Don’t blame us for the schools decision, says teachers’ union as row escalates
THE row over plans to reopen schools in June has escalated after the head of Wales’ biggest teaching union accused the Chief Medical Officer of blaming it for the decision to ignore advice on returning to classrooms later in the summer.
Recriminations flew after Chief Medical Officer (CM) Frank Atherton revealed during a press conference that re-opening schools in June – announced by Education Minister Kirsty Williams – was the “second-best option”.
He added: “When I was discussing this with the Education Minister my preferred option would have been to reopen the schools perhaps towards the end of the summer in August to give us a little bit more time. I understand that was not attractive to the unions.”
That prompted Ms Williams to issue a statement on Twitter denying that she had acted against scientific advice in making her announcement that all year groups would return to Welsh schools on June 29, with the summer term extended by a week to allow for three weeks of teaching before a shortened summer break.
And the row took a fresh twist when David Evans, lead official for National Education Union Cymru, said the medical advice had not been shared with his organisation during the talks on re-opening schools, and questioned why Ms Williams had pressed on with plans to re-open in June against the preference of the CMO.
Last weekend, the NEU had told its members on Facebook that the Welsh
Government had abandoned its plan for August schooling after pressure from them.
But Mr Evans said: “If he’s trying to blame the unions for the return of all year groups in June then that decision was made by the minister, not by us.
“His suggestion is that there is a great inherent risk going back in June than later in the year. In that case why did the minister take that decision?
“We responded to the Welsh Goverment saying our members’ preference was for a return in September, which would have put them in an even safer zone than Dr Atherton was referring to (August).
“We said if September was not available then the preferred option was to open to limited year groups – 6, 10 and 12.
“We did this after sounding out members and from responses from hundreds of them. We had only from last Friday to 4pm on Monday to respond. A very limited time.
“We were never given a copy of Dr Atherton’s advice to Kirsty Williams.
“There was a line in a document saying a chief science adviser said August would be a better date, but we did not get any further information, or the options considered. There was no line saying June was the second-best option.”
Ms Williams issued a statement on Twitter after Dr Atherton was asked what his advice had been to the Welsh Government on reopening schools, denying she had ignored scientific advice.
She said: “The decision to enable children to have some time in school ahead of the summer break puts the safety and wellbeing of learners first and foremost and is fully in line with the scientific advice.
“We also explored reopening schools later in the summer but this would have involved a complete structural change to the school year. Both approaches were fully endorsed by the Chief Medical Officer for Wales and the Wales Covid-19 Technical Advisory Group.”
She added: “We will continue to work closely with the Chief Medical Officer for Wales over the next three and a half weeks as we prepare to move into the next phase of education.”
Clwyd South Conservatives accused the Welsh Government of preferring “the advice of the unions – their biggest donors” to the advice of the nation’s Chief Medical Officer.
Suzy Davies MS, the Conservative shadow minister for education, said: “It’s a relief that an option – even the ‘secondbest one’ – was chosen, to get our young learners back to school. However, I am perhaps a little concerned that the science from the experts we’re all meant to be following doesn’t seem to have reassured the unions, who reportedly pressured the Welsh Government into backtracking from an August return.
“Unions cannot – or should not – stonewall the direction that the Welsh Government takes, and I think the Welsh people need answers as to why extending this term seems to be less of an issue than bringing forward Autumn term.”
Eithne Hughes, director of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) Cymru, said opening schools more widely in August would have meant moving the summer holidays forward to start in June, and then a very long autumn term beginning in August and running through until December.
“We did not think this was a good idea given that what children most need is a return to a semblance of normality through the familiar patterns of the school year rather than more disruption.
“Instead, we supported the alternative plan to bring back small groups of pupils beginning in late June and running through July before the summer holiday, to enable schools to check on their wellbeing and identify what support they need.
“We are assured this can be implemented in a manner which is as safe as possible, and this seems to us to be the least disruptive and most supportive solution.”
Plaid Cymru, which had been pressing for an August return for schools, welcomed the CMO’s comments, though.
The party’s shadow minister for education, Sian Gwenllian MS, said: “Plaid Cymru agree with the Chief Medical Officer and maintain the best option in balancing the health risks with mitigating the harm to many pupils of being out of education for so long would be to bring forward the summer holidays allowing the autumn term to start midAugust.
“There could then be a two- to three-week halfterm in the autumn to break up the long stretch from mid-August to Christmas.
“This would have potentially lessened the health risks for pupils and teachers because we would expect the R number to be lower by mid-August. It would also have given better continuity and stability for pupils instead of three weeks of anxiety and instability before a break then starting up all over again.”
Dr Atherton said he did not think that pupils or teachers would need to use personal protective equipment (PPE) when they reopen.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that a number of people working in education have tested positive for coronavirus since lockdown started and the majority of schools closed in March.
The latest figures, which are up to May 31, have shown that of the 440 education workers tested, 24 have tested positive and 416 have tested negative.
Since schools shut on March 20 children have been learning from home, while the children of key workers and those deemed vulnerable can go in for childcare at hub schools. Around 6,000 are currently in hub schools.
Residential and special schools have also been operating during the lockdown and are represented in the figures.
Ms Williams said a quarter of schools in Wales have been open during this period, and that they had been able to successfully manage the risks in that time.
She told the BBC yesterday: “We have been testing teachers and support staff working in our hubs and the vast majority of those tests have come back negative.
“We have had a small amount of positive tests and, of course, it is impossible to know whether that member of staff contracted the virus while being at work, or whether they contracted that virus whilst being out in their community, doing their shopping, for instance.
“What is really important is that teachers and everybody working in the hubs will be priorities for our new antibody-testing regime so we can better understand the virus. I acknowledge there are risks involved in going back, but there are risks in not doing so.”
The Education Minister also said it was about “balancing risks”.
She added: “It is about balancing risks. Balancing the risk presented by the virus, but also balancing the risks about what it means to children, the majority of whom, if we don’t go back until September, will have spent six months without stepping inside a classroom.
“We have learnt lessons, we have amended our guidance and always looked at how to make it better. It would be wrong of me to suggest to anybody that I can make an environment 100% risk free. What I can do is ensure that the decisions that we are making mitigate the risks as much as possible.
“We wouldn’t be asking people to move their children into somewhere we didn’t think was safe.”
The testing figures also show that 150 emergency services workers have tested positive, while 720 have tested negative.