Back-to-school under COVID-19 rules means extra unpaid work for teachers
By Sharon Webb
FROM 9 June all students in Tasmanian government schools are expected to be back on site, placing a huge extra workload on principals and teachers expected to maintain hygienic learning environments. The number of teachers returning to schools is not known but over past months around 15 per cent of the teaching force worked from home because they were in vulnerable COVID-19 categories. Under pressure from politicians wanting to get parents working and the economy on track, Education Department bureaucrats have ‘encouraged’ these teachers to make the transition back to work, even though some are afraid of becoming ill. Some teachers believe they are being bullied into risking their health as Tasmanian bureaucrats have worked to a Federal Government list of acceptable illnesses allowing teachers to stay at home. One teacher working from home to provide learning materials to her students said, ‘I have a rare complaint that’s not on the list and have been told “be at school or you won’t get paid”. I have a medical certificate and I don’t want to risk my health but I need a job. It’s stressful.
The Education Department has paid millions of dollars for hand sanitiser and other cleaning materials for schools. Now principals and senior staff are responsible for keeping schools super-clean. Some have had problems hiring enough cleaners to clean student areas and toilets twice a day as dictated because older cleaners in the vulnerable COVID-19 age range do not want to work in schools. The Education Department has dropped a whopping 47-point online tick-the-box document on principals to make sure all the necessary cleaning tasks are done. Some of these items are the normal things expected of teachers. Teachers will monitor students’ wellbeing and the engagement of learners on their return to school. But others certainly will not. Teachers must constantly remind students not to touch their eyes, noses and mouths. They must remind them to wash their hands and supervise young children’s ‘hygiene practices’.
According to the tick-thebox document, teachers must discourage students’ sharing of food, drink and personal items, such as pens and pencils, and make sure canteens are hygienic. But cleaning will place the greatest work pressure on teachers and many have complained about the extra menial workload. They must not only teach content and manage students’ behaviour but ensure high-touch surfaces such as door knobs, light switches, desks, sinks and keyboards are cleaned during the day. The document also requires teachers to ensure computers, sports and music equipment are cleaned with detergent and disinfectant wipes. Teachers and principals must also take on more crowd management roles. The document encourages staggered school days to space students and tells principals, in no uncertain terms, to keep parents out of school buildings. Teachers used to ‘bus duty’ at the end of the day will find themselves doing much more of it to ensure students are socially distancing at bus interchanges and supervise parent crowding at pickup locations. And finally, in truly Yes Minister style, the bureaucrats who dreamt up this document have iced the cake with an instruction that teachers must tell school communities how well they are doing this. ‘Consider how the school might capture, share and celebrate quality practice stories from the transition back to school,’ the tick-the-box document instructs.
As high school students join their younger and older colleagues in the back-to-school move, parents not wanting their children back at school will be told they are not entitled to continue to be supported with home education – unless they have a COVID-19 related health condition. ‘However, if a parent of one of these children contacts the school, their teacher may wish to discuss with them ways in which they can best support their children at home,’ the Education Department has instructed school principals.
