According to one teacher, New South Wales education minister Sarah Mitchell did a good job at the daily Covid press conference on Friday. She was across her brief and, as my educator friend put it, “seemed to know what she was talking about”.
My friend’s comment was positive but the note of pleasant surprise was telling. Educators are generally wary of decisions made about schools by those who don’t work in them.
This time, however, the response from most of the principals and teachers I spoke to about the staged return to face-to-face schooling starting with kindy and year 1 students from October was positive.
Craig Petersen, president of the Secondary Principals’ Council, said: “This makes sense. It is wise to have a smaller cohort back first and have the opportunity to monitor for any increase in Covid in the community.”
He added that he was pleased to see the NSW government adopt much of the advice from educators about how to stage a safe return.
There were some notes of caution. Angelo Gavrielatos, president of the NSW Teachers Federation, stressed that although 25 October return was much to be desired it must still depend on vaccination rates reaching the required safe level of 70% to 80% and case rates remaining at fewer than 50 in every 100,000.
He also welcomed the dedicated teachers’ vaccination day on the 6 September, while pointing out that since August 2020 the union has been calling for teachers to be prioritised in the vaccine rollout, including daily requests for the past two months.
There was a sense of “at last” in his response.
Petersen worries about students’ vaccination given limited supplies of Pfizer and the reliance on voluntary uptake. He is concerned it could mean different rates of protection in different schools.
He also warned about the “no mingling” aspect of the level three restrictions that would accompany the return. Given the nature of kids – both children and adolescents – he said: “It will be difficult for many schools, but we understand the principle and will work out local solutions.”
There was a mixed response for the HSC going ahead in November. Worries included another month of stress and anxiety among the already stretched year 12, whether the mostly older exam supervisors (teachers may not supervise the HSC) would be prepared to front up this year – vaccinated or not, and the lack of detail so far about the exams – leaving students and teachers still wondering, what next?
Jane Caro is a social commentator
Schools are due to return for term four in NSW.
This kind of certainty is welcomed by kids and parents. But the announcement comes at an ironic time, when modelling by Prokopenko and team, shared publicly on Friday morning, puts Australia’s Covid Delta peak in early October – about the same time that the 70% vaccination target is expected to be reached.
School Covid transmission follows community Covid transmission.
But the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, does report that NSW is “making no definitive statements when October 25 is many weeks away” so I feel relieved that we still have an “out” when it comes to schools returning – if need be. September will provide us time in Australia to watch the US, Canada, UK, Iceland, Israel etc return to their new school years and see how Delta goes there.
While Covid is mild in most children, having a vaccine is preferable to having Covid. Children also play a role in the overall dynamic of pandemic transmission. The infections they pick up at school will be shared with adults, most worrisome for unvaccinated or otherwise vulnerable adults (such as grandparents, pregnant women).
High schools, if returning with mostly vaccinated students, appear to be the right choice. Yet while certainty is great, reopening primary and preschools (the unvaccinated crowd) with significant Covid in the community is likely to lead to school closures in a stop/start fashion.
Because routine is key for young children’s wellbeing, we might consider whether this will truly be best for them. Patience may be a virtue here. Vaccines for the youngest children are likely to be approved soon.
One challenge to consider will be the need to undertake 14 days self-isolation when there is a Covid positive case in a child’s classroom. There will be cases in schools and daycare centres and their classmates are likely need to isolate at home for 14 days. This is very difficult, and it may occur more than once for a family with multiple children. My niece in Canada did three stints of 14 days (42 days) in her bedroom alone, with her meals placed at her door. This also has mental health consequences.
Parents and children/adolescents need to trust government that they will return to school safely. Teens talk about Covid-unsafe schools fuelling their poor mental wellbeing. To build trust and make informed choices we need transparent data. Yet data on schools and childcares with Covid cases and transmission dynamics in schools have not been transparent to date.
Opening schools will not fully solve the mental health challenges we see in kids. Young people talk about anxiety about the virus, lack of trust in politicians and changing messaging as important factors feeding into their poor mental health – not just lockdowns.
If we want families to be safe and able to send their children to school for term four, all adults need to be vaccinated as soon as possible (teachers, staff, parents) and 12+-year-olds should be vaccinated. Schools will also need to improve indoor ventilation and “cohorting”.
Prof Alexandra Martiniuk is an epidemiologist at the University of Sydney, and an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto
