotyping used by non- teachers (no I’m not calling you a non-teacher) when they say ‘oh you teachers are always saying you work harder than everyone else blah blah blah’.

It is a fact that - particularly in mainstream secondary - teachers are having a lot of significant, regular contact with a lot more people than many professions are right now, particularly given specific lack of ppe compared to many other professions with also high levels of contact (supermarket staff for eg).

And your risk (& mine, as a primary teacher) isn’t as high as many of our secondary colleagues. You’re right that if one of our students has it we’re just as likely to catch it but the chances of someone being positive in a group of 30 odd is less than the chances of someone in a group of 300 (or 1500, as my dh is in contact with). Because. Numbers.

Fwiw I’m really glad to be at school because it feels normal. But I’m in a small primary school, in contact with a small number of pupils and I’m low risk in every way for Covid. Other colleagues in different situations have completely legitimate reasons for calling for more protections.

It’s almost like you’re being deliberately goady 🧐

Not sure about social workers tbh. Nearly all WFH. Remote meetings. Handing over issues to schools. My GP has trimmed DH (and virtually the whole adult vulnerable community of our village) off the vulnerable list so he doesn't clog up their flu jab list and has postponed all f2f appointments and smear tests.

I have had lots of dealing with them and have not been impressed. mainly this is lamentable funding and the bite of austerity cuts.

I don't like playing top trumps but those two professions do wonderful things but are very protected at the moment. Not hospital doctors , obviously.

Hospital doctors will have always known that they would be expected at certain points to work with patients with unpleasant infectious diseases. They will have received training and have the best possible equipment to do their job.

And if at any point they didn't have the very best training and equipment to do their job, they absolutely would have my full support and sympathy. If they complained of a lack of PPE, I definitely would not be telling them that they were not showing their profession in a very good light.

@Punkpumpkin here’s one example...

How long do you think it's going to take me to catch Covid under those circumstances? Who has it worse than that right now?

Literally just above your post.

Teachers (including me) have it worse than normal right now, but worse than everyone else? No.

You teach 30 students in a low incidence area and you state you are in as much danger as someone who teaches 10 times more students in a place with a rate 10 times higher... right after you accused me of making out that my job is more dangerous than anyone else's.

I don't think you're painting southern drama teachers in a very good light, to be honest.

And let's complete that quote:

How long do you think it's going to take me to catch Covid under those circumstances? Who has it worse than that right now? Not you.

But you chose to ignore that piece of context, didn't you?

Clearly we’re not going to get to the point where we’re going to agree.

@EvilTwins

Nellodee do you think you have it worse that every other profession? Doctors? Social workers? Probably not. I’m not saying it’s not difficult, I’m saying that we do ourselves no favours when we claim to have it worse than everyone else.

And FWIW, it makes little difference if you teach 30 children or 300. If one of them has it, they can pass it on. I spend a lot of time 1-2-1 with students (most of whom are 18 years old, so not exactly children) so am in just as much danger. Assuming that they have it.

By this logic, a person working from home is at the same risk if the amazon driver is positive, as a nurse working on a covid ward. This is not how probability works!

That’s nonsense - a nurse on a covid ward is guaranteed to be on contact with covid positive people. But the rest of us are taking our chances every day.
And no one can pass it on if they don’t have it.

I mean, surely we all want to stay in person teaching, because that would mean Covid wasn't a risk and schools weren't contributing to the spread.

The data is so clear that teenagers are contributing to the spread, and it is so clear that the inadequate guidance for most schools isn't being followed properly. I actually think we have a social duty to make the public aware of this.

I think wanting to keep in person teaching no matter what is actually quite a selfish view in terms of wider society.

I know that my school isn't following key areas of the DfE guidance properly. I don't know of anyone's school that is following them perfectly. I do know, from looking at the stats, infections have skyrocketed in the age group I teach (11-18) and this has had an impact on wider society.

I wish this wasn't the case though, so in that sense I would love to stay in person teaching.

@eviltwins I am a primary teacher and I would agree that secondary teachers are facing greater risks. I would also say the TAs and PPA teachers in primary are probably at greater risk than the teachers. You are likely to be at a smaller risk than secondary teachers and most primary. Have a bit of imagination and empathy.

Teachers are ending up in hospital. We need the protection that everyone in all other workplaces are getting. If we can't get that then schools should close. I cannot be 2m distant from my students, and I teach 2 hour lessons in poorly ventilated rooms so I'm not sure that even helps!

