Schools revolt is brewing as reopening plans remain unclear

When the news of school closures broke on 5 January, parents and teachers scrambled to set up home-schooling provisions. Three weeks later, panic has turned to anger, children are being left behind, and the government has given no clear guidance on when schools can expect to reopen.

Following reports this week that schools might not fully reopen even after the Easter holidays, pressure is mounting on the government to take action.

The Children’s Commissioner for England has said families need “hope and clarity” about what will come next for children’s education, and several Conservative MPs have backed a campaign by the parents’ pressure group USforThem to fully reopen schools.

But these calls to re-open immediately are not backed on all sides. The grassroots campaign Parents United Against Unsafe Schools are calling for a “safe, well-planned and transparently communicated return to schools”, while teachers’ unions are demanding safe working conditions for school staff.

Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Like everybody else, we want to see schools fully reopen as soon as possible. But what we really need is a proper plan to make that happen.”

“The obvious solution is for a phased approach, perhaps using rotas or prioritising certain year groups first of all, and gradually building up to full opening while keeping a check on the impact of coronavirus infection rates.”

The ASCL is also calling for rapid turnaround testing and the prioritisation of education staff for vaccines.

The policy would see teachers vaccinated following the four highest risk groups. According to government statistics, there were 453,813 teachers working in state-funded schools in England in November 2019.

“Education staff are asked to work in inherently crowded and busy environments when schools are fully open, and we think it is only right that they should have the assurance of vaccinations, and that this is also important in terms of minimising disruption to education,” said Barton.

“In particular, staff working in specialist settings should be prioritised, as their role is often akin to care work.”

An online petition calling for education staff to be vaccinated has over 480,000 signatures but failed to usher in a policy change when it was debated in parliament last week.

In a response to the petition, the Department of Health and Social Care said the Joint Committee on Vaccine and Immunisation is continuing to review its advice to the government based on live data, and that phase 2 of the rollout “may be aimed at vaccinating those at high risk of exposure and/or those delivering key public services.”

Analysis released this week by the Office for National Statistics suggests that teachers are at no greater risk of dying of Covid-19 than the general population.

Groups on all sides of the debate are calling for greater transparency from the government. “We now need a clear timeline for this to happen, and a plan which is safe and inspires the confidence of education staff and the public,” said Barton.

But the government’s strategy remains elusive. Reports have emerged that ministers are considering plans to allow children in different regions to return to class sooner than others depending on case numbers, as well as the possibility of primary and key exam years returning first.

On Tuesday, government health advisers said that primary schools can safely reopen after half-term if cases keep falling, adding yet more pressure on Boris Johnson to set out his plans.

“There’s a strong case for primary schools to reopen once infection rates start falling and are sufficiently low to allow easing of national lockdown measures,” Dr Shamez Ladhani, PHE chief schools investigator, told The Times.

Asked this week for his roadmap for reopening schools, the PM said that the government would tell parents and teachers “as much as we can as soon as we can.” But he will have to act soon to stave off a growing cross-party revolt.