Secret Teacher: 'This is why teachers should strike if they are not prioritised for vaccinations'

All three teachers’ unions have voted in favour of industrial action if teachers are not prioritised for vaccinations. Not before the elderly or the vulnerable, but before people with far less exposure to the virus

Norma Foley, TD., Minster for Education and Science addressing delegates at the Irish National Teachers' Organisation's virtual congress 2021 which is taking place in a studio in Naas, Co Kildare . Photograph Moya Nolan

Risk. Everyone knows what it feels like. It enters our minds, at some point, every day – if only at a subconscious level. Whether it’s getting in our car or allowing our children to play outside with their friends, we’re always calculating levels of it. We know the weight of it.

Teachers are very accustomed to negotiating risk. We educate and care for other people’s children for seven hours every day. Being vigilant is part of our job. Parents must know that. I certainly recognise it as a parent myself.

A couple of years ago, I brought a group of about 20 students to the City library with a colleague. We’d just set out when a commotion started across the road. Two men were attacking another man. One had him in a hold with a bar across his chest, and the other was screaming “Where’s the money?” whilst punching him in the face and chest. I’d never heard an actual punch, flesh on flesh, in real life before. Instinctively, I moved to the road to put a barrier between my students and the men. My colleague did the same. I ordered my students to look down, keep walking.

We had just passed when one of my students told me to ring the police. I rang, told the Gardai what I’d seen and where it was happening. I felt a professional connection. Teachers and Gardai have a lot in common, though our paths, thankfully, rarely cross.

Norma Foley, TD., Minster for Education and Science addressing delegates at the Irish National Teachers' Organisation's virtual congress 2021 which is taking place in a studio in Naas, Co Kildare . Photograph Moya Nolan

School outings carry a new level of risk but inside the school is no different. You’re very aware of dismissing students from class even a few minutes early. Because in those two minutes without supervision, something could happen, and it would be on your watch. The same goes for lunch duty. As individuals, we’re in serious trouble if we are not where we’re meant to be at an exact time. Every second counts. It simply doesn’t matter if we need to go to the toilet or want to grab something to eat. Our presence, our punctuality is non-negotiable.

Perhaps this heightened awareness of risk is one of the reasons school staff feel so nervous about returning to such busy workplaces without vaccinations, or any other tangible change to safety measures. It’s now understood that air quality is of maximum importance in the fight against Covid and yet nothing has been done to improve ventilation in our schools, like the introduction of carbon dioxide monitors. We have no provisions like they have in the UK. No temperature checks, no antigen tests. Nothing. We have continued high numbers, particularly in school-aged children, an increase in reported cases in schools and new variants not linked to travel.

All three teachers’ unions have now voted in favour of industrial action if teachers are not prioritised for vaccinations. Not before the elderly or the vulnerable, but before people with far less exposure to the virus. They want to return to their previous position - 11th on the list.

Commentators claim teachers are holding the government to ‘ransom.’ In truth, teachers are on their last legs because they’ve been let down so much. They’re broken.

The argument here isn’t really, or at least isn’t solely about vaccines. It’s about the levels of risk teachers and students are being asked to take in the absence of adequate safety measures in their schools. And the added insult that the definition of a close contact differs inside and outside the school walls.

Education Minister Norma Foley is correct in saying she has the science behind her. Age is the biggest predictor of death when it comes to Covid. Nobody denies that, and everyone agrees that the elderly and the vulnerable should go first.

But she’s ignoring a great deal of the maths - the probability of contracting the virus as a direct result of your profession. According to Professor Luke O'Neill, teachers are 1.9 times more likely to contract Covid. Special school teachers are three times more likely. Covid can reduce the quality of a life for months. That should matter. It should be at least some part of our calculation.

This is about the freedom to avoid or reduce risk.

Norma Foley, TD., Minster for Education and Science watches as John Boyle, general secretary of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation responds to her speech to delegates at the union's virtual congress 2021 which is taking place in a studio in Naas, Co Kildare . Photograph Moya Nolan

Most people have the freedom to stay at home, protect themselves, whatever their age. Frontline workers do not. They have no choice but to put themselves at the ‘frontline’ of the virus every day.

And they have families. I haven’t seen my vulnerable parents for months now because they haven’t had their first vaccination yet. They are in their 70s. My siblings rightly agree that my profession makes me a huge risk to them. But there must be plenty of families who won’t have that freedom - to avoid vulnerable elderly family members.

The Government has decided that the risk level is bearable. I disagree. I disagree not only for school staff but for all family members connected to schools.

Whatever about teachers, the case for SNAs to be vaccinated is indisputable. These people reduce the risk to our most vulnerable children every day of their working lives. Are we happy to put them at greater personal risk than the rest of the working population now? The least we can do is vaccinate the 4,000 staff in special schools and the 5,500 staff working in special classrooms. They deserve our respect for what they spend their lives doing - reducing risk for others.