Coronavirus: Schools may not be able to fully reopen in September, unions warn in fiery clash with Tory MPs

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Union leaders have warned that all schools may not be able to fully reopen in September under the government’s current social distancing rules.

Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), raised doubts over whether all children could go back to the classroom in the autumn due to concern over shortages of space and teaching staff needed to meet coronavirus safety standards.

At a fiery hearing of the Commons Education Committee, Tory MPs clashed with leaders of four major teaching unions over what one Conservative branded a “disgraceful political campaign” to prevent schools from reopening.

Official guidance says primary school class sizes must be limited to 15 pupils per teacher to prevent the spread of the virus, as young children cannot be expected to remain two metres apart at all times.

Asked if schools could reopen fully in the autumn, Dr Bousted said: “If the government retains its social distancing rules, then they can’t. So that is why we then need to look at an education recovery programme that is focused on more than school buildings.

“We have got one about increasing the physical footprint of the school, this is about increasing the number of teachers available to teach smaller classes, and about a national plan for blended learning.”

Large pupil to teacher ratios in English classrooms create a headache for schools trying to reopen fully, she said, and called on the government to consider using other public buildings to provide more space.

Tory MPs lined up to criticise union leaders over their warnings about rushing back into schools amid deep tensions between both sides over the government’s strategy.

Jonathan Gullis, a former teacher and a former NASUWT union rep, said he was “absolutely outraged at the sheer damage the unions have done to the teaching profession”.

The Stoke-on-Trent North MP asked: “Why is it that every time I see a teaching union on TV they’re saying ‘schools aren’t safe to open, schools aren’t safe to open’?

“A campaign has been run, whether you like or not, to breathe fear into parents about the idea of sending their kids back to school. It has come across to parents that these schools are death traps and that is just not the case and there are thousands of children not getting an education.”

Tom Hunt, Tory MP for Ipswich, added: “The perception that many people have in this country, whether rightly or wrongly, and it is a reality, sadly, that many people feel as though some of the teaching unions have actively obstructed the reopening of schools ahead of September.”

Robert Halfon, the Conservative chairman of the committee, added: “Why is it that children and parents can have access to Primark over the next few months, but many of them won’t have access to schools according to your risk assessments?”

But union leaders hit back at the criticism. Dr Bousted said: “Some of the line of the questioning here seems to be that it’s schools and teachers and leaders fault for following government guidance”.

Patrick Roach, general secretary of NASUWT, said they wanted to get children back to school but this had to be done in line with health and safety guidelines.

On reopening more widely in the autumn, Julie McCulloch, director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “If it is at all possible and considered safe then absolutely we want all children to be back in school from September.

“But we’re not able to do that at the moment within the government’s own protective measures guidance. The maths just doesn’t work.

“If you can only have up to 15 children in a class and you’re bringing back all children, you need twice as many classrooms and you need twice as many teachers.”