Teachers’ unions condemn ‘reckless’ school plans as 390,000 sign petition demanding parents given choice to keep children at home

Plans to start phased reopening of schools next month met with confusion and condemnation

Teaching unions have raised serious concerns about the government’s plan to start reopening schools from 1 June, describing it as “reckless” and unsafe.

This comes as more than 390,000 people signed a petition calling for parents to be given the choice to send their children back to school next month.

In his Sunday night address to the country, Boris Johnson said the start of June was the earliest possible date to consider the phased reopening of schools, beginning with pupils in reception classes, year 1 and year 6.

Nurseries are also set to be covered in the initial phase, with the aim that all primary school children would return to class by the summer.

The government is also hoping to allow secondary school pupils with exams next year to “get at least some time with their teachers before the holidays”, Mr Johnson added. Nonetheless, the majority are not expected to attend class until September at the earliest.

However, the plans have been met with confusion and condemnation by many of the UK’s teacher unions.

Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said: “We think that the announcement by the government that schools may reopen from 1 June with reception and years 1 and 6 is nothing short of reckless.

“Coronavirus continues to ravage communities in the UK and the rate of Covid-19 infection is still far too great for the wider opening of our schools.”

The general secretary of NASUWT, The Teachers’ Union has also questioned the feasibility of the plan.

“The fact of the matter is the government has announced a date but hasn’t come forward with a plan about how schools will ensure that they’re safe for pupils and safe for staff to be in from 1 June,” Patrick Roach said on Monday.

“And the prime minister said that it would be madness to risk a second spike in relation to transmission of the virus. Well the profession has got very serious concerns about that announcement of 1 June, whether indeed it is possible to achieve it, but also how to achieve that in a way which is safe for pupils and staff.”

He said there is strong evidence schools are lacking personal protective equipment (PPE), adding: “If you’re dealing with five and six-year-olds and 11-year-olds, how to ensure stringent social distancing in that context is a big challenge and government simply haven’t answered that challenge.

“And finally, just in terms of risk assessments, parents will want to know that schools are going to be hygienic, they’re going to be safe for their children to be in. And we still don’t have any clear standards about what safe cleaning routines would be like within a school context and we need to have that.”

Eighty-five per cent of 49,000 NEU members who responded to a survey following Mr Johnson’s speech said they disagreed with the suggestion to restart lessons for some year groups from 1 June, while 92 per cent said they would not feel safe with the proposed wider opening of schools.

Ms Bousted urged the government to provide schools with extra money for deep cleaning and PPE, and said local authorities must be allowed to close schools if clusters of Covid-19 infections break out in a particular area.

“If schools are reopened to blatant breaches of health and safety, we will strongly support our members taking steps to protect their pupils, their colleagues and their families,” she added. “The worst outcome of any wider reopening of schools is a second spike of Covid-19 infection.”

The government’s latest plans have also been met with resistance from the public. A Change.org petition which calls for parents to keep their children at home, should they wish, had reached nearly 400,000 signatures by Monday morning.

Lucy Browne, a parent who started the petition, said: “Many of us have lost confidence in the government’s handling of this crisis and feel it is too early to return children to schools.

“As a mum I don’t want to face serious repercussions for making a choice I feel affects the safety of my daughter during a global pandemic.”

“We need the government to be transparent with us and put things in place before we can consider placing our trust in this decision.”

Last week, a survey suggested that most parents do not want to see their children return to school as soon as the government ends the lockdown.

Only 7 per cent of parents who took part in the Parentkind survey said they would feel comfortable with a July return date.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the unions were “not trying to impede the reopening of schools” but remained unsatisfied with the outlined plans.

“Throughout the crisis we have highlighted the importance of bringing in more pupils when the time is right to do so and there is a clear plan in place to manage it safely,” he said. “Unfortunately, we are not persuaded that either of these two simple tests has yet been met.”

Schools across the UK have been closed for most students since 23 March, though vulnerable pupils and children of key workers have continued to attend classes.

Additional reporting by PA