School staff not allowed to wear masks

Same here Phoebes

The younger one too, although getting her to get on with it was a bit more difficult. However, her teacher did phone for a chat each week.

My friend's granddaughter has been sent so much work to do at home by her excellent girls' state school that her Mum has been worried about her working too hard! She has been at it all day and on into the evening. She gets a postcard from the head teacher if she produces a particularly good piece of work!

Teachers are expendable. It doesn’t matter that children are big asymptomatic spreaders of Covid-19 as the latest statistics from the US is suggesting. Just let the lazy buggers get on with teaching them and to hell with the consequences.

Its been announced today that all pupils at Belfast Royal Academy must wear masks. Dont know about teachers though.

Thank you for that informative post Jillybird.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Individual schools have been imposing the rule by claiming that the government doesn't recommend them, which is true.

I’m struggling find anything at all that suggests teachers cannot wear masks if they choose to do so .

The bigger problem is in secondary schools, where pupils don't all stay together as a "bubble" but have individual options. They are also more infectious and social distancing will just not be possible in some schools.

My understanding, and I stand to be corrected and probably will be, is that the classes will be bubbled There will be no mixing of the children of one class with another, and that includes the teachers.

My neighbour teaches little ones and her classroom has its own outside play area and food will be eaten at the children’s desks: the dining room is not big enough for social distancing.

Yep I can believe this to be true but they should stand strong and do what they need to do. It's a choice to be honest, quiet a number of teachers will not be able to survive the day with that mask on .
Most teachers are going to struggle.

No it isn’t an academy GagaJo . It’s a large primary in the middle of a very large LA housing estate with a higher than average % of disadvantaged children .

Is it an academy? They do seem to do whatever the hell they want. But having said that, my last 2 UK schools were academies and they insisted on very regular work and marking/teacher contact etc.

Yes GagaJo I’m not very far away at all . Older DGD’s have had a fair of interaction but their little brother has had none other than a pretty rubbish workbook given to him in March . He’s not academically minded ( sports crazy) although strangely he has the most beautiful hand writing (irrelevant I know ). He really needed that interaction . He will be year 6 when he returns in September and I sincerely hope he has a permanent class teacher .

I also have a grandchild who will be going back in September, so I have an interest in what happens in England as well.

Yes, growstuff. Academy chain. You're right about doing what they want. The way they treat staff AND students is appalling.

gillybob

And quite tight too . I hope and pray all will be okay and my English DGC can return to education in September as normal . He has had zero interaction with his primary but having said that he hadn’t had a permanent class teacher for almost 2 years .

You're nearish me aren't you gillybob? I'm shocked at that. I've got friends in 3 Northumberland, 2 Newcastle and 1 Sunderland school. They've all been doing online or school provided learning packs. As have teacher friends in schools in East Anglia.

GagaJo

alig99

I think OP is mainly talking about the reaction in the States. Obviously in UK no one can make you sign anything. And in the UK there has been no announcements yet in what is worn, when and where. Remember this is not the States and our teaching unions are very powerful. FYI I think schools should go back as I think the impact on kids especially teenagers will be worse than the possibility of getting CV19.

No. I'm talking about the school I worked at in Northumberland. Two of my colleagues have told me the same thing. They were required to sign a document saying they wouldn't wear masks in school. Teaching unions are toothless these days.

Was it an academy? Academies can do more or less what they want.

I've heard of other teachers being forbidden from wearing masks, but I don't know if they had to sign anything.

And quite tight too . I hope and pray all will be okay and my English DGC can return to education in September as normal . He has had zero interaction with his primary but having said that he hadn’t had a permanent class teacher for almost 2 years .

gillybob

^I thought Westminster might have learnt about using Scotland as a guinea pig after the poll tax fiasco^

And I though that schools in Scotland always had different summer holidays than those in England ? So they are hardly being used as a guinea pig . Just returning on the dates expected .

I know. I wasn't serious, but there's no doubt that England will be keeping a close eye on what happens in Scotland.

Yes, I have worked in schools, and know that children and hygiene are not natural bedfellows. But I also know that the children who are kept up to midnight watching porn with their parents would be far better off in school than stuck at home. My school took children from a problem estate, but I am sure it wasn't unique.

Research seemed totally divided as to whether children can pass it on easily or not. There is mercifully no case in the world of a child dying from CV picked up at school. So as with everything else it is individual risk assessment. If a child carer is looking after a mum or grandparent with conditions that make them extra vulnerable, then there is a big worry that they might bring it home. But equally school is probably the only respite these children get.

I don't think teachers will be at any serious risk of passing on the virus to children, who will shrug it off if they do. Children passing the virus to a teacher is a slight risk, but unless the teacher is obese or has serious underlying conditions, then I think we have to put the children first, and their education is vitally important, as is being with their peers, something virtual lessons can't provide.

Every child has a right to a full education in this Country, something sadly lacking in many other parts of the world, and it is something we shouldn't be taking away from them, except in very individual cases.

Exactly and thank you icanhandthemback. Teachers are happy for some normality. But they should be able to make that choice (mask wearing) themselves.

I am strongly of the opinion that the staff should have freedom of choice here. I wonder how much compensation the LEAs will have to pay out if an active teacher dies. They should, at the very least, be able to wear shields if not masks. You don't see healthcare staff having to remove protective clothing when they are treating children so why should teachers be of any less worth to society?

alig99

I think OP is mainly talking about the reaction in the States. Obviously in UK no one can make you sign anything. And in the UK there has been no announcements yet in what is worn, when and where. Remember this is not the States and our teaching unions are very powerful. FYI I think schools should go back as I think the impact on kids especially teenagers will be worse than the possibility of getting CV19.

No. I'm talking about the school I worked at in Northumberland. Two of my colleagues have told me the same thing. They were required to sign a document saying they wouldn't wear masks in school. Teaching unions are toothless these days.

Wow! So much offensiveness in here NemosMum I hardly know where to start!

Teachers (yes, and before you say it, I'm a trained teacher) are being frightened by politically-motivated unions! Nope. Staff are frightened because they HAVE been in school for the whole of the lockdown with the children of key workers and have experienced unsafe conditions with FEW children and know that this will be exacerbated when the other 80% pile in!

Perhaps you would overcome that if you were not on gardening leave and 100% pay! Lucky, lucky you for being on gardening leave! None of the teachers I know have been. Online lessons. Setting work. Marking work remotely (work done online in online workbooks they created and set up for the children in their classes). No, some children didn't do or engage with the work but that is down to parents, not teachers.

Time to get back to work (without masks which DO interfere with learning). I reiterate, ALL of the teachers I know (I estimate I have maybe 25 teacher friends) have worked all the way through the pandemic so far. As I said before LUCKY YOU for not having to work!

How do masks interfere with learning? I taught in China wearing a mask and still managed to get 15 A* and 15 A & B IGCSE grades out of a class of 30.

You are in no danger from the children. What a load of tosh. Children of any age carry and pass on the virus like any other person.

young people, who have been massively disadvantaged by this virus. The ONLY part of your off load of unsubstantiated and largely untrue opinion I agree with. We have ALL been massively disadvantaged by the virus. My brother, who can't return to work because of ongoing virus issues. My neighbour who is grieving his late wife (C19). My grandson who hasn't had another child to play with in 5 months (and who won't for the foreseeable because it isn't safe). It isn't as if children stand alone and have been unduly punished.

Talk about first world problems! They have work. They have teachers available online. You get into your classroom without a mask if you wish. Your choice. But teachers should have the choice if they want to wear them or not. The unions are toothless now. Nothing they can do.