Following the PM’s announcement of Step 4 changes to Covid restrictions, Peter Shreeve, Assistant District Secretary of the National Education Union, comments on the situation faced by schools. In his own words, Ed
Schools and colleges are doing everything they can to keep pupils and the wider community safe. Why then, is Government not doing the same and removing so many safety measures?
Especially when cases are rising – the latest most rapid week-on-week increase being in 5–9-year-olds (66 per cent), followed by 10–14-year-olds (58 per cent). Children remain unvaccinated and at risk of transmitting the virus and suffering Long Covid themselves.
What can be done
Government should publish the results of its trials on daily contact testing as an alternative to self-isolation before changing the system.
It would be eminently sensible to bring in Public Health England to help support schools to organise testing from September, not leave this burden on already overstretched school and college staff.
Improve ventilation
Measures to maintain and improve ventilation by providing air filters and CO2 monitors could be quickly and easily introduced but are still being ignored, as is wearing face masks when moving around the school.
It is somewhat frustrating when simple sensible rational solutions that could be a win-win are not taken up by Government.
Clarity is needed
Gavin Williamson has asked school leaders to be patient in their wait for guidance. Clarity is needed with just over two weeks of the summer term remaining.
Exhausted school leaders again may find themselves with extra work to do over their much-needed holiday to ensure schools takes account of any last-minute changes, when clarity over step 4 of the roadmap is eventually shared.
Oversee, not overlook
Government should oversee, not overlook. It has ignored much – the alarming deterioration in self-testing numbers among school-age children, dropping from 60 per cent in mid-March to just 15 per cent today.
Removing requirements for masks in secondary classrooms from mid-May led to a significant rise in cases of which Government appears oblivious.
Neglectful and reckless decision-making
It feels neglectful and reckless decision-making, when schools and colleges quite obviously need the backing of Government to ensure workplaces remains safe.
The NEU has always said, we should hope for the best but plan for the worst, and base decisions on the science and the data.
Pinning everything on hope
Government appears to be pinning everything on hope. Schools and colleges have been through this several times before and surely will be appalled and frustrated that yet again so little is being done to support them.
Image: Tim Mossholder under CC BY 2.0
