Teachers may get reprieve on isolation as Australian Education Union SA considers strike

A special category of being a Covid-19 contact may be established for teachers so they don’t have to undergo rolling isolation, the Education Minister has indicated.

Special consideration will be given to teachers who come into contact with a positive Covid-19 case so they don’t have to isolate from their family, the state government says.

Details are still being worked out but Education Minister John Gardner on Tuesday outlined a different position from the back-to-school plan announced last Friday.

“I can absolutely assure you that by the end of the week there will be a great deal of clarity around the management of positive cases in the classroom,” Mr Gardner said.

“I’m very confident that will be well received by educators.

“We are not asking them to isolate at home while they are teaching at school, that’s just not the way we are going forward in the context of a ‘classroom contact’.”

Mr Gardner and Premier Steven Marshall met representatives of the Australian Education Union (AEU) SA on Tuesday, following the union executive initiating a vote by members on whether to strike because of safety concerns over the new Covid-19 rules.

However, the teachers’ union said after the meeting it was still not satisfied and would continue with the vote on taking strike action.

“Today’s meeting gave AEU SA leadership no comfort that the Government or the

Education Department can provide a safe working environment for students and staff,” Mr Gohl said in a statement.

The strike would be held on the first day of term, Wednesday February 2.

Mr Gohl said the government must address a Covid-19 safety plan compiled by the union.

Teachers who come into contact with a positive Covid-19 case may not have to isolate from their family after all. Picture: Generic

If not, the union executive called on teachers to vote for a strike with a ballot of members to run until Monday next week.

“The plan calls for clear and detailed advice for schools,” Mr Gohl said.

“For example, the government has said rapid antigen tests (RATs) will be used but they haven’t said whether these will be needed daily or done randomly and who would conduct them or supply them.

“They haven’t released the results of the audits on ventilation in classrooms nor the report on tests of using air purifiers.”

On Friday, in an announcement by Mr Marshall, Mr Gardner and Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier, teachers were told they would have to isolate outside school for set periods if they were in close contact with an infected student, fellow teacher or someone else.

“As a critical worker close contact, when you’re not doing your work you will need to have that quarantine period,” Professor Spurrier said then.

Education Minister John Gardner speaks to media at a press conference in Adelaide. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Emma Brasier

She added that as teachers would be required to wear masks their risks of being a close contact would be lower but noted “teachers come into contact with other people at the school - so other teachers and ancillary staff - and so they’ll still have that close contact definition for being indoors, more than 15 minutes, no masks, close proximity, just the same as we would in other workplaces”.

This led to union concern teachers would be forced into rolling periods of isolation under the back-to-school rules announced by the state government last week.

The rules first say that if a student in a class has Covid-19 they must not go to school.

Teachers and classmates who were in close contact with that student should continue to attend classes as usual unless they also become ill.

Mr Gohl said teachers could be forced into successive periods of isolation as different students caught the disease.

“So for weeks they go to work but can’t see their own family at home. It’s absurd,” he said.

The Independent Education Union is also seeking a meeting with Mr Marshall.

The plans to reduce staff absenteeism were “unworkable” secretary Glen Seidel said.

The rules say that if a student in a class has Covid-19 they must not go to school. Picture: Generic

Schools are due to start on February 2 with a staggered system.

Students in reception and years 1, 7, 8 and 12 will be on campus while all other years will have online lessons.

Premier Steven Marshall said it was “too early” for teachers to think about a strike.

“We still haven’t finalised exactly what that return-to-work strategy is going to look like,” he said.

SA was still working with the national cabinet on the use of RATs, with more information due on Thursday, he said.

Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas said he did not endorse teachers going on strike but it would never have come to this if the government had planned properly.

“I feel for the teachers, the rules are just not practical,” Mr Malinauskas said.

“But I don’t want to see our teachers strike.”

Opposition education spokesman Blair Boyer said the ALP wasn’t in a position to announce a policy alternative but had made many suggestions last year on ventilation and other measures which had been ignored.

The Opposition did call for pop-up vaccination clinics at primary schools to lift the rate in the 5-11 age group where SA lagged the nation.