Schools must cope with rail strikes, says Zahawi

Zahawi says online classes should be last resort despite teachers struggling to get to work during rail action

Schools should not “default” to remote learning during rail strikes later this month, Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, has said. School leaders have said pupils should be braced to move to virtual classes if a “critical mass” of teachers cannot make it into work. Some head teachers have begun writing to parents to say they should keep their children at home for four days to learn remotely as they did during lockdowns.

SCHOOLS should not “default” to remote learning during rail strikes later this month, Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, has said.

School leaders have said pupils should be braced to move to virtual classes if a “critical mass” of teachers cannot make it into work.

Some head teachers have begun writing to parents to say they should keep their children at home for four days to learn remotely as they did during lockdowns.

But Mr Zahawi has urged schools to deliver “face-to-face learning” where possible, rather than “default back to going online”.

“We know that the classroom is the best place for children and young people – it is one of the biggest lessons we learnt from the pandemic,” he said.

“Children have been incredibly resilient these last few years and are bouncing back with the help of their teachers and our tutoring programme.

“It would be a crying shame if the trade unions were to prevent young people from getting back on track – both in terms of attendance and taking their exams – just to suit their political ends.”

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union will strike on June 21, 23 and 25 in what has been described as “the biggest dispute on the network since 1989”.

The first nationwide strike day will coincide with an Underground strike in London.

Steve Chalke, the founder of the multi-academy trust Oasis, which runs more than 50 schools, said: “There is bound to be disruption on any day that teaching staff and other staff can’t get into school.

“It will disturb children’s travel in some cases but it is more the staff. You reach a critical point where you can’t staff a lesson.”

He said all the pupils in his multiacademy trust have ipads, meaning “one option open to us” is for lessons to be delivered remotely during the strike days.

Mr Chalke added: “The point is that teaching is about relationships, it’s about face-to-face teaching. But remote learning may happen if the teachers can’t get in.

“If you can’t run a year group safely, you won’t open and if you can’t run a school safely, you won’t open.”

One south London school plans to close its doors for four days during the strike week. Parents have been told that 75 per cent of its staff will be affected by the strikes and those who do make it in will be supervising GCSES.

Dr Caroline Green, a human rights researcher whose daughter is at the school, said this will be “really difficult for working parents”, adding that she hopes this will not become the “new

‘We know the classroom is the best place for children. It is one of the big lessons we learnt from the pandemic’

normal” for how schools operate during a rail strike.

Nickie Aiken, the Conservative MP for Cities of London and Westminster, said that striking over exam time was “unforgivable”.

She said some parents in her constituency were making plans for their children to stay with friends who live close to school, to make sure they can travel in for GCSES and A-levels.

Ms Aiken is going to table an urgent question on Monday asking what action the Department for Education is taking to ensure students’ exams can still go ahead during the strike days.

She warned against schools defaulting to remote learning for the week, saying this has a “detrimental effect on children and young people from poorer backgrounds who may not have access to IT and may not have strong enough broadband”.