With social distancing impossible to enforce and a shortage of cleaning supplies, teachers say there is a disregard for their health

Morale inside Australian government schools is “less than zero”, teachers say, as they slam social-distancing edicts from health officials as “impossible” to enforce in classrooms and report having to bring cleaning supplies from home to maintain basic hygiene.

While schools in a number of countries including the UK and parts of the US have been closed as the spread of the virus continues, Australian governments and health authorities have insisted they should remain open.

Teachers who spoke to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity this week say they are “frustrated, angry and anxious” at what they feel is a lack of concern for their wellbeing as they continue to be asked to show up to work during an almost total shutdown of society in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

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Both the prime minister, Scott Morrison, and the chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, argue school closures could exacerbate the spread of the virus because students would mix more widely in the community, as well as force frontline healthcare workers to stay home to care for their children.

They’ve also cited evidence that children are less likely to contract and pass on the virus.

“Obviously we do have some concerns that children may have a role in transmission, but most children who have seemed to have got the virus seem to have got it from adults,” Murphy said on Friday.

“We think that keeping children at home when there is relatively low community spread is probably disproportionate, given that they probably won’t stay at home anyway. They may be cared for by elderly grandparents. Our view at the moment [is] for the next six months, it is in the best interests of everybody to keep schools open and we think that risk is proportionate.”

But teachers on the frontline say there is a glaring lack of information about their own safety, and those who spoke to Guardian Australia this week uniformly reported feeling anxious about their health and angry at being made to work in conditions that in other industries would be deemed unsafe.

“Everyone else is at home sharing memes about self-isolation, which is great,” a secondary teacher from Melbourne’s northern suburbs told Guardian Australia.

“And you see them and just think, fuck, I would do anything to be home, because I don’t want to be on the train, I don’t want to be at work with all of this going on. We’re feeling forgotten. The wellbeing of the teachers is not acknowledged and there’s a lot of frustration and just a feeling of helplessness.”

Adding to the frustration is a sense that besides the cancellation of assemblies and excursions, nothing has changed within schools as the virus spreads.

While teachers have been told to enforce social distancing and hygiene measures, they say keeping a 1.5m distance between students is “impossible” in a classroom setting and that basic items such as hand sanitiser are in short supply.

It feels like I’m a glorified babysitter and that my own health and wellbeing is no longer important

“The kids are literally just going about their days as usual, moving between classes, sharing desks, sharing pens, it’s physically impossible to enforce the social distancing the government has been talking about but there’s been no attempt to even try,” one secondary teacher in Sydney’s Sutherland shire said of the attitude at her school.

“It’s almost like the stance is, there’s nothing we can do, what is the point of even trying.

“It’s really so weird going home and watching ABC news, seeing how serious it is, watching the other measures being taken in other workplaces and yet we’re just told to keep going as if nothing is happening.”

Teachers over 50 are particularly concerned, given their increased vulnerability to the virus. One 55-year-old science teacher from Sydney’s northern beaches said it felt “surreal” to travel to work everyday knowing the advice for most other people was to stay at home.

“I have been a teacher for more than 20 years and I’ve always been proud of the job that I do because I know it’s important work, but this week I feel expendable,” she said.

“It feels like I’m a glorified babysitter and that my own health and wellbeing is no longer important. I’ve had to bring my own cleaning products from home to scrub the desks between classes.”

In the middle of the uncertainty, many teachers also reported reduced attendance at schools. The teacher from Melbourne’s northern suburbs said attendance had been at about 55% this week.

“You almost feel relieved that the school is emptying out,” he said.

“As teachers we’re thankful. We’re obviously not telling kids to stay home but we’re thankful the place is thinning out a bit. We’re being told to try to keep the kids apart from each other but a lot of the kids struggle to take it seriously.”

Kate Anderson pulled her two children, aged five and eight, out of their Brisbane primary school on Monday this week and said she would likely keep them at home until at least the school holidays.

“My kid’s school has 1,100 students plus staff and I’ve done volunteer work there and I’ve seen what happens on a normal day. Kids that age are not big on hygiene, there’s not much hand-washing going on,” she said.

“It’s absolutely nothing against the teachers but I was in a fortunate position to be able to keep them at home and frankly I was dumbfounded that nothing has happened yet.”

This week the Australian Education Union wrote to the national cabinet saying it was “gravely concerned” about the impact of the virus on frontline teaching staff and calling for additional cleaning services in schools.

The letter said schools were reporting shortages of soap, alcohol-based sanitisers, toilet paper, tissues and “infrastructure such as enough sinks and hygiene areas for staff and students to access frequently and systematically”.

It also raised concerns about the government’s edict for schools to practice social distancing, saying it was “practically impossible” for students and staff to adhere to 1.5m distances in classroom settings.

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Queensland Teachers Union president Kevin Bates said teachers were “frustrated, angry and anxious” that the position from government and officials appeared to be “to put them in harm’s way while treating them as glorified babysitters”.

“There’s a feeling that they are not being respected for the education professionals that they are,” he said.

“The references so far from the national cabinet and the chief medical officer have been that we need schools open because we need health workers on the job, and while that’s true, it leaves teachers feeling that they are not important, that the work they do is not important, and their wellbeing and safety is not important.”

The AEU said it would meet with the education minister, Dan Tehan, next week to further raise its concerns, while state governments including in Queensland and Victoria pledged to increase the amount of cleaning undertaken at schools.

On Friday, the secretary of the New South Wales education department, Mark Scott, wrote to teachers thanking them for their work during “a remarkable week” and acknowledged the difficulty of enforcing social distancing measures in public schools.

“You have worked tirelessly, with professionalism and dedication, to keep delivering our essential community service for children and families across New South Wales,” he said.