Have We Thrown Teachers Under The Bus?

As students return to schools across the country this week (excluding QLD), many are questioning how onsite learning will pan out as the nation adapts to “living with Covid.”

We asked our listeners, who are teachers, how they are feeling about returning to the classroom and most of you reported feeling anxious about how you will cope with potential Covid outbreaks. Rightly so! 

On today’s Briefing, we are joined by Correna Haythorpe, the Federal President of the Australian Education Union. She says schools need additional resources to manage public health measures, priority access to RAT and PCR tests and a plan to manage any staff shortages. 

The Australian Education Union expected PM Scott Morrison to provide a clear national framework for the management of Covid outbreaks in schools – they didn’t get one. 

“The reality is, we may face a situation where we have to go back to remote periods of learning. We’ve done that before; but what we would hope is that governments actually put things into place so that we don’t have to do that.”

Correna Haythorpe, Federal President of the Australian Education Union

With the responsibility now pushed on the states and territories…we ask, who is prepared?