Vaccinate the teachers

I teach, but I don’t think vaccinating teachers is a solution. What is needed is to reduce the number of cases and lower the R number, so that fewer people catch and pass on the virus. Lockdown is achieving that at present; the problem is that both the number of cases and the R number are likely to bounce back up again if lockdown ends prematurely.

Opening schools fully too soon links children, their families and their local community members, causing potential networks for transmission for the virus. Life isn’t going to get back to normal for all of us until we can go about our normal business without fear of picking up or transmitting the virus, and we are some way away from that yet.

Government committee has just stated that 88% of all Covid deaths recorded are in the top 4 cohorts that are being vaccinated at the moment. And most of us are scrupulously shielding. Says it all.

Kryptonite Yes - agree with you about TA's many of whom are the ones actually in schools with the children,. The National Education Union (NEU) represent these staff members and they are always included in any discussions. Hope you are a member......

Ellianne

^Don't you realise that most staff are doing twice the usual work? Classroom teaching plus lessons for distance learning.^
That's ridiculous! They can't have been giving the job 100% in that case before covid then.

Not ridiculous at all Ellianne. Unfortunately it is very true. What is happening is that teachers are now having to work something like 70 plus hours a week in order to fulfill their double responsibility for so many different lesson %plans.
Most spend most or all evenings and all weekends on their work, meaning that they are unable to give their own family any time at all.

They gave 100% in the past and are still giving that, but meaning so many more extra hours.

Yes I agree with your comments

So, some of you want teachers vaccinated instead of the most vulerable people who are most likely to end up in hospital? There is no logical reason for teachers to be vaccinated ahead of other groups - unless of course they also fall into one of the priority groups. Make no mistake - the thinking behind the order in which people are vaccinated has everything to do with the overwhelmed NHS - the rest of us will have to wait our turn!

Definitely vaccinate teachers especially as younger people carry and spread the new variants much more easily than previously thought, so I’ve read, but please please don’t open schools up for the majority of children after half term. Unfortunately, for those very reasons, it’s Far too risky to the general population to have an explosion of infection rates from school kids spreading it into the community and also these new variants are hitting younger people much harder than the original one so hospitalising many more people. All of that puts untold pressure on the NHS!!
If we think about the Vietnamese boat kids that came to this country when I was a child, and refugees from war torn countries, the majority had huge gaps in education yet caught up and excelled in many cases. Yes this is a serious blip but kids can learn so much else from being home than formal lessons that it might even benefit this generation in hindsight

Please spare a thought for all the TAs who are working face-to-face with key worker and vulnerable children atvthe moment while the teachers remain safely at home working remotely. We are put at risk and no one seems to care about that. We also have plenty of other duties including remote working with students, juggled with being in school. I'm talking about secondary school. Testing for kids has only happened twice and will only be carried out again if there is a positive case (there is). Several staff have already come down with Covid during lockdown. Feels like TAs are expendable and exploited because are the lowest paid and yet put in charge of students. Our anxiety levels are extremely high and all we hear is teachers, teachers, teachers! They definitely get more protection and have a taped 'exclusion zone' around their desks. But TAs have to get close to students to help them because that's what we do. Please remember the many, many TAs who are put in more danger than teachers.

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Hetty58

This whole argument is quite ridiculous. Regardless of who gets vaccinated next, we all share a huge responsibility to bring community transmission under control.

If everyone only went out for 'essential reasons' the infection rates would fall dramatically. Only then could we consider children returning to school.

Well said, Hetty. It's not rocket science, is it?

The clue is community transmission, not squabbling like toddlers about who is more important.

geekesse

Ellianne

Sheesh,Ellianne, you make it sound a breeze.
Well sheesh to you too! I would at least be giving it my best shot, getting the IT technicians in on it, getting the TAs to follow with the camera etc. It doesn't have to be perfect and when teaching younger pupils who cares about spontaneity and hilarity? But then I was always used to having my dog roam the school anyway!
A can do attitude is worth a try.

I have had a term of ‘giving it my best shot’, and I made a good job of it, but it is NOT the easy, casual task you make out, and very much less so when you’re trying to get Y10 and Y11 students up to GCSE level. TA as ‘cameraman’? So who is looking after the student who needs a TA? Our IT technicians bend over backwards to support us, but they are run off their feet trying to keep the network working properly and providing remote support to students and parents with hardware, software and wifi issues.

Oh, I don’t know why I bother even trying to explain. You clearly think I and people like me are lazy and stupid. Go ahead. Think what you like. I’m too tired to give a damn.

Ellianne claims to have been a headmistress, presumably of some small private school. That doesn't seem to have given her any insight into how real schools or real teachers operate. Rise above it!

Gwenisgreat1

While I am an extremely vulnerable 76 year old I do think there are a lot who should have their vaccines before me to help get this country back on it's feet!

It's not your business to say whether other more elderly and vulnerable people should give up their turn and be condemned to a solitary existence.

Decisions were made for clinical reasons and I'm happy to stick with that.

While I am an extremely vulnerable 76 year old I do think there are a lot who should have their vaccines before me to help get this country back on it's feet!

This whole argument is quite ridiculous. Regardless of who gets vaccinated next, we all share a huge responsibility to bring community transmission under control.

