Caution on road back to school
ON Friday the Welsh Government published a ‘Decision Framework for the next Phase of Education and Childcare’ in which they indicated their intention to establish a ‘phased approach to returning more children to face-to-face education or childcare.’
I agree with the cautious approach that the Welsh Government is taking. The role of children in the transmission of the virus and their susceptibility to it are not yet clear. So we have to be very careful and vigilant.
If keeping schools closed did not have any major consequences, it might be the right thing to do. But there are substantial harms arising from school closures.
Most alarmingly, some children are being abused at home during lockdown without the safety net of school where social services can be alerted. Children in the ‘vulnerable’ category are attending school but far more are not. Some schools are engaging proactively with these pupils – others are not.
There’s no doubt in my mind that the educational attainment gap between children from low-income backgrounds and those from more affluent families will widen, the longer schools remain closed. There are huge disparities already. The longer these children do not attend school, the longer it will take for them to catch-up with their peers.
In planning the phased approach, these two groups need to be prioritised as well as children transitioning from one educational phase to another or those in important academic years. I’m glad to see that these broad principles are emerging from Government.
The Education Minister says that any decision about whether we are ready for a change will depend on R, the reproduction number of the virus. This is deemed to be critical to understanding our scope for change: whether R is low enough to allow an increase of operations, or if it begins to rise, whether operations need to be decreased. The Government says regional differences may also influence their decision-making.
On 13 May, Test, trace and protect, a strategy for enhanced health surveillance, was published by Welsh Government.
This will mean asking people to report symptoms, testing anyone in the community who is showing symptoms of COVID-19, and tracing those they have come into close contact with. Contacts will be advised to self-isolate in order to stop further spread among family, friends and the community.
The phased re-opening of schools will very much depend on the success of the Test, Trace and Protect regime. Getting this strategy right is crucial for any measures to ease the lockdown – and vital for the plans to re-open schools.