I remember how it was -- JR
UK: Teachers are no more likely to catch Covid-19 than those working in other frontline professions, according to official data
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest there was no difference in infection rates between primary and secondary school teachers and other professionals between the start of September and mid-October.
Other professionals included care home workers, healthcare workers, and those working outside of their home for at least one day a week.
It comes after trade unions blasted the Government for keeping schools open during lockdown, insisting they must be shuttered to protect educational staff.
But the chief inspector of Ofsted, which monitors standards in schools, warned yesterday that some may be sending children home 'too readily' amid the pandemic.
Speaking at the online National Children and Adult Services Conference, she warned there are 'indications' some schools are shuttering too early.
She also highlighted a rise in the number of parents opting to educate their children at home, adding it included 'quite a proportion' of the children that have special education needs.
Reports show the number of children attending school dropped from 89 to 86 per cent before the half-term break.
ONS statisticians found the highest and lowest percentage risks of catching Covid-19 between teachers and those in other professions overlapped, suggesting there was no difference in risk between them.
They calculated these - known as the standard deviations - to show the risk of catching coronavirus across all teachers, as the sample they tested was only a small section of the total number of teachers in the UK.
In their sample they found nursey teachers had the highest rate, at 0.45 per cent of all teachers in this sector surveyed, followed by university lecturers, 0.41 per cent, and secondary school teachers, 0.38 per cent (0.15 to 0.78).
Primary school teachers had the lowest rate, at 0.23 per cent.
In other professions 0.44 per cent of those surveyed tested positive for Covid-19.
Several trade unions have called for teaching staff to also move back to working from home during the second national lockdown, along with other workers.
The National Education Union (NEU) seized on ONS data showing a fall in the number of Covid-19 cases among secondary school students over the half-term break to suggest schools play a key role in transmitting the virus.
It accused the Government of a 'squandered opportunity' for failing to impose a circuit-breaker lockdown over the half-term period.
'We should expect the rates in secondary schools to begin to rise again after the half-term effect, along with them the number of children who are off school,' warned the union's joint general secretary Kevin Courtney.
Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of Ofsted, told a the online National Children and Adult Services Conference (NCASC) yesterday that schools should not be so keen to send students home.
'There are indications that schools may sometimes be sending pupils home too readily,' Ms Spielman said.
She highlighted a rise in the number of parents opting to home school this term - adding 'quite a proportion' of the children have special educational needs.
Ms Spielman said: 'And here, many parents haven't made an active decision to keep their child at home - they've been told that schools can't accommodate them.
'Because it's too difficult, because Covid risk assessments won't allow it. It's deeply concerning and, understandably, many parents feel cut adrift.'
She added: 'For the children with SEND that have been able to get back into education, it hasn't been plain sailing either.
'We're hearing that many have suffered setbacks in their communication skills - probably down to having reduced social interaction for such a long time.
'And, although some people are working really creatively to help families, this is an ongoing concern.
'We'll be looking at this more in the next report from our autumn visits.'
A report on school attendance has revealed it dropped from 89 per cent to 86 per cent ahead of the October half-term break.
How COVID Could Permanently Change Public Education
Last spring, more than 50 million K-12 students were hurriedly sent home as the nation’s public schools shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some of those students have returned to their classrooms now, for full or partial in-person instruction, while others have continued with distance learning or quit public school systems altogether.
Paul Reville, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Pedro Noguera, dean of the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education, discuss the changes afoot in American education and the consequences for students across the country.
Remote learning has placed a heavy burden on many parents, including Courtney Wittenstein, Maria Makarenkova and Jenna Ruiz, who share their experiences and the decisions they have made about their childrens' education during the pandemic. And Joseph Connor, the co-founder and chief operating officer of SchoolHouse, a company that matches teachers with families for at-home instruction, explains why COVID-19 has led to an increasing interest in microschools and learning pods.
Three Takeaways:
Many large urban school districts have struggled to serve their students during the pandemic and have not been nimble enough to respond to the crisis and personalize their offerings, according to Reville, who leads Harvard’s Education Redesign Lab and previously served as Massachusetts secretary of education. He says those districts already had outdated educational models and are now, “like a traumatized patient or somebody coming out from under an earthquake and just standing up, dusting themselves off, beginning to communicate and restore some basic elements of normalcy to get going again.”
Noguera, a former public school teacher himself, fears distance online learning has deepened inequity in public schools. USC Rossier School of Education conducted a recent survey of low-income families in the L.A Unified School District, and found many students were unable to consistently participate and became disengaged because of access issues, including shaky internet connections and lack of suitable devices, he explains. Overcrowded housing situations, parents working outside the home and homelessness have made remote learning particularly challenging for some in L.A.
During the pandemic, parents with more resources have been able to supplement or even replace their students’ public school education with the help of tutors, learning pods, online activities, and other enrichment opportunities. Noguera and Reville believe it will be possible for public schools to help other students, who have experienced learning losses, to catch up in the months and years ahead through extra summer school classes and additional tutoring. However, it will require additional funding and political support, says Noguera.
https://www.wgbh.org/news/education/2020/11/06/how-covid-could-permanently-change-public-education
Australia: New education centre aims to end culture war over student testingAn education veteran is warning student testing has become a battleground for culture wars between those who argue teachers are avoiding accountability and others who say it reduces education to a set of numbers.
But Tom Alegounarias, the former chair of the NSW Education Standards Authority and one-time president of the Board of Studies, said assessment was too important to be derailed by simplistic debates, as it was vital to a quality education system.
With Professor Jim Tognolini, he has set up a Centre for Educational Measurement and Assessment at Sydney University. It aims to build teacher confidence and expertise in testing, undertake research and provide expert analysis.
“On the one hand you have people arguing that teachers are unaccountable and afraid of testing because of accountability,” Mr Alegounarias said. “On the other hand you have teachers who say the purpose of education is being perverted for the sake of an ideological commitment to numbers and a market-type accountability.
“This has distracted the profession and the community in general from more fundamental educational purposes.
“What we want the centre to do is build the depth and expertise of teachers, and the confidence of teachers - and in turn the community - that students are being assessed with reliability, validity and accountability. Ours is an educational mission, not a political one.”
In recent years, debate has raged within the sector over tests such as NAPLAN. Many also argue the Higher School Certificate has had its day, prompting the NSW Education Minister, Sarah Mitchell, to say she was concerned about a “faddish push” to downplay the importance of exams.
Mr Alegounarias will chair the centre, and Professor Tognolini will be chief executive. The board will include representatives from the three school sectors, academics and teacher representatives, including unions.
It will be self-funded, not-for-profit, and sit within the Sydney School of Education and Social Work, in the Faculty of Arts and the Social Sciences.
Professor Tognolini said the recent NSW curriculum review and Gonski report emphasised the importance of good quality assessment evidence to teachers, and the challenges.
“The centre will work collaboratively with other assessment centres across Australia and internationally to learn from and have an impact on assessment and measurement issues that are truly global in their reach,” he said.
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http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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