Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan answers your questions
The Federal Government wants all states and territories to commit to having teachers back in the classroom teaching all year levels by the end of May, to avoid an “education divide”. Education Minister Dan Tehan answers readers’ questions.
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All schools across Australia will be officially back for term two within days, and the message from the Federal Government is clear – it’s time for students to go back to their classrooms.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said top medical advisors had declared classrooms posed no risk of spreading coronavirus, and that the risk for teachers was “not in the classroom – their risk is in the staff room”.
Medical evidence also showed students were not required to keep 1.5m from each other when studying in class, Mr Morrison said.
“The four square metre rule and the 1.5m distancing between students during classroom activities, is not appropriate and not required,” he said. “I can’t be more clear than that.”
Each state has adopted a different approach to schooling in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. Some have opted for total online learning, while others are combining this with face-to-face classroom teaching.
Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan said parents and teachers would be reassured that the community risk from children returning to the classroom was low.
“The risk remains from adult-to-adult transmission, so schools should limit contact between teachers and parents, allow older and vulnerable teachers to work from home and follow the advice from the AHPPC (Australian Health Protection Principal Committee) when it comes to schools,” he said.
Mr Tehan was online today to answer your questions. Here’s what he had to say.
Q. The whole message regarding sending kids to schools is confusing, how can Australia get some uniformity in these messages, especially at a time when we have this Pandemic. There needs to be someone to make the final decision, who is that person?
A. One of the things that this pandemic has done is put a spotlight on how our federation works. One of the great initiatives of the pandemic has been the National Cabinet which has worked to provide national consistency on a range of policies and approaches. On the issue of schools, states and territories have ultimate jurisdictional responsibility and although National Cabinet has put in place a set of national principles we’ve seen different states and territories take different positions. As the Federal Government, we’ve been providing nationally consistent advice throughout this pandemic to state and territory governments. This advice has said consistently it is safe for schools to be open. It is why we have asked all states and territories to commit to have teachers back in the classroom teaching all year levels by the end of May. We are doing this because we don’t want the education divide in Australia to grow during this pandemic and we don’t want parents to have to choose between going to work or staying at home to help educate their children.
Q. Have any prep, primary or secondary school students transmitted or contracted the COVID-19 virus while at school in Australia ?
A. The expert health and medical advice of Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Brendan Murphy, and the AHPPC has been consistent – that we don’t have evidence of significant infection in children, and, more importantly, we are not seeing evidence of significant transmission among children in schools. As Professor Murphy said last Friday: “Most children who have contracted the virus in Australia have contracted it in the family home. They have not contracted it in the school environment.” The National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, has recently published the following report about COVID-19 in NSW Schools. The preliminary finding is that the spread of COVID-19 within NSW schools has been very limited. The report can be found here. There have been limited cases of COVID-19 recorded in schools involving students and teachers, and those schools have taken appropriate steps in response, in co-ordination with local state and territory health authorities. The AHPPC has also provided advice for school leaders for engaging with children, parents, teachers and support staff to reduce even further the relatively low risk of COVID-19 transmission in schools. See here.
Q. What experts say that social distancing isn’t needed in schools? please quote a study.
A. The Lancet recently published the findings of a systematic review of the effectiveness of school closures during coronavirus pandemic outbreaks. See here.
The National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, has recently published the following report about COVID-19 in NSW Schools. The preliminary finds that the spread of COVID-19 within NSW schools has been very limited. The report can be found here.
AHPPC continues to note that there is very limited evidence of transmission between children in the school environment; population screening overseas has shown very low incidence of positive cases in school-aged children. In Australia, 2.4 per cent of confirmed cases have been in children aged between 5 and 18 years of age (as at 22 April 2020). See here.
Q. Have schools been provided with PPE such as gloves, masks and hand sanitiser to minimise the risk of transmission, and also to use in the event that a student or teacher becomes sick at school? And have cleaning regimes been stepped up?
A. The expert medical advice from the AHPPC has been clear that early childhood learning and care services and schools are essential services that should continue at this time, but with risk mitigation measures in place – including things like additional cleaning and hygiene practices. The AHPPC advice on reducing the potential risk of COVID-19 transmission in schools, published on 16 April 2020, says additional Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), for example medical face masks, is not required to provide regular care for children or young people who are well, unless such precautions are usually adopted in the routine care of an individual child or young person. Good hygiene practices and environmental cleaning are more important for reducing risk.
Q. Why are there no guidelines for remote education? We have received no video or phone contact nor any feedback from teachers in more than a week.
A. COVID-19 has brought challenges to our education system and I am proud of the way our students, teachers and parents have responded to those challenges. When it comes to regional and remote education, I understand the challenges. In the first instance you should contact your school and if you are not satisfied contact your state/territory education minister who is responsible for schools where you live. This is why it’s so important for students to return to the classroom so we can ensure that COVID-19 doesn’t take a year of our children’s education.
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