I 100% want schools to stay open and to be in school. Most of my colleagues do too. I don't post about it much here as the dominant narrative is against this, and I do understand the fears, but I am much more afraid of the consequences of closing schools than I am of Covid.

Secondary teacher here. I want school to stay open but I want pupils in masks, windows that open and if necessary blended learning week on week off. I want these things because without them schools are doomed to closure. Ten of my colleagues spent their half term self-isolating. Nearly a quarter of our staff. We came close to having to go part time this week.

This is a ridiculous thread. Why can't people see that some teachers are at far more risk than others. Bloody private school heads on twitter last night banging on about togetherness. Er yeah, bet you don't spend 6 hours a day in a room with 30+ teenagers where the windows are painted shut.

Anyway, I have a class of 22 yead 3 and 4 children at the moment, in room with large opening windows on two sides, on the 4th floor. It's a wind tunnel. I have a classroom right at the end of a corridor. No one passes as part of our one way system. Between me and every other classroom are toilets used by only my class. Directly opposite is the staff toilet. I have a resource room next door with a sink, and 'breakout' space for the children who are challenged by the rules and need to wander. I arrive at 7.30am via the printer, I go to my room. I do a break and a lunchtime duty outside, we have a dedicated staircase to the playground, i don't see other children or staff less i go looking for them. The kids leave at 2.45, I go back to my room and work until 4.30, then I leave, pssing no one on the way. I'm flippin' lucky and feel relatively safe. Doesn't mean I can't understand that other teachers are in a much more risky position.

@ValancyRedfern

I 100% want schools to stay open and to be in school. Most of my colleagues do too. I don't post about it much here as the dominant narrative is against this, and I do understand the fears, but I am much more afraid of the consequences of closing schools than I am of Covid.

The dominant narrative is very much keeping schools open safely

Goats - very sensible post. I currently have 33 year 6's and 5's (6 are year five) in a tiny room. I see them all day with a 20 min break for lunch after I have been supervising their lunch in my room. I also supervise the break. Some of my class require "handling".We still have staff meetings and my trust says no to masks. Lots of them are big lads and I am little. They all get bussed home ( in mixed bubble buses) or walk home. We live in an area where they roam in gangs and there's a lot of county lines.

I am completely different to my friend in a a different school who has a class of 22 year 6 and they all do as they are told. She is in a school that allows masks and they have strict social distance, no meetings and are sent home at 4. They all walk home.

Schools are different. We should be allowed to judge our safety levels and we should ALL be protected. I don't want my friend to come down to my level of protection. I want to go upto hers. And if she were me, she would want the same thing.

Posts like the OP are myopic in their vision and severely lacking in comradeship.

It's so hard. Not sure I can face lockdown learning again - especially as we've now been told, "complete pages 3 and 4 and drop me an email with your work when you've done", is no longer appropriate. According to the latest diktat we need all singing, all dancing live streams or pre-recorded lessons. Interestingly, the departments who went down this route had some of the lowest levels of engagement. Shrugs.

On the other hand, having spent time in the company of a colleague who tested positive last week. I don't feel particularly safe in school. If I didn't love my school, I'd have handed in my notice already.

No idea what the answer is. Masks would help but would also be a nightmare to teach in all day. Smaller classes on a rota may work but obviously there's the fear we'd end up with twice the workload.

I do feel there needs to be some sort of stricter national guidance though. Schools are doing so many different things at the moment it's not fair on anyone, least of all the kids. We are teaching in a very normal way, singing, pairworks, moving between lessons and other schools are keeping the kids cooped up in one room doing maths all day whilst wearing masks.

In my school I am able to stay 2m away from students at all times. If I want to I can wear a mask and a visor. I don't want to though.
We have not had one case yet. It is a large secondary, and I'm sure it's a matter of time but that's fine by me. I am under 40 and healthy.
I desperately want to stay in school to provide quality education. I can't do that at home. And certainly not with my 3 young children at home with me.
I do not feel thrown under a bus at all. I understand if you are vulnerable or over 60, but otherwise I'd rather be in than out.

My first bus duty today where all the kids had their masks on when I had to get on to check seatbelts! Usually have to tell several times put them back on. Maybe they're learning (to keep their masks on til after I've done the seatbelt check)!.

HOW do you stay 2m apart, I would love to know?

@MistressIggi must be massive rooms!