Parents and teachers are bracing for the possible return of remote learning amid the rising tide of Omicron cases across Australia.
Parents and teachers are “deeply concerned” at the prospective return of remote learning, the national teachers’ union has said, amid the rising tide of Omicron cases across Australia.
While NSW is forging ahead with its return to school plan, with Premier Dominic Perrottet reassuring parents last week the government is “incredibly confident we will get kids back into the classroom (on) day one, term one”, his Queensland counterpart says it will be a different story in her state.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is expected to reveal concrete Covid-19 back to school plans today, after announcing on Friday the government was considering delaying the start of term 1 for primary and high school students by one to two weeks.
But according to Australian Education Union federal president Corena Haythore, a national return-to-school plan is needed.
Ms Haythorpe warned that if large numbers of teachers and students are forced into isolation due to the virus, schools may have no choice but to shut their doors periodically.
“If you can’t provide supervision and duty of care, governments will have to consider how particular schools pivot to remote learning,” she told The Sydney Morning Herald.
The majority of Queensland teachers have already been warned to prepare “in case of emergency” home-learning materials, The Courier-Mail reports, and could be able to work from home if they’re deemed close contacts – and are well enough to do so.
No primary school student will be fully vaccinated by the time term 1 starts, because appointments for children aged five to 11 only open tomorrow, January 10, and an eight-week gap is needed between doses.
Part of the reasoning behind Ms Palaszczuk’s move to delay the start of term 1 is to ensure children have more time to get the jab, while avoiding having them go back to school at the same time Queensland hits the peak of its Omicron wave.
Ms Haythorpe said teachers and staff welcomed that move.
“Many children will be unvaccinated when term begins and then for the first two months it will be, at best, first-dose protection,” she said.
“Schools have the potential to be superspreader environments. If teachers feel they need to do a rapid antigen test every day then they should be able to.”
The federal government has repeatedly made assurance that supply of the jab to kids was not an issue, as parents scramble to lock in appointments. Some have reported having theirs cancelled at the last minute by GP’s because doses have not arrived.
“There’s certainly bigger demand than capacity,” Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president, Dr Karen Price, told The Herald.
“There’s nothing worse than promising people something and then you take it away, so doctors would rather wait and make sure it’s in their fridge and then manage that demand.”
Originally published as Remote learning could return amid rising Omicron case numbers
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