Next week, we go back to school in England. My teenagers will return and I will go back to work as a science technician.
Am I happy and confident that this will all work out? No, not really. Will we all be going to school? Yes.
The government says we’ll be safe. They claim that the virus won’t be a problem. They also tell us we don’t need to wear masks, that children won’t need to stay 2m apart. The children will be in “bubbles”. They gloss over the fact that some of these bubbles will include whole year groups, 100s of people. Our household combines 3 schools. I work in one school, my teenagers go to two further schools. We are not the only family with feet in more than one school.
The Guardian tells me that the chief medical officers say they are “confident the evidence showed an exceptionally small risk of children of primary or secondary school age dying from Covid-19.”
They do not say children cannot get ill or suffer long-term side effects. They don’t mention staff. Are sixth formers more like 5 year olds than young adults when it comes to this virus?
This Prime Minister thinks that repeating something frequently, will make it true. He does not provide evidence that it is safe, nor will he issue measures to ensure safety. He will not convince everyone. It has been the same with so much during this government’s tenure. Repeating the mantra that our Test & Trace system is “world beating” has not made it so.
On balance, I will be sending my teenagers back. They want to go. They need the social interaction. They need to be in their classrooms with a teacher. On balance, the risk to their education is probably greater than the risks to them from coronavirus.
But not everyone will return. Some of our young people will be unable to return due to health issues (their own or in their immediate family). Other families will pivot in favour of keeping their youngsters away for all sorts of other reasons. Some will simply be afraid.
It is likely – ask almost anyone working with young people in an educational setting – that those children who have been left furthest behind during the school closure, will be amongst those least likely to return.
As ever, this government is just making grand statements. They say it is our moral duty to get children back into education. They tell schools they must open, but they do not say how. They will not tell schools what contingency plans they should make in the event an outbreak. They bury their heads in the sand and tell us schools are safe.
They will blame others. If schools ask how they should ensure safety, the government will claim that our teachers are lazy and don’t put children first. School leaders will be accused of dragging their feet. So, schools will do what they have been doing for so long now. They will cope, they will open, they will do the best they can. If it goes well, the government will take the credit. If it all goes wrong, be sure that the government will be first and loudest blaming schools.
The one thing we can be sure of in all this – whatever happens, it won’t be the government that takes responsibility when things go wrong.
* Helen Pemberton joined the Liberal Democrats in January 2020. She is an activist in Cheltenham and hopes to stand for election to the Council.
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4 Comments
I work part time for Social Services and was out in the Community late last night, working with the Police and Ambulance Services,.so am used to dealing with potential crisis in this sort of situation, so try to keep a balance on all this..
Teenagers have been in school throughout this period , have they not, those of essential workers. My two grand children at Primary have been back since 1st June. Teachers have been working, looking after them. I have no great concerns on that score.
My worry is the teenagers and those in their early twenties, who seem to have completely lost the Social distancing habit. On Monday night outside the local Sainsbury’s there was a group of 16 -17 years, in a close cluster, very close cluster, a dozen or so, shouting at each other, with no regard for other people, let alone their parents or grandparents. I went and spoke to them, mask on, three meters away. They looked astonished. Mind you the sight of me without a mask is enough to induce that reaction! I asked them if they had elder relatives and did they want to kill them. I then went into Sainsburys and watched.. It did have the effect, they dispersed and not in close clusters. Staff at the schools will have to be firm.
As I understand it the existing scientific papers etc pre-Covid did not recommend school closures in a pandemic.
Denmark reopened their schools in April after having one of the shortest shutdown periods anywhere. Holland reopened their schools avoiding social distancing for young children. Neither appear to have any reason to regret reopening so surely we can look at how they managed it.
It is not necessary for there to be no risk at all but instead we need to compare the risks to the risks that children and young people already face – there are other existing illnesses that pose a greater threat. As a society we have got to get better at assessing and balancing risks and downsides of any action.
Three of my four grandchildren, all of whom are under eight, are of school age. Sadly, only one, in Manchester, has received what might pass for normal schooling since the lockdown. My seven year old grandson, her elder brother, who has had one morning ‘get together’ all this time, has really suffered, although he has kept in touch with his friends largely via FaceTime. Granted, he has received ‘homework’ on a fairly regular basis, which his poor mum and dad have struggled to get through with him; but it’s clearly not the same as the real thing. My granddaughter here in Lincolnshire, in Year One, has been in school as both of her parents, are classed as ‘key workers’, has been in school on average twice a week, although what she appears to have been doing would be more like play school. As for ‘homework’, what homework?
So I reckon that going back to what will pass for ‘full time education’ For the foreseeable future is absolutely essential, regardless of the risk. What has annoyed me more has been the attitude of many schools to what has proved to be one of the greatest peacetime emergencies for our education service. Some Heads, teachers and Teachers’ Unions have hardly covered themselves with glory during this time, and I speak as a former teacher and one time extremely active Trade Unionist. While some have gone the extra mile, some clearly have not and I know that their standing amongst many people in the community has suffered in the process.
It was summed up for me a few weeks ago by a TV interview with a young English holidaymaker in Spain. When asked whether having to quarantine, and possibly lose money, when she returned to the UK, she replied, with a smile; “No, that’s OK as I’m a teacher”.
You know, in some ways, it’s a pity that teachers didn’t have a pay cut like many furloughed workers did. (Howls of protest from teachers?). At least they might then have been able to have demonstrated that we were indeed “all in it together”!
Circumstances alter cases so a blanket proposal will not be the right answer for everyone.
My 6 year old grandson lives with us, his grandparents, and his parents are worried for him and themselves as asthma sufferers and for us as ‘old’ people.
We all agree that he needs to be back in school but would be much happier if facemasks were compulsory and that is with experience of him being quite content wearing his for hours on a rare occasion.
Open windows, facemasks would, if added to the mix, make us much happier.