UK Teachers take legal action as chaos grips England's schools plan

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The planned reopening of schools in England has descended into disarray, as unions advised teachers not to return to the classroom, heads took legal action over the government's plans and senior Tories warned that school gates may have to remain shut for weeks to come.

With warnings that some primary heads would arrive at work on Monday morning unsure about whether they would be able to reopen to pupils, teachers accused the government of making an "utter shambles" of school reopening and demanded a last-minute delay. Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, was also facing renewed calls to resign over the chaos.

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The fallout from teachers was fuelled by the revelation last week that the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies had warned ministers that it was "highly unlikely" that the pandemic could be brought under control if schools opened this week.

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The National Education Union (NEU) is advising primary school staff it is unsafe to head to classrooms on Monday, when most are scheduled to return. The move will force some schools to switch to online learning for the majority of their pupils. The union said on Saturday that all primary and secondary schools should remain closed for two weeks after the Christmas break. The NASUWT teachers' union and the ASCL have also called for a temporary nationwide move to remote education for the vast majority of pupils.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) and the ASCL have begun legal action against the government, demanding it reveal the safety evidence for its reopening schedule, given the higher transmissibility of the new Covid variant. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, said: "Headteachers are in an impossible situation. The government's simplistic approach of 'schools gates open' or 'school gates closed' means they're hamstrung. It's going to be a difficult couple of days. We hope the government brings clarity as soon as possible this weekend, or early next week."

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Robert Halfon, the Tory chair of the education select committee, called for greater military involvement to improve school testing and teacher vaccination. "We have to decide as a nation, are children our number one priority, or not?" David Davis, the former Tory cabinet minister, said special educational needs teachers should be given "special dispensation" for an early vaccine.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: "We want classrooms to reopen wherever possible in the new term.

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Teachers take legal action as chaos grips England's schools plan

Unions advise teachers to stay away from schools and warn reopening plan is an ‘utter shambles’

www.theguardian.com

 

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UK Coronavirus Discussion COVID - OT

Dominic Cummings played too much Deus Ex and Boris just wants to speedrun coronavirus, just get everyone infected so it rolls over to 0% and warps to the credits or some shit. https://youtu.be/VvtUCUM9yCU This dismal fucking island is having an extremely normal time of it lately.

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