Trade unions representing most of England’s school and college
leaders have written
jointly to Education Secretary calling on him to reconsider
the decision to withdraw free Covid testing from pupils and
staff.
Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and
College Leaders (ASCL), and Paul Whiteman, General Secretary of
the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), say many school
leaders are reporting that disruption caused by Covid is greater
than at any previous point during the pandemic and that it is
increasingly difficult for leaders to keep their schools open.
“In the face of this extensive and ongoing disruption, the
government’s decision to remove free access to symptomatic and
asymptomatic testing for almost all pupils and staff feels
reckless in the extreme,” they write.
They also call on Mr Zahawi to rethink the decision to publish
school performance tables based on this summer’s exam results,
and the decision to share Key Stage 2 SATs results with Ofsted.
“Refusing to recognise the impact on leaders, teachers, schools
and communities of publishing inaccurate and meaningless data on
school performance adds to the extreme stress under which
education staff have been operating for more than two years now,
and will exacerbate the recruitment and retention crisis that has
been building for several years. Many members are telling us that
this is the final straw which is leading them to step down from
school or college leadership,” they say.
ASCL General Secretary Geoff Barton said: “We have written to the
Education Secretary because school and college leaders
increasingly feel abandoned by a government which does not seem
to care that Covid is causing chaos in education settings and
that the first public exams in three years are just weeks away.”
NAHT General Secretary Paul Whiteman said: “We have repeatedly
warned the government that education is at breaking point. We
hear sympathetic words and acknowledgement of the great work our
members do but see little actual action to bring relief to the
chaos. As children’s education continues to suffer, and as the
physical and mental health of the school community continues to
be at risk, we cannot wait for support any longer. We need a
proper plan for how to live with Covid long-term that is focused
on keeping levels low and reducing disruption, rather than just
ignoring it.”
Messages from school leaders describe an increasingly fraught
situation. They include:
- “Covid 19 has created the longest staff absence list I can
remember in over 25 years of teaching. In our department, Covid
has hit many staff; we have had between 3 and 5 teachers out of
school every day for the past month due to Covid 19, many for
significant periods of time. The school is now receiving
complaints about staff absence and year groups being sent home. I
can see why they are frustrated. The government has peddled the
narrative that the pandemic is effectively over, and everything
is back to normal – and there is barely any coverage in
the media of how Covid rates have hit schools.”
- “Since Christmas, 342 of our 800 pupils have been absent
having tested positive for Covid – including 64 of our 150 Year
11 pupils. I have also had 25 of our 51 teachers absent with
Covid.”
- “In our one-form entry primary school, we've had 55
confirmed cases of Covid in the last two weeks. Staff
absence was at 40% for two weeks (45% of teachers and
TAs absent), most of it Covid related and most staff too unwell
to work from home. There were no suitable supply
teachers. I had to make the difficult decision to move to
remote learning for 5 classes at different stages in the last two
weeks. Although the situation is now starting to improve,
it's still ongoing. Staff and children are still
absent. Some of those who have had Covid previously are
still not 100%.”
- “My senior team and myself are covering 3/4 classes in
the gym together daily and we have also had to ask year
groups to learn from home on a rotation over the last week
just so we can get by. Whilst some staff have had mild
symptoms some are getting very ill and I find this such a worry.”