If everyone only went out for 'essential reasons' the infection rates would fall dramatically. Only then could we consider children returning to school.

Ellianne

^Sheesh,Ellianne, you make it sound a breeze.^
Well sheesh to you too! I would at least be giving it my best shot, getting the IT technicians in on it, getting the TAs to follow with the camera etc. It doesn't have to be perfect and when teaching younger pupils who cares about spontaneity and hilarity? But then I was always used to having my dog roam the school anyway!
A can do attitude is worth a try.

I have had a term of ‘giving it my best shot’, and I made a good job of it, but it is NOT the easy, casual task you make out, and very much less so when you’re trying to get Y10 and Y11 students up to GCSE level. TA as ‘cameraman’? So who is looking after the student who needs a TA? Our IT technicians bend over backwards to support us, but they are run off their feet trying to keep the network working properly and providing remote support to students and parents with hardware, software and wifi issues.

Oh, I don’t know why I bother even trying to explain. You clearly think I and people like me are lazy and stupid. Go ahead. Think what you like. I’m too tired to give a damn.

Yes, Lucca, and it's always good for the independent sector to share ideas, resources and premises with state schools. I do know this is currently happening to help out. Maybe we just see things from a different angle, and that can be interesting.

I don't think I have ever said the word "easy" which another poster used. It must be very challenging for everyone. My comments were more about attitude. The worry is that all this over productivity is not good for teachers and not beneficial to the children. If a part time 0.4 teacher is spending 6 to 7 days a week working as one poster said, then she is heading for burn out. It should not necessary. Support should be available.

I’m 61 and work in early years. I hope I get vaccinated soon as I’m the oldest there and love my job. But I am worried about catching it.

Ellianne with respect I believe you taught in independent school? It’s a lot easier to do the things you suggest there ! You might not have a TA. The IT technicians will be up to their eyes in sorting stuff out anyway,
As paperbackwriter says, what happens if each child in a family of say three children does not have their own computer/ipad etc. Many of the teachers I know are actually teaching the key worker children who in school plus those who are not in school simultaneously and that is why I saw it isn’t easy!

Teachers are not all young and healthy. Many are over 60. The idea that the unions are not concerned about children’s education is absolute nonsense.
The situation is difficult for children, working parents and the teachers them selves who would like nothing more than to return to school. I speak as a retired teacher of thirty years and have a daughter currently teaching . She is employed two days a week but is currently working most days plus part of the weekend planning work to go online plus marking what eachchild completes online. This is in addition to juggling home schooling her 6year old and looking after her preschool child.
She would love for all children to be back in school but only when it is safe for them to do so. Children are spreaders and in this way it will lead to more cases of COVID within the community.

Ellianne

^Sheesh,Ellianne, you make it sound a breeze.^
Well sheesh to you too! I would at least be giving it my best shot, getting the IT technicians in on it, getting the TAs to follow with the camera etc. It doesn't have to be perfect and when teaching younger pupils who cares about spontaneity and hilarity? But then I was always used to having my dog roam the school anyway!
A can do attitude is worth a try.

That's all very well if every child had their own computer and could use it at the exact times required for the classroom. Most households share them. A child doing distance learning may well have to fit their school work in with siblings' use of the existing tech (if they have it at all..) or with parents working on their own online careers. As others have said - yes, you do make it sound easy but it just .. isn't!

Surely any decent person would want firstly to see the death rate fall and secondly to see fewer cases overall? It’s absolutely right to vaccinate those first who are the most likely to die or become seriously unwell. This means that should a younger less vulnerable person become ill the hospitals will have the capacity to treat them. As for older people isolating any longer than strictly necessary how unkind is this? Many of us still have many useful things to offer. Normally I volunteer and help out with my grandchildren. Even if I did none of these things I’ve spent many years working and paying taxes and deserve to be protected now. If my AC heard anyone say that older people should carry on isolating while younger people are vaccinated I know they would be horrified.

Don't you realise that most staff are doing twice the usual work? Classroom teaching plus lessons for distance learning.
That's ridiculous! They can't have been giving the job 100% in that case before covid then.

Er that's not true. Many keyworkers are currently receiving vaccines not based on health or age.

Gwyneth

I think teachers and school staff should be vaccinated after all frontline health staff. However, there needs to be guarantees from the teaching unions that if this is done teachers and school staff will return to work. I have no confidence that teaching unions actually care for children’s education or the welfare of staff, they are only interested in politicising the situation.

FFS, they ARE at work! The schools are open for the vulnerable and for the children of key workers (and also nursery classes). Don't you realise that most staff are doing twice the usual work? Classroom teaching plus lessons for distance learning. If you think that's all about 'politicising' the situation, you really need to read a bit further than the Daily Mail!

The JVCI have based their priorities on number of lives saved by the vaccine. This is a clinical decision which also helps the NHS to not be completely overwhelmed by covid patients. Teachers and the Police or any other worthy key workers will get their vaccine based on their age and health, not their job.
The Government has decided that those over 70 are a priority, despite the fact that over 65s are usually considered as "elderly" and at higher risk of infection etc. For example, over 65s are offered the flu and pneumonia vaccine along with other older people.
What makes it difficult to accept Government decisions is the fact that there is such variability across the country of numbers of people being vaccinated and some 70 year olds being vaccinated while lots of over 80s are still waiting.