‘Ridiculous’ explanation for U-turn on school closures blasted by councillor
Headteachers also left frustrated by ‘ignoring of facts and expert opinions’
EDUCATION leaders have slammed the government over their handling of school closures, accusing them of not following expert advice and as a result constantly changing their minds on policy.
The criticism follows the prime minister announcing on Monday (January 4) that schools will once again be closed for face to face lear ning to all but key worker and vulnerable children. Boris Johnson said he had taken the decision as children were ‘vectors in the spread of the virus’.
The announcement follows on from the prime minister i nsisting j ust 24 hours earlier t hat schools were safe and that primary school parents should send their children to school.
Park Community School headteacher Chris Anders said: ‘We all now know that if a minister or the prime minister says something one day, it could be dif ferent the next day, especially when all the evidence suggests they are ignoring facts and expert opinions.’
While accepting the necessity of lockdown, Portsmouth City Council’s cabinet member for education Cllr Suzy Horton slammed the explanation of the U-turn as ‘ridiculous’.
Cllr Horton said: ‘ There needed to be a clear decision made based on infection levels, to prevent the confusion being experienced at a local l evel. However what I do find ridiculous is the explanation of schools being a “vector for transmission" just 12 hours after saying schools were safe.
‘I can’t see how they didn’t have t his i nfor mation on Sunday.’
After being infor med just 24 hours before the end of term that schools would need to roll out mass testing programmes, headteachers have been left frustrated after schools had invested considerable ti me putting measures in place to implement the programme.
Mr Anders added: ‘It’s frustrating that yesterday we were planning for testing all children and now we are planning online lear ning for several weeks rather than just one or two. It’s not sur prising since
If the prime minister says something one day, it could be different the next day. Park Community School headteacher Chris Anders
it seems the gover nment’s view at any particular time is not to be relied on for any future period.’
It was a sentiment shared by Horndean Technology College headteacher,
Julie Summerfield who said: ‘We’ve spent the last few days putting plans in place to test all staff and children and this has now gone out of the window.
‘Unlike last March t he gover nment is now insisting that all online lear ning is live and the biggest challenge I now have is being able to staf f this while at the same time being able to provide face-to-face
lear ning for key worker and vulnerable children.’
With post-16 education also having to close, Portsmouth College principal Simon Barrable described the closures as ‘sad but inevitable’.
With t he vast majority of children now to be taught online, educationalists have also been left frustrated the shift in stance comes just weeks after local schools were ordered by the Department for Education (DfE) to reverse a decision to of fer remote lear ning in the last week of ter m to help reduce rising levels of transmission in schools. Some local authorities were even threatened with legal action if schools weren’t ‘fully open’.
With other previous U-turns on free school meal provision and exam grading, the leader of Portsmouth City Council, Gerald Ver nonJackson, believes last night’s announcement should spell the end for education secretary Gavin Williamson.
Cllr Ver non-Jackson said: ‘ There has been so much indecision and so many U-tur ns that the secretary of state for education needs to go. The way he has flipflopped around with decisions is no good for anyone and has caused a lot of stress for parents and schools – everyone deserves better.’
Concerns over the transmission of the virus led to the National Education Union advising it’s members not to go into work if t hey felt unsafe. Following the announcement the NEU’s president and Portsmouth teacher, Amanda Martin, accused
Mr Williamson of ‘burying his head in the sand’.
Ms Martin said: ‘ Gavin Williamson has become an expert i n putting his head in the sand – ignoring the mounting evidence of Covid-19 transmission in schools to education professionals and into pupils’ households. SAGE told ministers on 22 December that even a lockdown of the same severity as last spring would not be enough to reduce the R rate below 1.
‘It’s incomprehensible that, with this infor mation, t he prime minister even yesterday continued to declare that schools were safe. These are not the words of a leader who is ‘following the science’.
Defending the change in policy, Cabinet Office member Michael Gove said they ‘had to act’ after the gover nment’s chief medical officers raised the Covid alert to level 5 – meaning the capacity of the NHS to cope could be overwhelmed.
Mr Gove said: ‘ Under these circumstances all we could do was close the remaining primary schools which were open. We wanted to keep schools open as we know how important education is but the message from the chief medical of ficer was clear and therefore with a heavy heart but with clear evidence we had to act.’
One day, the country is told one thing. The next, the government sends out a completely different message. On Sunday, Boris Johnson told parents to send their children to school on January 4 only to tell them 24 hours later that schools would be closed for six weeks.
It’s another U-turn which has rightly upset many families across the country and unsurprisingly angered teachers and education staff.
The government wanted to keep schools open as it is a priority for young people to stay in education. However, teachers have been at the forefront of this pandemic with little support, highlighted by the fact that they are not being prioritised in the roll-out of the two Covid vaccines.
Portsmouth City Council’s cabinet member for education Councillor Suzy Horton attacked the reasoning behind the U-turn as ‘ridiculous’.
Cllr Horton said: ‘There needed to be a clear decision made based on infection levels to prevent the confusion being experienced at a local level. However what I do find ridiculous is the explanation of schools being a “vector for transmission" just 12 hours after saying schools were safe. I can’t see how they didn’t have this information on Sunday.’
The government wanted to roll out a mass testing programme in schools which seemed unfeasible when teachers already have so much on their plates.
It is, therefore, easy to understand the frustration of education officials and teachers who are exasperated at the lack of guidance. Horndean Technology College headteacher Julie Summerfield said: ‘We’ve spent the last few days putting plans in place to test all staff and children and this has now gone out of the window.’
With schools now closed until the end of February, let's hope we can get on top of the virus and send our children back to be educated.