Jess Casey: The government needs to be clear in its message about schools
I’ve spent the last week interviewing principals about their back-to-school preparations. I’ve really enjoyed talking to them about their schools, peaking curiously at the photographs taken on site of stripped-back classrooms and perspex screens.
How the schools will reopen has been the big question since they switched to remote learning overnight, almost six months ago at this stage.
It's been interesting to hear how each different school is implementing its safety measures, between electrostatic cleaning and saying no to a blitz of ‘curriculum catch-up’.
But it's important to point out that for every principal that has agreed to be interviewed about how they are getting on, another has politely declined the offer. Some are just too busy, others are not as ready as they’d hope to be.
Nervously, they’ve told me they are maybe not quite as far along as they anticipated, or that they’ve hit roadblocks along the way in terms of space in their classrooms or on their campus.
I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to a group as under pressure as school principals at the moment. Nobody wants to be the school that can't reopen, so they are exhausting every measure possible in order to do so.
Every small thing that needs to be addressed or changed is, in a way, actually a very big deal at the moment, according to Alan Mongey of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD), because it might affect bringing back entire year groups.
Then to add to all of this, the issue of schools reopening has been politicised.
Schools must reopen, the Government has sworn repeatedly; no ifs, buts or maybes.
But the chinks in the armour of the Irish education system - decades of underinvestment, crowded classrooms, and a system of housing schools in temporary accommodation for years while the planning process trundles along - are not the fault of principals.
Nor are they the fault of teachers. Teachers who have real, genuine concerns about returning to their workplaces next week, who feel they cannot speak out for fear of being accused of being lazy or petulant.
Teachers who still have questions about why they can’t watch a club match outside but can teach a class of 28 kids in the same room all day. Teachers who are worried about their families, their friends, and their students.
It goes without saying that the faults in the system are not the responsibility of staff members who play a part in a school community, like special needs assistants (SNAs), school secretaries, and caretakers.
Certainly not the fault of students or parents, who may have questions outstanding still about returning to the classroom, and schools don’t have the answers yet.
What they need is clear, concise reassurance from the Government. What they’ve been given over the course of this week is garbled, bewildering instructions and roundabout answers to straight questions.
In an interview with Virgin Media’s Zara King, Stephen Donnelly, the Minister for Health, compared the risks associated with Covid-19, with driving or bouncing on a trampoline. Needless to say, neither of these things are comparable with Covid-19; no one has passed on an incurable, deadly virus to their granny after bouncing on a trampoline.
💬“There's things we do in life that inherently carry a risk & we’ve got to manage that risk… that’s what the measures are about”
— Virgin Media News (@VirginMediaNews) August 19, 2020
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has defended the new COVID-19 restrictions & the decision to reopen schools@ZaraKing | #VMNews | @DonnellyStephen pic.twitter.com/IHTeepkPGM
Driving in a car does not run the risk of overwhelming and collapsing the health service. On Thursday, the Taoiseach was confronted by a teacher over the "criminal" unsafe plan to return all children at the same time. But the message from the day remained the same - "We’re going ahead with the school openings."
From next week, almost a million children and young people and their teachers will return to school during a global pandemic.
If you substituted any other profession into that sentence, how would you feel about that? But the emerging evidence to date indicates that if done correctly and the conditions are right, reopening schools and keeping them open can be done relatively safely. It is not risk-free; sadly, there is no such thing as a risk-free environment anymore until we have a cure or vaccination for Covid-19.
A combination of physical distancing, a strong emphasis on hygiene, low community transmission, and limited mixing between classes seem to be the best approach.
Effective contact tracing and rapid testing are also key. Then on the other hand, evidence also shows that extended school closures can have terrible effects on children and young people, and in particular on those who are disadvantaged or marginalised.
It is possible to both excited about returning to a classroom and, at the same time, have concerns. In fact, it's probably natural. So instead of focusing on 'must' and 'have to' there needs to be a focus on how and why.
The Government needs to come out and say very plainly that Irish education has utterly changed for the foreseeable future.
They need to tell concerned students, teachers, and parents that the old idea of a classroom is gone, that schools have completely transformed due to stringent public health guidelines.
It might be uncomfortable to think about but partial school closures as precautionary measures will probably become a way of life until there is a vaccine.
Scotland has seen a string of coronavirus cases confirmed among pupils and staff since schools reopened, although at this point, it's not thought that they picked up the virus at school.
So instead of flippantly mentioning there "almost inevitably" will be outbreaks linked to schools, they should be telling us clearly what the national procedure is and what will happen if there is one. Instead of saying they appreciate people are concerned, they need to address those worries.
They should be able to say: "Look, here is the national plan for blended learning because there's a good chance students will have to switch to it from time to time.
"Here is the plan for at-risk students, or the children of at-risk parents. Parents, we are working on tackling workplace culture so that you don’t have to fear losing a day's pay in case you need to keep your child home when they have a sniffle. Teachers and principals, we have rapid covid testing in place for you so you don't have to spend days isolating.”
Ideally, this would all be said by the Minister for Education.
Above all else, the Government needs to be straight with people and tell them: "We know it is risky to reopen schools, but we feel its too important not to. We can't rely on remote learning completely because we have problems with broadband.
"Its also not an equitable solution for the children most affected by school closures - but we are working to improve that. We will develop a hybrid approach to learning.
"We will closely monitor how schools are doing and make sure quick action is taken when needed so that everyone stays safe."
There's been such a focus on the issue of reopening, and the associated costs, that the massive effort it will take to keep schools open has been slightly neglected. Schools are going to need constant support and quick action from Government in the coming months, and not just in August and September.
