Commenting on the latest Government attendance and
Covid-related data for education settings showing levels of
pupil and staff absence, Kevin
Courtney, Joint General Secretary of
the National Education Union, said:
"Covid-related absences have risen again, with 415,000 pupils
absent due to covid on 20 January including one in 16 primary
pupils. A quarter of schools now have at least 15% of teachers
and school leaders absent, causing further disruption as we move
into 2022. With coronavirus cases continuing to rise among school
age children this disruption is going to get worse over coming
weeks.
'The DfE could have avoided much of this disruption by investing
in ventilation and air filtration to suppress case numbers whilst
vaccination is rolled out and these measures would have been made
more effective by maintaining mask wearing.
'Government has said that there will be advanced information
about exam topics to help revision for those sitting exams in
summer 2022. However, the reality of on-going staff and pupil
absences due to COVID has meant education continues to be
disrupted impacting on the ability of many, through no fault of
their own, to cover all the required content. Clearly,
being told what the focus of the exam is only once revision
starts is of little use if the focus of the exam is a topic you
haven’t had chance to cover in depth.
'The additional disruption seen in today’s figures only raises
further questions about this misguided plan and fairness for
students in the summer. As government has refused to help
teachers and students prioritise teaching and learning, by
releasing the advanced information about topics earlier, they
have a duty to ensure grades in the summer will be fair and to
explain how they think that will be so.
'In primary schools, Covid disruption once again raises questions
about the usefulness of the government's plans for bringing back
SATs in May. Staff and pupil absences have interrupted learning
frequently and unevenly. SATs results will reflect this and will
be even less of a fair measure of children's performance than
they were before the pandemic, though schools will still be held
to account for their scores. The government should recognise the
problem and cancel statutory assessment in primary schools in
2022."
