Union demands assurance on covid
Scotland’s largest teaching union has demanded reassurances that changes in the covid rules will not put staff at risk as the number of cases surge following the start of term three weeks ago.
The EIS union’s national president Heather Hughes told a meeting of West Lothian Council’s Education Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel (PDSP): “Staff are concerned about changes to self isolation and contact tracing particularly our pregnant staff.”
And she called for secondary schools to vigorously enforce mask wearing as more and more pupils abandon them.
Andrew Sneddon, service manager, Education Services told the PDSP: “Schools and early learning and childcare establishments will no longer be extensively involved in supporting contact tracing. The revised approach to contact tracing means that maintaining pupils in groupings or bubbles is no longer required. Schools should continue to avoid assemblies and other large gatherings.”
Covid cases have risen dramatically in the last two weeks.
At the last PDSP meeting, head of education, James Cameron said the number of cases identified in schools since the return to the classroom on 17 August was 80 - in a school estate of 98 buildings.
Those cases had been identified in 34 of the 98. Ten cases related to staff - three to teachers.
Mr Cameron said there was no link to those cases established as being the
schools. The links that existed were sibling or family members, or where children had gathered outside school such as birthday parties or sleepovers.
Mrs Hughes said that while she was aware that mitigation measures were still in place: “I’m being told that our pregnant teachers are risk assessed and they are back in schools and they are very very concerned. Can you tell me please what we are doing to encourage more secondary school about mask wearing? I’m getting reports every day, more and more, about young people refusing to wear them even when they are asked to put them on their face, they are wearing
them on their chin.”
Mr Cameron said he was not aware of any pregnant staff being forced back into the school environment, adding that the normal channels existed for staff members to take up individual cases.
Mr Sneddon added that there was no change to the policy that existed before summer save for the fact that pregnant staff were now being advised to be vaccinated.
He added: “Pregnant staff should certainly not be forced back to work and the guidance does encourage sensitivity to mental health and wellbeing,” he added.
Catrina Hatch, interim head of
education (secondary) said: “Schools are continuing to encourage wearing of facemasks. We meet once a week with headteachers. There is constant promotion of wearing facemasks in schools through virtual assemblies.”
The mitigations which remain in place are: risk assessment; environmental cleaning; hand and respiratory hygiene; PPE in specific circumstances; face coverings in communal areas; face coverings in secondary classrooms; one-way systems; drop-off and pickup arrangements; staggered start and finish times/break and lunch times and restrictions on assemblies.