Students REFUSE to wear face masks in class or take tests

More than a third of schools have at least one in 10 teachers absent due to Covid reasons, as some students refuse to wear masks in class or take tests, unions revealed today.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Headteachers, said schools so far are largely managing staff absences well, but that education chiefs have warned of trickier times ahead.

A survey by the union found one in three school leaders are experiencing staff absence levels of over 10% as a result of soaring Omicron cases.

A majority (95%) have at least some pupils off for Covid-related reasons at the start of term – and 29% said they had more than 10% of their students absent.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi has admitted that staff absences are likely to rise in schools in the weeks ahead, amid warnings that heads should prepare for as many as one in four absences. 

Mr Whiteman told BBC Radio Four’s Today programme: ‘Our members are doing everything they possibly can to keep the show on the road and to make sure face-to-face education continues. 

‘Our survey of 2,000 school leaders this week tells us more than a third have 10% or more of their staff away for Covid reasons at the moment, but they’re managing that reasonably well, with only 7% of those having to collapse classes into larger classes, and just 4% sending children home. 

‘That’s on absence rates of about 10%, and the government is warning everybody to expect absence rates of about 25%, so it’s going to be incredibly difficult. 

‘But yet again what we can see is school leaders and their teams stepping up and rising to the challenge.’

The findings came as pupils are returning to class this week after the Christmas break, with new advice for secondary school and college students in England to wear face coverings in classrooms.

However, a number of children are refusing to do so, according to another education union.

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The findings came as pupils are returning to class this week after the Christmas break, with new advice for secondary school and college students in England to wear face coverings in classrooms. However, a number of children are refusing to do so, according to another education union

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Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Headteachers, said schools so far are largely managing staff absences well, but that education chiefs have warned of trickier times ahead

Damien McNulty, a national executive member of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), told the BBC just 5% of pupils a one school agreed to take a lateral flow test at the start of the term and wear a mask.

‘Sadly, we have had reports in the last 24 hours of at least six secondary schools in the north-west of England where children, in huge numbers, are refusing to take lateral flow tests or to wear masks,’ he said.

‘We’ve got one school in Lancashire where only 67 children out of 1,300 are prepared to have a lateral flow test and wear masks. This is a public health emergency.’

NAHT chief Mr Whiteman also called for an easing of pressures from government and Ofsted with regards to inspections while schools deal with staff shortages.

‘One of the things we need from government is a clear statement, that there’ll be a clear permissive approach from them in empowering school leaders to make these decisions,’ he said. 

‘[That could be] redeploying staff to different classrooms, having non-subject-specialists in front of classes if need be and removing those unnecessary pressures of inspection and assessment tests. 

‘Measuring schools in the normal way just isn’t appropriate and they still have all of those pressures right now, when down to very limited staffing.’

It comes after MPs yesterday urged ministers to ‘get a grip’ on the teaching unions and stop them putting children in a ‘pandemic straitjacket’ after members were told to dismiss Government guidance and impose their own stricter rules.

The National Education Union has urged headteachers not to combine classes if there are staff absences – despite Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi telling them to, it has emerged.

Government guidance also states that pupils should only stay home if they have tested positive for Covid or have symptoms.

But union chiefs have told teachers to extend this to students who have a family member who is ill with the virus. These children can only return when they have received a negative PCR result. 

The NEU’s document is backed by the National Association of Schoolmasters as well as Unite, GMB and Unison, who also represent teachers and staff.

Prominent Tory backbencher Andrew Bridgen, who represents North West Leicestershire, said: ‘Who is speaking up for the children? Nadhim Zahawi needs to get a grip and have a strong word with the unions and remind them that they are working in public service.’

Liz Cole of the parent campaign group UsForThem told the Telegraph: ‘It’s incredible to see these unions suggest something that goes so far beyond what the Government has required for schools. This is desperately unfair to children and plunges them back into a pandemic straitjacket.’

Conservative MP Steve Brine, a Tory MP said: ‘This is the drip, drip of getting some people to the place they always wanted to be and it’s the children who lose out. As we are seeing with schools and we’ve seen throughout other areas, it’s not the law and the rules which do the damage, it’s the signals sent. Ministers give an inch and a mile is taken.’ 

The Department for Education (DfE) suggested ‘combining classes’, and said teachers infected with Covid could ‘deliver lessons from home’, which are then streamed to pupils in supervised classrooms.

But a NEU briefing document seen says that this should not happen because it will ‘increase virus transmission’ and teachers should not be ‘routinely expected’ to teach classes, other than their own.

The document says: ‘Cover is not an effective use of a teacher’s time and collapsing/combining classes is not only cover, but increasing the numbers of pupils in classrooms, or having large numbers of pupils in halls, will also only serve to increase transmission of the virus.’ 

On Sunday, an email from the DfE advised headteachers that they may wish to use existing teaching, temporary and support staff ‘more flexibly’ where required to ensure schools remain open amid staffing issues.

It added: ‘As pupils do not need to be kept in consistent groups, you may wish to consider combining classes.’

Pupils are returning to class this week, with new advice for secondary school pupils in England to wear face masks in lessons due to a rise in Covid-19 cases.

Secondary school and college students are also being encouraged to test on site before returning to class.

Ian Bauckham, the chair of Ofqual, has suggested that schools may need to suspend ‘specialist’ subjects like music to cope with staff absences.

In a case study posted on a DfE portal for heads, Mr Bauckham added that two or more classes could be ‘combined and taught by a single teacher’ in a larger space as an alternative to remote learning in the event of high staff absences.

