Retired teachers key to getting kids back to school in NSW

Experienced teachers will be lured out of retirement and final-year university students recruited early to keep face-to-face lessons going in schools during the Omicron super wave.

An army of retired educators and final-year student teachers will be hired to keep schools going during the Omicron outbreak.

Premier Dominic Perrottet said this would ensure children would be “back to school on day one, term one”.

Recently retired teachers and principals, final-year students and administration staff will be fast-tracked through accreditation to give schools a “buffer” to cover any Covid-related staff shortages.

Cynthia McCarthy feels comfortable sending her daughters Charlotte and Chantelle back to school. Picture: David Swift

“The evidence is clear, kids do best at school, and we owe it to them to ensure they have every chance to succeed, despite the pandemic,” Mr Perrottet said.

“Some students have now spent a quarter of their schooling at home. This disruption to their education, and their future opportunity, must end.”

This is one plank of the government’s back-to-school plans. The rest will be ­unveiled in coming days.

“We know the pandemic will keep throwing us curve balls and that will include some of our wonderful teachers taking sick leave at times,” Mr Perrottet said.

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell wants to keep schools open. Picture: NCA Newswire/Gaye Gerard

The NSW Education Standards Authority would ­“facilitate” the accreditation portal, said Education Minister Sarah Mitchell.

“(It) will be live soon,” Ms Mitchell said. “I have huge confidence in the planning and policies we already have in place. But we know that the unpredictable nature of the pandemic means that more may be needed.

“This is about supporting our frontline teachers in a practical way, to help keep our schools open and safe so our students are not impacted by Covid-19 a day more than absolutely necessary.”

National cabinet this week exempted teachers from isolation, meaning close contacts can return to work if they have no symptoms and return a negative rapid antigen test.

Teachers and all other staff at NSW public schools will have to be fully vaccin­ated when classes resume.

Almost all primary school students will not be fully ­vaccinated and there is no vaccine mandate for older students.

NSW Teachers Federation president Angelo Gav­rielatos said the union wouldn’t decide its position on the return until closer to the date because of the “rapidly evolving” situation. He said the union had been consulting with the government.

“The settings that were in place at the end of last year were totally inadequate,” he said. “That’s why these risk mitigation strategies must be implemented effectively and in a much more enhanced manner.”

Mr Gavrielatos said there were fears of widespread teacher shortages despite the plan for relief staff, which could leave schools “deemed non-operational”.

Catholic Schools NSW chief executive Dallas McInerney said their policy would be in line with public schools.

Independent school principals will meet today for an online briefing on their Covid strategy.

University of Newcastle education expert Professor John Fischetti said returning to school would be beneficial to both staff and students.

“The last two years have taught us to be stressed and worried but we have to get back to our lives and, particularly for our young ­people, give them as much normal as possible,” Professor Fischetti said.

Sydney mum Cynthia McCarthy said she felt safe returning daughters Charlotte and Chantelle to their classrooms.

“I’m comfortable with them being there and I think it’s time,” she said.

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