Hertfordshire cllr calls for more remote learning in to limit spread of Covid-19 in schools

Liberal Democrat councillor Nigel Quinton has called for schools to be able to offer a blend of face-to-face and remote learning, to reduce the spread of Covid-19.

Currently schools are directed to deliver face-to-face teaching, unless children have been sent home to self-isolate.

But at a meeting of the county council’s overview and scrutiny on Friday, December 11, Cllr Quinton suggested there should be a ‘blended’ approach, with pupils studying partly at home and partly at school.

He pointed to the transmission of the virus in school corridors and outside spaces, despite the measures adopted in classrooms.

And he said the failure to prepare schools to offer a ‘blended’ education was “unforgivable”.

He also asked regional education officials whether exams were likely to be cancelled and whether the autumn term would end early, to allow for longer isolation before Christmas.

But Regional Schools Commissioner Dame Kate Dethridge said that the view from the DfE was that face-to-face teaching was best, that schools would not break up early and that there were no sense at all that there would be a review or abandonment of exams.

And in response, Cllr Quinton said the approach reflected “the complete failure of the DfE in England”.

“We knew that this was going to happen,” he said. “We knew we were going to get a second wave.

“The complete failure to get schools prepared to offer a combination of face-to-face and remote learning is I think unforgivable.”

And after referring to the other ‘common-sense steps’, he asked : “Are we burying our head in the sands forever? When do we get though to the Secretary of State that he needs to think differently about this. I’m sorry but I just despair.”

During the meeting senior Ofsted inspector Kim Pigram told the meeting that schools had ‘worked non-stop’ to try and get the right provision for remote learning, in difficult circumstances.

And she warned that school ‘closures’ could leave vulnerable children ‘incredibly’ vulnerable.

She stressed that remote learning wasn’t just about ‘digital’. And she said that even if pupils were given laptops, online learning still relied on parents being able to support their children.

Simon Newland, director of operations at the county council, said it had been made clear to schools that the expectation was that face to face education should continue wherever possible – aside from where pupils had to self-isolate.

He said Herts for Learning had been commissioned to develop online support for schools.

And he said the service was now one of the largest partners with Google, in terms of the use of the roll-out of Google classroom.

However he also acknowledged a failure to to secure the number of laptops and other devices they had wanted – because of an absolute shortage in the market.

Committee chair Cllr David Andrews recognised concerns about the provision of laptops and tablets and wifi signals, but he also pointed to problems with studying at home.

“It doesn’t have the discipline and the formality and the support,” he said. “And I can see situations where sometimes its more harm than good.”

Meanwhile Labour Cllr Lynn Chesterman said that with so many parents working from home as a result of the pandemic, there was a need to consider ‘digital access’, aside from ‘digital poverty’.

Commenting on access to IT in the home, she said: “We look at children who are more vulnerable, but with more parents working at home there are still a lot of families who cannot afford basically to have one laptop per person.

“Because where as it used to be a ‘family share’, they now – to be able to do the distance learning and to work from home – need one each.”