A survey recently went out to BC teachers when it comes to COVID-19 in schools, and the results reveal some troubling trends.
Various factors were considered in the survey, like vaccination rates and mandates, mental health and safety, ventilation in schools, and general transparency.
One of the biggest takeaways of the survey, is that fewer than half of BC teachers feel safe in schools.
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Results from the survey reveal that 82% of teachers are supportive of a province-wide vaccine mandate for adults working in schools.
Most adults working in schools have also been vaccinated.
94% of teachers are fully vaccinated, with an additional 1% who are partially vaccinated, intending to get the second dose.
“Any vaccine mandate in K-12 must be province-wide, a district by district patchwork approach does not make sense,” said Teri Mooring, BCTF President, in a statement.
Mental health and safety was a key concern for the BCTF.
“Once again, we’re seeing clear ties between health and safety and teacher mental health, with 79% saying their mental health has worsened over the course of the pandemic,” Mooring says.
She went onto say that this happens to be the third survey that has shown the same result over two school years.
Perhaps the most astounding result from the survey, is that only 46% of teachers report feeling safe in BC schools, and 71% don’t feel like there’s enough transparency around exposures and COVID-19 cases.
“Transparency around that quality of ventilation in BC schools remains a concern for many teachers, with 62% reporting that they have not received adequate information about ventilation in their school.”
Mooring says that the BCTF has been trying to get the Ministry to act on public reporting of issues around ventilation, but they’ve only recently started to see reports begin to trickle out.
A public townhall will be available to watch through the BCTF YouTube page at 7 pm on Tuesday evening.
The survey was conducted between September 22 and October 11, and the results are based on 5,996 current BCTF members.
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