Teachers hit out at plans for 'field hospitals': Revolt over proposal to set up Covid testing centres in schools from September
Teachers are in revolt over plans to set up testing centres in schools and say it will be ‘akin to field hospitals’.
From September, secondary schools may be told to set up ‘asymptomatic test sites’, according to an email sent to heads from the Department for Education.
The move would ideally catch any outbreaks early, preventing too many pupils from having to isolate.
But yesterday the Association of School and College Leaders said it would lead to ‘more educational disruption’. Geoff Barton, general secretary, said: ‘It is completely unacceptable for the DfE to tell schools and colleges without any consultation and in the vaguest terms that they may have to set up something akin to field hospitals at the start of next term. There appears to be no understanding of the scale of the logistical challenge involved.’
Teachers are in revolt over plans to set up testing centres in schools and say it will be ‘akin to field hospitals’
The Government is conducting a pilot across 200 schools, that ends tomorrow, of daily testing of pupils who come into contact with a child who has Covid rather than sending them home to isolate for ten days. If successful, this could become policy from September.
But some school leaders want immediate action rather than the rest of this term being ‘written off’.
Steve Chalke, who runs Oasis Academies which has 52 schools, said about 3,000 children, or 10 per cent of the total number of pupils, were currently off school and that it was not the first time for many.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘It’s a pretty alarming situation. Something needs to be done about this now. The Government is thinking about reassessing the situation for September but there are still three weeks left of this summer term, we can’t just write off the rest of term. Three weeks is a long time in a young child’s life.’
From September, secondary schools may be told to set up ‘asymptomatic test sites’, according to an email sent to heads from the Department for Education, in a move which would ideally catch any outbreaks early, preventing too many pupils from having to isolate
Secondary pupils are supposed to test twice weekly for Covid but he said for many families, particularly those on zero-hour contracts, there was very little incentive to do this. ‘What incentive is there to do a lateral flow test at home if it’s going to penalise you and put you in an impossible situation and add to stress and anxiety?’, he said.
When pupils returned to classrooms in March there was a voluntary testing system. Anyone testing positive had to isolate, along with their household and anyone in their school bubble or who they had been in close contact with.
The new system, which may be compulsory, is likely to have more of an emphasis on negative test results so pupils can stay at school.