MORE CALLS FOR ACTION ON STAFF SHORTAGES IN SCHOOLS?

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) have joined over unions such as the NASUWT in calling for action from the Department of Education over the current numbers of staff absences in schools.

The union figures show that 1,072 teachers have been absent in the past 4 weeks after testing positive for Covid-19 and that 21% of schools have had to send classes home due to staff illness since half-term.

The figures also reveal that 10% of schools have been forced to close entirely with over 80% of head teachers having to step in to take classes due to the teacher being absent.

This comes as the NASUWT have been calling for the Department of Education to introduce a pre-Christmas circuit breaker for all schools to try to minimise the impact of the disruption caused.

The Department of Education, last week, stated that there are currently no plans to close schools prior to Christmas or introduce remote learning at this stage and that any decision on such measures would be taken by the Executive.

However, the DoE did confirm that it is liaising with the Department of Health over how best to support teachers and schools.

A spokesperson for the NAHT, Graham Gault, stated ““The very high level of Covid-related absence, compounded by the stark unavailability of substitute staff, has left school leaders with nowhere to turn in trying to maintain safe staffing levels in schools.”

“It is, therefore, inevitable that we will see more and more instances of schools having to make temporary, short-term closures for cohorts of children until safe staffing levels can be regained.”

The Department of Education has since released a statement stating that there remains no plans for full school closures before Christmas but a “partial return to remote learning was an option”.

This statement, however, is still very vague as to what the plan is and what principals are advised to do if this becomes the case in their school.

Education minister Michelle McIlveen is yet to comment on the current situation.