Catalan schools ask for help after 12 days at the limit

At the gates of finishing second week of school, and with the sixth wave of the pandemic still on the rise pushed by the variant omicron, the Catalan schools are at the limit. They have been 10 days (12 days if we count the weekend, in which, given the exceptional situation, the management of the centers have been operational to manage cases of coronavirus) with a huge work overload.

In these 12 days they have had to assume the teacher dismissal, the reorganization to offer hybrid classes, with part of the confined student body and another, in the classroom. And, the most expensive, apply the new covid-19 case management protocol, which has made the quarantines more flexible and which is causing infinite doubts and confusion and has led to an intensification of communication with families.

The teachers are “exceeded”, “overwhelmed” and “exhausted”, in adjectives that they themselves use to define their situation. Y They demand support from Educació to manage that extra workload outside of their educational and training activity. If in the first wave of the pandemic, the heroes were doctors and nurses, in this sixth wave, teachers also share that merit. As a teacher pointed out, “this endures by the will of the people & rdquor ;.

They trust that Salut’s forecasts will be fulfilled that at the end of next week the peak of the curve will be reached and the descent will arrive and with it the beginning of the recovery of normality. At the moment, however, the epidemiological situation in schools is one of maximum tension: this Thursday there is 120,277 confined: of these 111,786 are students and about 8,445 are teachers. There are 19,001 more people than the day before. And in the last 24 hours they have declared 22,970 more positives. In the last 10 days, Catalan schools have added 112,719 positives, of which 101,077 are students, 11,595 are teachers and 47 are external staff. There are therefore 101,077 positive cases that schools have had to manage plus all the corresponding confinements. This added to the educational and organizational management of the day to day.

“We are teachers, not health”

“It has been a very difficult week. We are teachers, not health workers. There are things that we do not dominate & rdquor ;, confesses Marta Ortiz, director of the Escola Diputació de Barcelona, referring to the new school protocol for covid cases. He appreciates the help of the covid references that Salut has assigned to them but stresses that, like the teachers, they too are overwhelmed by the avalanche of infections. “There are many students. There are many cases. I think no one thought there would be so many. They changed the protocol thinking that this way there would not be so many cases, but it has not been like that & rdquor ;, reflects this teacher.

In this nursery and primary school there are 450 students. There are currently 5 classrooms with confined children. Most of them do not have the complete schedule, therefore they are at home. In some classrooms there are only 1 or 2 students left in class who are immunized. The educational rhythm cannot be the same as in normal circumstances. In the Escola Diputació these days they do not advance agenda. “We can’t because most of the children are confined. We are reinforcing and consolidating content & rdquor ;, explains Ortiz.

crazy weeks

“It’s been two weeks of madness & rdquor ;, summarizes Anna Micaló, director of the Fructuós Gelabert school from Barcelona. This infant and primary center has 20 groups, of which 11 are confined. “Every day there are new positive cases & rdquor ;, he explains. He points out that the entire educational community, teachers, students and families, is tired. “We have been through the pandemic for two years & rdquor ;, he recalls. Despite this, the spirit is positive: “There is fatigue, but we are in the spirit of doing our best. This cannot last much longer & rdquor ;, says Micaló. He underlines that the teachers are doing “an extraordinary job to continue with the educational projects and with the children’s learning, adapting to the fact that they have students at home in front of a computer and others in the classroom.”

Micaló vindicates the work of the school while calling for more support: “It is up to the schools to sustain this situation and seek for the well-being of the girls and boys. And we do it with all the wear and tear that it entails. This is the pedagogical task to which we should dedicate ourselves. We should have personal support for all the covid procedures that now occupy us every hour & rdquor ;, he claims.

Operational 7 days a week

They occupy them all the hours, weekends included, although Educació urges them not to work on Saturdays and Sundays. They are unpaid hours. But the teachers – professionals by vocation and responsible for their students – cannot leave the management of the cases for Monday. “If we leave it for Monday, that day we find an avalanche of cases. And that same day you have to send the children home and notify the families, with the hassle that this entails. We prefer, for the good of all, to do it on the weekend & rdquor ;, they say.

“We want to do a good management of covid cases. We are operational seven days a week at any time of the day to provide an immediate response. It is an exceptional situation and we have to attend to the families & rdquor ;, emphasizes Maite Andreu, director of the Jesuits of Caspe.

In this concerted school of 1,650 students, there are a hundred schoolchildren who have tested positive for covid. And confined, two elementary groups. “Our priority now is to take care of the students, help them keep up despite the circumstances and accompany the younger ones who are at home and those who take classes online,” explains Andreu. “We are concerned that the pandemic is having an impact on children. They have been on exception for months & rdquor ;, he adds. This director admits that “there are moments of fatigue at all levels& rdquor ;, but adds: “We are doing what we have to do. Hoping it doesn’t last much longer.” “That the school works allows families and society to function. We have an important role & rdquor ;, remember.

Apart from the increase in infections, the new protocol, agreed just two days before going back to school and explained to the management of the centers once the term started, has not helped. The consulted directors agree in pointing out that it is “complicated & rdquor; and has added confusion. They point out that families are very confused by the contradictions between the school protocol, that of extracurricular activities and the general protocol. “We provide them with information and clarify doubts, but even so there are many questions because there are many casuistry”, Ortiz points out. Andreu agrees with him, explaining that “communication with families has intensified a lot”.

In the Jesuit schools they have a figure who these days has been revealed as key: the school nurse. She has helped them cope with the task of managing covid and caring for families. “The nurse always adds a lot, and now more & rdquor ;, confirms Andreu.

Affac demands a clear protocol

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The “changing, chaotic and complicated” protocol & rdquor; It has been the “main problem & rdquor ;, in the opinion of Lidón Gasull, director of the Federated Associations of Families of Students of Catalonia (affac). “It is what has caused the most concern in families & rdquor ;, Gasull assures. “We don’t know to what extent this protocol makes sense. It only creates confusion. People don’t know what to do & rdquor ;, he adds. The Affac has spent days demanding Education to propose a “clear and stable protocol, with clear rules & rdquor ;.

The ‘conseller’ of Education, Josep González-Cambray, has admitted that these are “complicated days” and that schools are “stressed”. He has defended that his department is “providing an answer” to the problem of teacher dismissals – since January 7, 8,020 appointments of substitute teachers have been made – and he has assured that “we will get out of this”. He has taken the opportunity to thank the educational community for its work, assuming an “overload of work” and “getting involved”. “They are giving their best. They are up to the task,” he said.