Secondary schools will reopen their doors to almost 3,000 students attending special classes on February 22nd, after teachers’ unions reached an agreement with Government.
However, school returns for some 60,000 Leaving Certificate students in the final week of February remain uncertain, after the two post-primary teachers’ unions in Ireland failed to reach a joint agreement on the matter.
The Irish Times reports that while the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) has backed the return of Leaving Cert students, the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) said school reopening plans were “inadequate”.
ASTI said plans needed to be substantially reworked in order to ensure a safe phased return of students, with talks between unions and the Department of Education set to continue this week.
Following meetings on Wednesday evening, Minister for Education Norma Foley and Minister of State Josepha Madigan confirmed that special classes will now resume at both primary and post-primary level from Monday, February 22nd.
Both teachers’ unions have said their members will facilitate the return of this cohort after securing additional measures to protect students and staff in schools.
Ms Foley said the Government was committed to the “full and safe reopening of schools for all students as soon as possible, and will continue to work with all stakeholders, in line with public health advice, to achieve this.”
New measures
The Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) said on Wednesday evening that its members will support the return of special classes in secondary schools from February 22nd and facilitate the return of Leaving Cert students in the same week, subject to public health advice.
The TUI’s executive committee expressed its “strong position” that these students should return and benefit from face-to-face teaching.
TUI president Martin Marjoram said the union engaged “intensively and positively” with all education stakeholders to work towards the safe re-opening of schools, making its decision after a number of concerns expressed by the union were addressed.
A range of additional supports and measures have been agreed to protect students and staff, Mr Marjoram said.
These include full contact tracing and fast-track testing, provision of high grade personal protective equipment (PPE) for special education teachers and arrangements for staff in high risk health categories and pregnant teachers to continue to provide remote learning.
“At national level, all measures must be kept under ongoing review, not least to take account of the emerging new variants of Covid-19. The health and safety of students, staff and their families cannot be compromised,” Mr Marjoram said.
Further suppression of the virus in society will be vital to maintaining the confidence of the school community, he said.
Phased reopening
It comes as senior education sources said earlier on Wednesday that primary and secondary schools are likely to reopen over a three-week period in March.
Special education schools will partially reopen from this Thursday, with 50 per cent student attendance.
This will be followed by the return of special classes in mainstream primary schools and now secondary schools, due to return on February 22nd.
There has been indication that a phased reopening of mainstream class across primary and secondary schools will take place in advance of the Easter holidays, which start on March 26th.
