All schools have been closed since 18 March which by my count is 9 weeks. Accepted that 3 weeks of that was when the Easter holidays would have taken place, that still leaves a gap of 6 weeks of non-attendance to date.
Teachers have done their very best. Many have continued to teach and care for children of key workers who still attend schools. Others have re-jigged their teaching to help their pupils by devising distance learning programmes specifically aimed at their own classes. Yet others have been planning how schools can safely re-open as soon as possible. Teachers, thank you for all of that and probably more than I do not know about.
Now we all hear that, as its first priority the Government is planning to try and get children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 back to their primary schools at the beginning of June. So far, no news about other years except a vague mention that some children in secondary schools might have a couple of weeks back before the summer holidays.
I have repeatedly asked education experts in Government why those years are the first priority and, to be honest, I have not received a decent answer. Surely Reception and Year 1’s, at their age, will be the most difficult to control kids? They can hardly be expected to socially distance themselves from anyone. For the teachers it could be like herding nice cats. Maybe I can understand why Year 6 is a priority as those children are being prepared to make the leap from primary to secondary education.
Obviously, I am no education expert but I have telephoned and talked with local head teachers and particularly turned to my good friend Robert Straker, who was a teacher all his life. Going through with Robert the question of when and who should return to school first he was at pains to point out to me that every year at school was as important as any other. But, as an ex-head teacher of a primary school he was at a loss to understand why kids aged around 5 years old were the priority. He confirmed what I thought that it would be very difficult to control the youngest children and social distancing might be a bit of a disaster. More to the point he told me that Reception and Year 1 classes spent their time playing together and doing collaborative projects. That would certainly screw up social distancing. I am reminded that in the Netherlands and places like Finland children do not start formal education until they are seven. When I pressed him to make a priority in the primary school years, he did not choose Year 6. He said that, in his view, Year 5 was probably the crucial year.
Robert suggested year 5 because it was in this year that the main preparation and hard works was done for Standard Attainment Tests (SATs). Although taken in Year 6 these governed quite methodically how teachers approached each individual child and prepared them for secondary school. He said that right now there was little more that could be done for present Year 6 children as really, they were almost launched into their secondary schools on their performance’s pre-20 March. If more was needed about individual children then teachers’ assessments over the previous years will have to be used.
So, although I bow to the expertise of the Government’s education authorities, I simply question why they seem so stuck on Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 as a first priority, particularly as many children in these year groups have siblings in the same school.
In truth, there has not been much announced about secondary schools returning. I have to declare an interest here. We have a son who’s working at home at the moment. He’s at a pretty crucial stage – just finishing the first year of his A levels and with one year to go in secondary school. So, he is in Year 12 with Year 13 to come. As things stand it doesn’t look much like he will be going back to school, if at all before the summer holidays. So, the next significant milestone date for his education could be in early September when I hope all schools will be open again.
Looking at secondary education my friend Robert Straker again emphasised that every year was important in building up students. However, when pressed he believed that years 10 through to years 13 might have to be the most important. Years 10 and 11 were the GCSE period and teaching was not just aimed at getting children through those examinations but also determining what they took at A level. Obviously, years 12 and 13 were A level years which determine just what students might do after they leave school. Right now, students would normally be sitting their A levels but this year teachers and OFQUAL are determining what grades they might have obtained based on past performances. As this will largely determine university entrance places, I suspect teachers are bracing themselves for real objections from parents. How rotten for them!
It strikes me as odd that the Government has suggested that the youngest (perhaps the most difficult to control) children should be first priority to return to school. My inexpert thoughts are that perhaps children who were closest to adults might start first. For example, they can certainly understand social distancing and, particularly when studying for A levels, might be in quite small classes, as in the case with our son.
In my phone conversations with teachers I gather there are some other very real problems yet to be overcome. These include how to social distance (obviously), PPE protection for teachers and students, being able to have enough teachers for smaller class sizes governed by dimensions of rooms, how staggered school hours could work in practice, objections from parents and not least worries about safety from teachers. I gather that every school seems to have a different approach to thinking about how coming out of lockdown might work. If I was a head teacher, I might be hiring marquees to make extra classrooms. What fun for younger children!
I end by repeating what I have said that I am no expert on education but I am a little puzzled about why we are re-opening schools for the youngest first. Thank you again to all teachers who are doing their very best for their students. Obviously, I hope very much hope that all schools can re-open as soon as possible and in safety. Parents and most (my own?) students want that too. It was terribly easy to close down schools on 20 March but re-opening them properly and safely may be far more difficult.