TEACHERS have completely lost trust in the government’s approach to schools in the Covid-19 crisis. 

New surveys by educators’ unions uncovered a lack of social distancing, lack of testing, widespread pupil absenteeism, staff shortages and increased hardship for families as they gave the Tories a failing grade.

The surveys carried out by Britain’s two biggest teaching unions, the National Education Union (NEU) and NASUWT, also reported a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and meagre cash reserves to cover the costs of the Covid-19 pandemic, including employing supply teachers to cover absences.

The NEU, which has 450,000 members, reported today that more than 80 per cent of nearly 5,500 teachers surveyed had a “complete lack of trust in the government to keep schools open and safe” through the pandemic.

And the NASUWT, which has 300,000 members, said yesterday that only 1 per cent of nearly 7,000 teachers surveyed said that pupils always practise social distancing from adults in schools.

A decisive 84 per cent of the teachers surveyed by the NEU did not trust PM Boris Johnson’s government “to keep schools safe, to protect workers, to listen to the profession, to support vulnerable or disadvantaged children, or to ensure that exams and assessments are fit for purpose during Covid.”

Eighty per cent reported pupil absences through self-isolation and a lack of tests for Covid-19 infection.

Some 51 per cent reported a “significant increase” in hardship for pupils and families at their schools since the start of lockdown in March.

And the NEU said that even when pupils self-isolate and stay at home, there was insufficient funding for effective distance-learning despite this being a legal requirement.

The NASUWT found that “significant numbers of teachers reported inadequate supplies of PPE and a failure to ensure classrooms are sufficiently ventilated to reduce the risk of virus transmission.”

The NEU also reported that existing funding problems are now worse. Schools are having to maintain “Covid security,” which the union warns is expensive and comes out of existing budgets.

It said that supply-teacher costs are “rapidly eroding away reserves” and that schools could not apply for non-guaranteed extra funding until they were spent.

NEU joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said: “School and college staff are doing everything they can to keep schools open for all pupils, but the government is not pulling its weight.

“Our survey shows all too clearly that a lack of access to testing and the disruption of self-isolation, often due to the lack of a test result, is undermining the ability of schools to maintain fully staffed on-site learning for all those who need it. 

“The results also show an imminent danger that this problem will become very widespread indeed. This was completely foreseeable.

“The government had months to prepare a fit-for-purpose test, track and trace system, and they failed.

“It is clear that the government has completely lost the trust of school leaders, teachers and school staff. This is no surprise. 

“Boris Johnson’s promises have regularly been exposed as bluster, while Gavin Williamson’s mismanagement — not just of guidance to schools but also of this year’s exam results — has been dizzyingly poor.

“The message from our members is clear. Schools kept their side of the bargain in getting schools open this September; it is time for the government to keep theirs.”

NASUWT general secretary Dr Patrick Roach said: “As increased numbers of staff are forced to self-isolate, serious operational difficulties are emerging for schools in maintaining safe working practices.

“The government promised teachers, pupils and parents that schools would be safe to return to. So far, they are failing on that promise.”

The Department for Education was approached for comment.