Boris hands major public safety decision to people unqualified to take it

[noblegiraffe]

Wtf Boris?

10pm tonight it was announced that face coverings would be mandatory in communal areas in schools in lockdown areas.

In other areas, heads will be forced to make the decision, ‘according to what they believe is right for their particular circumstances’.

Journalists were briefed earlier in the day that it would be masks for all schools leading to some misleading headlines in the papers, but then the government u-turned on the u-turn introducing a fudge to make it look like they’re not just copying Scotland’s more competent homework.

They’ve got access to advisors, scientists, people who can spend time looking into this properly and who are paid to make tough decisions.

And instead they are leaving it to the poor Heads who are still grappling with the fallout from the exams fiasco? Who may have no scientific background or particular expertise in virus control and who will have to piss off one set of parents or another no matter what they decide (let alone their staff!)

This is pure abrogation of responsibility and incredibly weak leadership.

I hope heads would consult and agree mask policy with their local authorities

I live in Germany, where the local public health authority would discuss this with each school, but would have the responsibility to officially approve the proposals for each school

I hope heads would consult and agree mask policy with their local authorities

Hope is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. Literally no requirement to consult anyone.

The 16 German states have each defined their public health policy, e.g. at least 1 state has mndatory masks in secondary classrooms

It makes sense to have some regional or local decision-making atm,
as different degrees of stringency might be suitable for e.g. the Scottish highlands and Glasgow or London

If deaths started to rise significantly again, or exponential growth of cases takes off,
then the national UK government might have to impose masks everywhere, or take other severe measures, as earlier

And with very little time to do that consultation in and inform parents.

But that’s not happening here, he’s said it’s up to heads.

I'm surprised if UK schools don't require at least local public health authority agreement for their plans to reopen schools,
which would include masks

Here, the head's detailled plan has to be signed off

The government may not have told heads to get their plan signed off by the public health authority, but is that not the standard rule anyway ?

(if not, it seems extraordinary that heads have been making such decisions all along)

The Dept of Ed also needs to be providing information about possible effects on learning for the different age groups
and psychological effects.

Are they not going to issue (yet another) update to their guidance ?

Every school is different - buildings, age & health of staff, number & attitude of pupils.

I would expect heads to make the decision jointly with the LEA advisors. I don't see how anything else would work well..

Bigchoc you appear to be speaking from a country lead by someone with integrity and a scientific background where things make sense and you are trying to fit the English model onto this.

It won’t work because we are led by a professional liar who shirks responsibility and who has fucked up pretty much everything since he took the reins (and indeed well before then).

Remember, the government briefed the press earlier that it would be masks in all schools. They u-turned on that and dumped it on heads within a few hours.

Don’t expect them to have detailed advice for heads on a decision they couldn’t even see through themselves.

twitter.com/jonathansimons/status/1298349549954760704?s=21

Well, we've a minority of denialists in the public here too who disagree with government policy,

but at least schools know what government policy is, what flexibility they have for their particular school,
expert advice so they can use that flexibility, have the extra resources they need
and know the process to get their plan signed off by the health & education authorities

Teachers' unions have also been consulted and treated with respect

I hope UK teachers / unions aren't going to carry the can if anything goes wrong - that would be ridiculous and not fair.

I hope UK teachers / unions aren't going to carry the can if anything goes wrong - that would be ridiculous and not fair.

They have been setting the unions up to be the fall guy for everything from schools not being able to open full time to us being responsible for bringing this virus into schools and having to close again. The Daily Fail will do that with glee BigChocFrenzy . (German teacher here, miss Germany

Blame a teacher is national past time in England.

We had to consult PHE locally over our opening plans (area of high community transmission). PHE will be gone in September.

You seem surprised by the Government’s handling of this issue?
Where have you been for the last 6 months?

This was my last thread, noextremes

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4001279-This-government-don-t-give-a-shit-about-schools-or-your-kids

I am very uncomfortable that I’m having to work under a boss (the DfE) that is so very incompetent.

How are we supposed to have any faith in them in terms of safety or education?

Imagine the scene:

“Year 10 - I’m not telling you to to not do work”

“So...umm..you want us to work?”

“...”

“.....”

“It’s up to individuals to decide - or not - whether to work - or not. Are we clear”

“😳😳😳😳😳😳”

They are laying the foundations to blame heads, teachers or parents if/when everything goes tits up for this school year's children education.

Outbreak in a school so it has to close it will be because the heads did not insist on mask wearing stringently enough, masks were worn, oh that will be the parent's fault for not providing enough/ right type of masks or the children's fault for not taking them off correctly etc etc

Everything being announced recently is to deflect blame from the PM and his advisor when the inevitable enquiry starts.

They’ve been blaming teachers and heads all through lockdown, this isn’t new.

People seem to be noticing more though.

@Noextremes2017

You seem surprised by the Government’s handling of this issue? Where have you been for the last 6 months?

Noble has been astute throughout on many threads, including the excellent one she started on the Govt, linked upthread.

Well, I know Local Authority maintained schools are required to consult with the LA before their governing bodies review and sign off on their risk assessments. However, most secondaries now have been privatised in accordance with Government policy and are academies, not LA maintained. Are they expected to consult with their LA? I bet they aren’t obliged to (and bet their LA no longer has the capacity to deal with all the schools in its geographic area) - their whole point was that they could invent their own rules, and LAs shrank the number of people supporting schools accordingly. Seems to me, most schools are on their own, here.

This TES story clearly outlines why the government has just dumped a(nother) steaming pile of shit onto the laps of heads.

www.tes.com/news/8-problems-face-masks-policy-schools

In particular, in relation to this thread:

“By shifting responsibility to headteachers, the government has thrown heads to the court of parents who will likely have very different ideas about masks. It will be almost impossible to keep every parent happy, and their anger will be directed at the head, not the government. The lack of a clear policy based on scientific evidence leaves heads extremely vulnerable.
The government has left it incredibly vague as to when heads may wish to use masks. The head could mandate masks if they believe social distancing is impossible, or they could mandate them because it will make some parents feel more confident sending their children to school. They have said classroom wear is not necessary, but as for everywhere else? It’s up to heads. As Nick Brook, deputy general secretary at the NAHT, tweeted – heads are not epidemiologists, the call of when and how a face mask should be worn should not be down to schools.”

Another Ofqual person has resigned:
news.sky.com/story/top-civil-servant-at-department-for-education-to-leave-after-a-levels-chaos-12057141

Aaaand more evidence of the absolute corruption:

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/aug/20/firm-linked-to-gove-and-cummings-hired-to-work-with-ofqual-on-a-levels?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

@noblegiraffe

It’s not just schools and education is it. They have fucked up pretty much everything - notably the economy which will make getting a decent job / training much harder for school leavers for years to come.

Bullshitter Johnson loves to come out with that crap about ‘levelling up’ - more like levelling down to the worst possible position for everyone.

He is well on the way to achieving the title of ‘Worst Prime Minister I’m living memory’.