Government’s “cavalier disregard” of science.
By a NEU member
In the early months of the first coronavirus lockdown, the National Education Union set a record for a union meeting with over 22,000 of its members participating in an on-line webinar, organised so the union leadership could offer advice to its member.
The union is repeated this feat, with a series of on-line mass meetings, beginning on Saturday 2nd, with a 4000-strong meeting of union reps. This will be followed up by meetings of members in both Primary and Secondary.
Unanimous decision of National Executive
The reps meeting was called to inform them of the unanimous decision of the union National Executive, taken literally hours earlier, to advise all Primary members not to go into school on Monday January 4th and for at least two weeks afterwards. The government had already issued some confusing and garbled messages that schools only in certain areas should be closed and that all Secondary schools should phase pupils in from the 11th onwards.
But the NEU has decided, in the light of recent scientific evidence, to advise members in both sectors that it is not safe to open schools and that they should all be closed, except for the education of children of key workers.
The union joint general secretaries, Kevin Courtney and Mary Bousted argue that the NEU is “emphatically” basing its policy on the scientific evidence, in sharp contrast the government’s “cavalier” attitude to even its own scientific advisers.
‘November arrangements’ not sufficient
The December 22 minutes of the SAGE advisory committee made it clear then that the experts were against the opening of schools on January 4. These minutes made it clear that the “November arrangements” – by which it means all schools being open while other lockdown measures were in place – would not keep the transmission ‘R’ number below 1. On the other hand, SAGE advised, it might be lowered if schools were closed and even then, it was “not known” if that would be enough. Two subsequent reports by medical research bodies have confirmed the findings of the December 22 SAGE meeting.
With Covid cases completely out of control and the level of hospital admissions increasing to levels even higher than in April, it is incredible that the government is having to be forced every step of the way into closing schools.
With the government unable or unwilling to take the necessary measures, the NEU has been forced to take this action. Teachers should no longer be obliged to work in cramped, inadequately ventilated, badly resourced, understaffed and therefore unsafe schools.
“I work in a special school”, one teacher said in the ‘chat’, “we have been advised by our head that we are open to all students from Tuesday, but we do not get tests until Wednesday and we have currently no strategy to administer them”
As Mary Bousted said, the union “wants to open schools” but that can only be done when it is safe to do so. By the end of the last term, millions of school-age children were already being isolated at home. Teachers were on their knees, absolutely exhausted by having to combine face-to-face teaching with online teaching for those not in school.
The government had completely ignored union requests that schools should open on a rota basis and the result is that the infection rate among Secondary school students has increased 75 times. In the run up to Christmas, more than 1 in 40 secondary pupils and 1 in 15 primary children were infected.
The scientific evidence clearly shows that the single most important group responsible for Covid transmission is now Primary-age children, closely followed by students of Secondary school age. This state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue, particularly now that a new wave of coronavirus is out of control. If the government is recklessly ignoring scientific advice, that is something the NEU is refusing to do.
Model ‘Section 44’ letter
Union advice, therefore, is that ALL Primary schools in England should be closed to pupils except for the children of key workers, for at least the first two weeks of term. Secondary schools, at present, will open on Jan 11, only for examination years.
The union is sending out a model letter to all its school reps – to be shared with members in schools – which can be used to inform school headteachers of teachers’ rights not to work in an unsafe environment. Section 44 of the Health and Safety at Work Act makes it clear that any worker can decline to work in an environment that they consider to be a threat to their health or welfare or to the health of anyone else, and without any detriment to their salaries. It is a legal right that should be exercised by all teachers, and particularly those who are clinically vulnerable.
Primary school teachers are being advised to make it clear to their heads that they are available for work, but only for on-line teaching, except for teaching children of key workers, taught on a rota basis in school.
Another teacher complained to the ‘chat’ that “We were denied the luxury of seeing our loved ones over Christmas but come 4th January are expected to spend time in a small room with a class full of children!”
Because of the porosity of boundaries between areas of different tiers, the NEU advice is that this school closure should apply right across the country. NEU members as a whole will be able to attend the webinars organised for them in the next few days, but they should also discuss with their reps and/or branch and district union officers about how best to contact school and trust heads. No teachers should have their salaries docked because they are still making themselves available for work – but working from home, in a safe environment.
Where teachers are being asked to attend school on the first day of term for INSET, the same should apply – that they make it clear that they are available, but not in an unsafe environment.
The National Education Union has made it clear that it welcomes the proposed government policy of mass testing of all school pupils but, they have also expressed concerns about the confusion around how this is supposed to be managed. No details have been forthcoming from the government. The NEU believes that mass testing is not something that should be done by education staff. Moreover, because these are going to involve the much less reliable ‘Lateral flow’ tests, it should be clear that results should lead to immediate isolation for pupils tested positive, but also for their contacts.
Other teacher unions should support
As well as launching this campaign among its own members, the NEU is launching a petition for “safe schools” and it is reaching out to other teaching unions for their support. The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) has already responded positively, calling for the Government to move all schools to home learning for a “brief and determined period for most children”, adding that the new strain had created “intolerable risk” to schools.
It has to be said that there are many head teachers who have been completely supportive of their staff and have operated a safe environment to the best of their ability. But there are still too many who even ignore the shambolic advice of the government and who make up their own rules as they go along. Some school heads, for example, expect teaching staff to go into school even to manage their on-line teaching, a ludicrous and unsafe policy. The ‘chat’ on the NEU online meeting ran to over five hundred comments, many from teachers utterly frustrated with their school management’s obtuseness.
Teachers should not administer Covid tests
“I work in a special school”, one said, “we have been advised by our head that we are open to all students from Tuesday, but we do not get tests until Wednesday and we have currently no strategy to administer them”
Another complained that “We were denied the luxury of seeing our loved ones over Christmas but come 4th January are expected to spend time in a small room with a class full of children!”
The NEU campaign should be supported by all unions, including those whose members have children unable to attend school. The TUC has called for paid leave for any workers who are unable to get into work because their children are not in school. That should be a minimum demand.
Labour Party members should also pass resolutions in support of the NEU and school staff and should condemn the wholly inadequate response of Keir Starmer and the Labour front bench on the issue.
January 2, 2021