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The Department for Education (DfE) had told headteachers they may want to consider ‘combining classes’ in the event of staff shortages to keep face-to-face teaching in place. Pictured: Year 10 students wear face masks in lessons at Park Lane Academy in Halifax

He wrote: ‘Where pupils in a year group are in any case in contact with each other in different classes for different subjects, or in informal social time, then it should not be a concern to bring classes together as envisaged here.’

But the coalition of education unions says measures to ‘minimise mixing’ – such as keeping groups as consistent as possible – should be reintroduced in schools, and whole year group assemblies should be avoided.

A spokeswoman for the NEU said: ‘There are established ways of coping when teachers are absent. These include employing supply staff and for shorter periods asking HLTAs (higher level teaching assistants) to take classes.

‘All of these routes must be exhausted before there is any consideration of mixing classes. There are clear risks with combining classes leading to more mixing, more spread of the virus and therefore more disruption.

‘Practically this is also not a solution open to all schools. England has one of the most overcrowded school sites in the developed world. There is simply not the space in many school buildings to combine classes.

‘Education staff are already in greater danger of being infected by Covid-19 than any other profession.

‘Government should be doing everything it can to suppress Covid-19 transmission in schools, not making recommendations which are likely to lead to greater spread of the virus and more education disruption.’

A DfE spokeswoman said: ‘It is our priority to retain face-to-face learning and the benefits it brings pupils.

‘We understand that some schools and colleges might find it difficult to run their usual timetable if high numbers of staff are absent, which is why we are supporting schools to put in place appropriate contingency measures.

‘It would be for individual schools to consider if it was appropriate to merge classes, but we’re clear face-to-face learning is the priority.’

 

Unions could CRIPPLE Britain with new Covid rules: Staff told they can take 28 days off WITHOUT sick note under latest measures to help vaccine rollout

Unions are telling public sector workers they can now take 28 days off work without a sick note as a result of new Covid rules. 

There are fears the new rule, which was introduced so GPs were free to administer vaccines, will be abused by workers looking to stay home.

Public sector union Unison told its members: ‘The UK Government has made a temporary change to the provision of ‘fit notes’ until January 27 2022.

‘If you go off sick on or after December 10 2021, employers can only ask employees for proof of sickness (such as a fit note) after 28 days of sickness (including non-working days).’

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Unions are telling public sector workers they can now take 28 days off work without a sick note as a result of new Covid rules. Pictured: A deserted Waterloo Station at 8.15am Tuesday

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MPs have urged the Government to reverse the rule over concerns it could be abused at a time when the UK is facing staffing crisis. Pictured: Overflowing bins in the Walton area of Liverpool

Circulating the update to its 1.4million members, it added that ‘proof of sickness cannot be requested earlier than 28 days’.

Before the rule change, anyone who needed to stay off work with an illness for more than a week was required to produce a sick note from their GP. 

The rule change has come when the Government is also introducing changes to testing and isolation rules.

From January 11 anyone who tests positive for Covid using a lateral flow test at home will not need to take a PCR test to confirm the result.

MPs have called for the Government to reverse the rule over fears it could cripple the country if more people are allowed to stay home from work, according to the Telegraph.

Around 1.3million Britons are currently thought to be languishing under house arrest as the NHS, rail services and bin collections all buckle under the weight of staff absences.

With 183,000 Brits being sent into isolation every day on average, the situation is expected to get worse before it gets better.

There are growing calls from experts, businesses and even NHS leaders themselves to cut self-isolation to five days to avoid paralysing the economy and disrupting vital services.

Train services and bin collections are also grinding to a halt as the virus spreads, while schools are warning that they may not have enough teachers in work to run their normal timetables. 

Brendan Clarke-Smith, a Conservative MP on the education select committee, told the Telegraph he believed the rule was ‘open to abuse’ particularly in sectors ‘where we can’t really afford for that to happen’.

He added: ‘There is a debate to be had about the 28 days – that is quite a long period for someone to be off for, and in terms of what that will do to the workforce.

Sir John Hayes, a Conservative MP and former minister, told the paper: ‘That may have been necessary during the period where we were getting the booster out quickly, but we certainly need to review it as soon as possible.’

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Pictured: NHS trusts across England have declared ‘critical incidents’ indicating that they may be unable to deliver vital care to patients in the coming weeks due to the staffing crisis

More than 20 NHS trusts have now declared a ‘critical incident’ amid staggering staffing shortages caused by the rapid spread of Omicron, as medics called for infection control rules to be loosened to increase capacity.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesperson said more than 20 of England’s 137 trusts — 15 per cent of the entire health service — have signalled they may not be able to deliver vital care in the coming weeks.

But the spokesperson stressed the alert level is ‘not a good indicator’ of the pressures the health service was under because it only provides a snapshot in time.

Hospitals have cancelled operations and the Prime Minister yesterday revealed plans are being drawn up to call in the Army if the crisis continues to worsen.

Some non-urgent operations at 17 hospitals across Greater Manchester was called off, as health chiefs said 15 per cent of their staff were stuck at home with Covid.

Unison said it was only circulating rules that the Government had introduced to ensure its members were aware of the change in legislation.

Jon Richards, the assistant general secretary of Unison, said: ‘These temporary rules were of the Government’s making to relieve pressure on GPs.

‘Public sector employees have been keeping essential services running throughout the pandemic.

‘Most have had no option to work from home, putting them at higher risk of illness as they continue to go into their workplaces.

‘Woeful levels of sick pay mean many public sector staff would rather not be off work.’

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