Preps, Year 12s may be first in plan to get back to school
School principals say prep and Year 12 students should be the first to return to the classroom after Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton last week indicated Victoria might scrap its preference for remote learning in term two.
Education
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Prep and Year 12 students should be the first to return to school in a plan to stagger the resumption of face-to-face teaching, according to school principals.
Australian Principals Federation president Julie Podbury also said teachers might need a full day together in schools before they bring kids back.
“To roll backwards from this now will take a bit of time and there’s a strong argument that VCE and preps come back first,” Ms Podbury told the Herald Sun.
“Not as guinea pigs but as the people who most urgently need to be back at school.”
Her comments come after Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton indicated last week that Victoria might scrap its preference for home schooling in term two as the COVID-19 threat eased — though he said nothing would change before May 11.
Other states have already announced how they will get students back to school.
In New South Wales, schools will begin a phased reopening from May 11.
Children there are expected to attend one day a week, extending to two days later in the term with a view to being back at school full-time at the start of term three.
Premier Daniel Andrews on Tuesday defended his move to continue the stay-at-home policy despite other states easing restrictions.
“This is not over,” he said. “This is not a time to be complacent.
“When we get to that May 11 deadline we have so many options that the rest of the world does not have.”
Ms Podbury said some schools in rural areas with more old and unwell teachers wouldn’t be able to resume normal practice while there was still a risk.
“When Brett Sutton thinks that risk has gone away, that’s a different story,” she said.
“He’s the person we rely upon to make an assessment, so when he says the coast is clear, then it is but it may be that we still have some staff reluctant to return based on their own health,” she said. “So a flexible approach could be needed where some still continue as they are for a bit longer, while others return.”
Independent Schools Victoria chief executive Michelle Green said there was a “diversity of views among schools about how and when a return to entirely school-based education should resume”.
Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals president Sue Bell said schools should go back “when it is safe”. She agreed there was a concern for teachers with a range of illnesses and said “classroom teaching could make them more vulnerable”.
A letter to all Australian education ministers signed by the four peak national principals’ associations, urged better consultation and more unified advice. “We are ready and willing to advise governments to ensure the successful transition to full on-site delivery of school education,” it says.
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