Should she go back?

mokryna
GagaJo has returned to Switzerland where she teaches in a school. She posted a couple of days ago saying the journey, including the flight, had gone well, and she arrived safely. I expect she’s busy with her job now.

It’s up to her of course, but at 70, I would be glad to hang up my teacher’s hat and leave it to someone else.

Surely there are some newly qualified language teachers who would like the job?

It would depend on what her priorities are----her health or the chance/ risk she'll be taking by continuing teaching. I know what I'd choose at that time of life, even if she eases herself out before winter. Perhaps by next term ?

Quizqueen thinking similarly, that was one point I made to her, but evidently there isn’t a rush of applicants qualified to teach French and/or Spanish.
She used to take small phonics groups in the mornings on a voluntary basis but the head thinks that involves too close contact at the moment.
I’ve discussed pros and cons with her and I guess she’ll do as she chooses.

I am 67 and work 2 days as a counsellor at an independent secondary school. I am going back next week. I trust my school to put in safe procedures for me and other staff . If she’s not happy after going back she can either ask for more safety measures or change her mind

She will have her state pension and her teaching pension, I guess. Older people can't expect to stay at work forever without it affecting younger people being able to get a job! She could always go in voluntary then and wear a visor.

You can't decide what she should do.
You can discuss it with her, asking about safety measures and whether she will feel nervous while at work, or worried about passing infection to other family members.
Help her to think it through, then she'll have to make her own decision.

Mollygo your sister has given you a dilemma. Maybe list the pros and cons of returning to teach and then leave it up to her.

She will be teaching whole classes in the afternoon. She reckons masked or with a visor and other safety procedures that are in place she’ll be OK. I just wish she hadn’t asked me. The head did give her the option to work or not. He immediately sent her home when the vulnerable criteria was first announced. She feels she’d have to give up completely if she doesn’t go back and she really loves her work.

mokryna

The same applies to me, I am the same age, and I look with interest to to see what others think. I have decided to retire from taking large classes and just doing school clubs which are half the size. We haven’t heard from GagaJo recently.

Well, she’s back in Switzerland isn’t she, so will have to quarantine if she comes back soon,

The same applies to me, I am the same age, and I look with interest to to see what others think. I have decided to retire from taking large classes and just doing school clubs which are half the size. We haven’t heard from GagaJo recently.

I'm a recently retired primary school teacher and am so glad I don't have to go back and deal with all the COVID-19 measures and children who have been out of school for 5 months.

The children will have had such different lockdowns - some of their parents will have worked hard to home-school them, read to them and take them out to exercise as well as working from home themselves; some parents will have let them watch TV or play on electronic games and not taken them out anywhere. In the inner city school where I worked some of my colleagues referred to some of the children as having gone feral! Going back to school in September was such a culture shock for many of them!

Does your sister-in-law have any underlying health problems? Is she class teaching or working with small groups? Has the head put in the required safeguards? Is he/she concerned about the wellbeing of the staff? In my experience not all are.
In the end I think she has to do whatever she feels comfortable with.

It’s up to her no one can make any decisions for her, much less you because if it did go wrong you d never stop blaming yourself
If it was me I d be back like a shot but each person must find they own safe levels of what they are happy with
From what I ve see of what’s been put in place at my grandkids school it will be safe as houses