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Schools reopening: Union tells teachers ‘you can stay at home’ as pressure grows on ministers to keep all schools closed

 (Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

The government is facing growing pressure to keep all of England's schools closed for two weeks in January to tackle surging coronavirus infections as a leading teaching union revealed it will advise members they have a legal right to work from home.

The National Education Union, which represents 450,000 teachers and staff, announced the move after convening an emergency meeting on Saturday. It follows a government U-turn announced on Friday which means all primary schools in London will remain shut next week, not just those in some boroughs.

Most other primary schools in England are expected to still open on Monday while secondary schools will reopen on a staggered basis, with exam year pupils returning on January 11 and others returning a week later.

The union had already called on Friday night for ministers to "do their duty" and keep primary and secondary schools across the country shut to reduce the coronavirus's reinfection rate to below one.

And it further ramped up the pressure on Saturday, saying it was now informing teachers they have the legal right not to work in an ‘unsafe environment’.

In a statement, the union's joint general secretary Dr Mary Bousted said: "Whilst we are calling on the Government to take the right steps as a responsible union we cannot simply agree that the Government's wrong steps should be implemented.

"That is why we are doing our job as a union by informing our members that they have a legal right to refuse to work in unsafe conditions which are a danger to their health and to the health of their school communities and more generally.

"We are informing our members of their legal right to protection to be guided by the science. In order for viral levels in children and in the community to decrease to below R1, primary schools should not open in the first weeks of January.

"We will be informing our members that they have the right to work in safe conditions which do not endanger their health. This means that they can be available to work from home and to work with key worker and vulnerable children but not available to take full classes from Monday, the 4th of January.

"We realise that this late notice is a huge inconvenience for parents and for headteachers. The fault, however, is of the Government's own making and is a result of their inability to understand data, their indecisiveness, and their reckless approach to their central duty - to safeguard public health."

The general secretary of the NASUWT union, Dr Patrick Roach, called for an immediate nationwide move to remote education due to safety concerns.

Dr Roach said: "There is genuine concern that schools and colleges are not able to reopen fully and safely at this time.

"The NASUWT remains of the view that schools, colleges and other settings should only remain open to all pupils where it is safe for them to do so.

"The NASUWT will not hesitate to take appropriate action in order to protect members whose safety is put at risk as a result of the failure of employers or the Government to ensure safe working conditions in schools and colleges."

Guidance is also expected from the union NAHT, which represents school leaders, regarding the return to work.

In an update to members on Saturday, general secretary Paul Whiteman said: "The Government's current approach is too simplistic and is damaging education. It is time to properly respond to what professional educators need rather than how attractive a headline may read.

"The Government is alienating the profession, failing children and being reckless with the safety of the whole school community."

Mr Whiteman also said the union had started preliminary steps in legal proceedings against the Department for Education and is awaiting the Government's response.

He said: "We have asked the Government to share the evidence justifying distinctions drawn between primary and secondary schools, the geographical distinctions they have made and the evidence justifying the compulsory introduction of mass testing."

The call to delay the reopening of schools was supported by Unison, as the union's head of education Jon Richards said: "The Government must end its bitty, piecemeal approach and act decisively by delaying the start of term for all schools by two weeks because of spiralling infection rates."

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