Q&A: Teachers, pupils ‘must feel safe’ to return to school

Panellists on the ABC’s Q&A argued over whether it was safe for pupils and teachers to return to the classroom yet.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Nick Coatsworth. Picture: AAP.

Education in the time of coronavirus and the long term impact on students of school closures was the topic of the ABC’s Q&A on Monday evening. What to make of the nations leader’s divergent views of reopening schools, the long term impacts on students, and who is already losing out resulted in a lengthy debate between the panellists.

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Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth started by saying the health recommendations surrounding school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic “has been consistent from the start,” arguing the message has always called for schools to reopen. However, he admitted that each jurisdiction varying in their response to the outbreak has sent a “confusing message” to parents, teachers and students.

“Where we are now is in a position where every single jurisdiction is in varying degrees considering their approach to restarting face-to-face teaching,” Mr Coatsworth said.

“It’s important not to give the impression of confusion, rather we’re updating the advice based on the latest evidence.”

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Secretary of the NSW Department of Education, Mark Scott, echoed his fellow panellist by noting the incredible speed in which the pandemic has evolved, prompting different degrees of instruction.

“It’s worth thinking back five weeks here in New South Wales. Within a one-week period we moved from 17 per cent of children staying at home to 41 per cent of children staying home,” Mr Scott said.

“So I think four or five weeks ago we may have thought term two and term three would have been periods where children could stay at home. Now we think there’s a good chance of getting our kids back into school this term and we’re going to bring them back from the beginning of week three.”

The University of Sydney’s Deputy Vice Chancellor, Lisa Jackson Pulver, sent a clear message to Australia’s Year 12 students who are having to complete their final year of school remotely.

“Please keep working. Your teachers and you have been working for a long, long time. You have dreams and expectations,” she said.

Ms Pulver said Australian universities have been working to develop various options for students who may feel they missed out on attaining the entry level score they needed to be accepted into their preferred course.

“Every single university in this country has been working hard to try and work though good pathways,” she said.

“We’ve always had good pathways for entry into university from school students that have had an adverse event or catastrophe. This is no different. We’re going to be relying on all sorts of other factors and the ATAR. The ATAR is important.”

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Host Hamish Macdonald asked Mr Coatsworth what conditions will enable schools to reopen.

Mr Coatsworth said that while the conditions varied, they relied on Australia’s epidemic remaining under control as well as maintaining a low number of confirmed cases.

“One of the reasons things have changed so quickly is because Australians have been so good at getting this under control, that’s the first precondition,” he said.

“The second is the growing amount of evidence that children themselves seem to be less often affected. But the third one is the most important, and that is we have to have confidence for our parents and our teachers and our students that school is going to be a safe place to be.”

Mr Coatsworth said he was confident Australia is heading in that direction, saying it has been evidenced by the effort people have made to control the epidemic.

However Lian Davies, the Principal of Whittlesea Secondary College in Victoria, disagreed, arguing that the conversation surrounding the risk of returning to school needed to be far more rigorous to build confidence that school is in fact safe for teachers to return to.

“In order for teachers to feel confident coming into school, they need to know their health and welfare is being thought of as well,” she said.

“We do have to take into consideration the school’s function because of those adults, and some of them are very vulnerable. They need to feel safe and comfortable in their workplace.”

Minister of Education Dan Tehan tackled a question from a high school teacher struggling to follow the “conflicting information” about schools from the government. Accusing Prime Minister Scott Morrison of berating teachers and putting them in harm’s way, she ended her question by asking: “Why are we so expendable?”

The Minister responded by assuring the viewer the Federal Government and all state and territory governments have been incredibly conscious about the health and welfare of teachers, teacher’s aides and principles across the nation.

“What we’ve done consistently right throughout this pandemic is taken the advice of the medical expert panel … and that advice had been consistent right through this pandemic that it’s been safe for students to go to school with the right protocols in place, and it’s safe for teachers to go to school and teach students,” he said.

“That’s why it’s been the consistent approach that the Federal Government has taken right throughout this pandemic.”

The host contradicted Mr Tehan by saying the Prime Minister advised parents that they should follow the instructions of the state premiers and the state education ministers, asking him whether he recognised how the conflicting advice between states and territories has created inconsistency in the message.

“Well, what we’ve been saying is that we think every state should aim to set a goal and the goal should be to have all students back in the classroom with teachers teaching in them by the end of May,” Mr Tehan replied.