Schools in term 2 to go online amid coronavirus outbreak

Term two will be taught remotely when it starts next week in Victoria, with unis urged to delay the start of the 2021 academic year.

Term two in Victoria will start next Wednesday but Premier Daniel Andrews is urging parents to keep their children at home if possible.

“School is going to look very different in term two – if you can learn from home, you must learn from home,” Mr Andrews said.

“If you can’t learn from home, then schools will be open, and we will run the same courses. We don’t want kids disadvantaged because of circumstances beyond their own control.”

Mr Andrews says schools will always be open for children of essential workers – from shelf stackers at Coles and Woolies to nurses and police.

“We’ve got about a million students enrolled in government and non-government schools,” he said. “We cannot have a million students moving around the Victorian community every day. All that will do is spread the virus and undermine the really significant progress that we’ve made.”

On the Victorian Certificate of Education, Mr Andrews says the intention is for students to complete it this year.

“There are a number of weeks at the end of the year so, it may be a longer year where we need to make up some lost time. We may need to catch up,” he said.

Mr Andrews says state and federal governments are working “very, very hard” in partnership with the university and TAFE sector to come up with a solution for year 12s.

“An awful lot of work is being done to get our year 12s through – we’re not about year 13 or people repeating,” he said.

“We think that we can get this done. As soon as we can provide more detail to our year 12 cohort, and indeed all students and their families, of course we will. But the rest of year 12, just like school for every student on day one of term two, is going to be different. It’s going to look different, it’s going to unfold in a different way. That can’t be helped.”

Dan Tehan.

LEARNING TO MOVE ONLINE

Most Australian students will complete term two online as education ministers thrash out a plan for those in their final year of school.

Medical experts insist schools are still safe but parents are being urged to keep their kids home if they can.

“For the majority of children it will be online learning for term two,” federal Education Minister Dan Tehan told ABC radio.

Mr Tehan will meet his state and territory counterparts on Tuesday to devise a national framework for the next six months.

But the difficult issue of what to do with year 12 students who will miss out on months of face-to-face teaching has been pushed back until later this week.

Mr Tehan says all options are on the table for final year students.

Year 12 exams are expected to be postponed until at least December and universities will likely be asked to delay the start of the 2021 academic year.

However, Mr Tehan has effectively ruled out an extra year of school for year 12 students.

“Every state and territory education minister – and it’s my strong view as well – do not want to see that,” he said.

“We want to make sure that we can get as many students through this year as we possibly can.”

Mr Tehan’s personal preference is adjusting ATAR scores across the country to account for COVID-19 or changing the university assessment system.

“We want to make sure that this year 12 cohort does not suffer as a result of the coronavirus,” he said.

“We want them to be able to pursue their dreams for university, for vocational education, or whether they want to go into work next year.”

– With AAP

Originally published as Schools in term 2 to go online amid coronavirus outbreak